Glorious food (Part 1)

Let’s be clear at the outset: I am not a food writer. I am not the person you want to ask to eloquently describe the nuanced subtleties of fine cuisine. However, whenever possible I eat for pleasure as well as sustenance, and have accumulated a small list of cheap to moderately priced, unpretentious local haunts I frequent as often as circumstances will allow, and over the next couple of days I’ll share them with you. Let me make us hungry.

First we’ll travel a bit out of my normal area, to the relative wilderness of Davie. There, in a strip mall a stone’s throw from the local IKEA, you will find the finest Cajun restaurant outside of New Orleans: Creolina’s Dixie Takeout. Fried green tomatoes, firecracker shrimp, gumbo, shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, oh my my. It’s the kind of tiny, unpretentious place that surprises you with the quality of its food. The chef takes his work very seriously, too, to the opint of refusing to offer ersatz po’boys because “You can’t get the right bread here.” If you go, be sure to say hello to City Link Hall of Fame “Best Waitress” Rosie.

Moving to the more familiar territory (for me) of North Miami, here are several treats. If you want fish, then Captain Jim’s Seafood is a place you’ll want to visit. It’s another tiny place in a strip mall with Formica tables and fluorescent lights, but for incredibly fresh fish prepared simply and unpretentiously it’s the best. The combination is your best deal: your choice of grouper, snapper, or dolphin, plus shrimp and/or cracked conch, prepared grilled, fried, or blackened, for about ten bucks. There’s a decent beer selection, too, or so my beer-drinking friends tell me. And if you are a cook yourself, you can buy the same fresh seafood off the ice, prepped as you like it. The portions are generous, the service is prompt and friendly, and the taste is great. It isn’t a candlelit table by the water, but it isn’t trying to be all that, either.

Behind a Walgreen’s on 163rd Street you’ll find Heelsha, my favorite Indian restaurant. There’s a strong Bangladeshi influence in the dishes, so look the menu over carefully, but my personal favorites are the spinach and cheese naan, a soft, flavorful fresh bread which is practically a meal itself; the malagathooni soup, rich and flavorful without being overwhelming; and the marchi style chicken biryani, the meat slow-cooked in aromatic basmati rice with plenty of chili and ginger. However, there are two small caveats with my recommendation. First, the service tends to be very slow, as each dish is clearly prepared from scratch; plan accordingly (i.e., have a few Kingfishers) and you’ll be fine. Second, and most important: they can be a little erratic on the spices. I like spicy food, but I would never, ever order anything more than medium. On my first visit I ordered “hot” and had a religious experience. However, don’t let this scare you away from an outstanding meal.

Bagels and Company is on Biscayne Boulevard, sharing a parking lot with a gun shop. This has lead to it getting the unfortunate nickname of “Buns and Ammo” among my friends. Nonetheless, it’s an excellent old fashioned deli of the variety slowly becoming extinct in South Florida. You’ll find excellent examples of the expected selections: bagels, knishes, lox, ruggalach, pastrami, corned beef, matzo ball soup, and so on. For me, though, nothing beats a breakfast of their amazing banana walnut pancakes. The light and fluffy batter holds together thick slices of sweet, fresh bananas, and the walnuts add a great crunch and counterpart to the soft sweetness. Slather a triple stack &#nbsp; three plate-sized cakes â€” with melting butter and drizzle on a little maple syrup… my doctor might not approve but my taste buds certainly do.