Modern home cooking by award-winning chef Timon Balloo in downtown Fort Lauderdale in the Victoria Park neighborhood. Drawing on his own Chinese, Indian, Trinidadian heritage, Balloo creates dishes like tuna crispy rice, lamb meatballs with polenta, Thai-style charred cabbage salad, jerk grilled chicken thighs, slow-braised duck orecchiette, Korean short rub “galbi ssam.”

Karim Bryant and Nicole Gates began with a food truck in 2013, and opened the brick and mortar in 2017, offering a “healthier alternative to soul food.” Bryant, who began his culinary career at Fuddruckers and worked his way up to more upscale restaurants, features southern dishes with his own creative flair. Favorites include the smoked bbq ribs, dream fire shrimp, chicken and waffles, and seafood cake burger – and live entertainment, too.

Some still call this “Houston’s” even though they changed the name a few years ago, but it’s all part of the same corporate family. Whichever location you choose, you’ll find the old-school French Dip Au Jus on the menu. Food lore says this crusty/juicy/meaty sandwich got its start a century ago in Los Angeles, when a restaurateur dropped a roll into a pan filled with meat juices and turned it into a menu item. Today, French Dip seems a slightly elegant if messy throwback, requiring the diner to work just a little for comfort-food pleasure.