To put some life into those numbers, I made two luncheon stops at the new Red Lobster in Fort Pierce. The improvements in setting, style, substance and staff were evident everywhere. The salads and soups are very good, and the fish marked as fresh, both the trout and the salmon, was just that.
The Tampa-based Outback Steakhouse group, with close to 600 winners plus 70 cousins called Carrabba's, continues to rocket along. And on a smaller scale, there's Sarasota's First Watch. It has 37 outlets with a dozen in Florida and another four on track this year for Fort Myers, Orlando, Sarasota and Naples. It has a thousand employees and projected income of $31 million.
Modest, but then it only serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 2:30 p.m. Entrees range from $2.25 to $6.50.
The 16-year-old Arby's of the Fort Lauderdale-based Triarc Restaurant Group, with 3,100 outlets and another 350 scheduled for completion this year, including 102 in the United Kingdom, has successfully targeted the young adult market with redesigned units, adding "Market Fresh" salads, soups and sandwiches to the menu and living up to its award-winning "Drive-Thru-to-Excellence" pledge -- which explains its 13 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth.
Other good news comes from these out-of-staters:
Brio Tuscan Grille
480 N. Orlando Ave. 407/622-5611
Winter Park Winter Park Village
This is the first Florida link in the Columbus, Ohio-based collection. It sports an in-house bakery for the supply of bruschetta and breads, cookies and croissants. Noontime favorites include homemade mushroom ravioli, frittatas with fontina and wood-grilled salmon. Later in the day, start your Tuscan treats with beef carpaccio or a salad made with oak-roasted pulled chicken, fresh greens and a gorgonzola balsamic vinaigrette, followed by slow-roasted pork loin served with iron skillet mashed potatoes, a paillard of chicken flattened under a brick or one of "The finest Bistecca in the world." Lunch and dinner, with entrees $9.95-$22.95, are served daily, and there are Bellini Brunches on Saturday and Sunday.
Buca di Beppo
2514 W. International Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach 904/25-DOLCE
11511 N. Dale Mabry 813/96-AMORE
Tampa
1351 S. Orlando Ave. 407/MAC-RONE
Maitland
5975 N. Federal Hwy. 954/229-0922
Fort Lauderdale
This chain of 35 links, based in Minneapolis, opened its first four Florida units in the past year and is planning more restaurants to re-create what Chairman and CEO Joe Micatrotto remembers from his youth. Thus the informality, the high spirits, the spilling-over platters of pasta in the basement of Joe or Guiseppi, translated to the colloquial Beppo, all inspired by the basement restaurant Joe's grandfather had in Cleveland's Little Italy. My favorite "basement" is in Fort Lauderdale, with its wine room sporting some 500 bottles on the ceiling and the table for six smack in the center of all the action in the kitchen. The Pope's Table has a bust of the Holy Father as centerpiece and as many as 18 diners circled around feasting on semolina pasta -- two pounds to a portion -- homemade ravioli and Italian-American standbys such as eggplant parmigiana. Dinner is served nightly, and the entrees range from $9-$20.
Roy's
26831 S. Bay Drive 941/498-7697
Bonita Springs The Promenade at Bonita Bay
The headquarters of this winner is as far afield as Honolulu, where innovative superchef/entrepreneur Roy Yamaguchi inspires and oversees a dozen other outlets, all featuring such sensations as Szechuan-spiced grilled baby back ribs, Chinese barbecue duck pizza and Mongolian grilled rack of lamb. Dinner, with entrees $15-$27, is served nightly.
Samba Room
350 E. Las Olas Blvd. 954/468-2000
Fort Lauderdale
The same folks who brought us all the TGI Friday's fun and family fare, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, is at it again, this time with a carefully crafted evocation of life in the 1960s south of the border. For lunch, try the Samba Caesar with Peruvian purple potatoes, jerk chicken with green apple curry sauce, a classic "ropa vieja" residing in a plantain basket, or one of the five tortas, sandwiches. For dinner, there's Brazilian black bean soup, grilled mussels with a coconut-sour orange sauce and a combo of sauteed chicken and shrimp in a coconut broth with toasted cashews and peanuts, sliced flank steak with mojo salute, grilled onions, black beans and rice or crisp fried whole red snapper flattered with garlic and ginger and accompanied by green rice. Lunch is served Monday through Friday and dinner, with entrees $10-$19, nightly.
Timpano Italian Chophouse
450 E. Las Olas Blvd. 954/462-9119
Fort Lauderdale Las Olas Centre
Another Carlson concept, this one is designed to cash in on the popularity of gargantuan cuts of meat and all things Italian. The menu is replete with comfort zone farinaceous fare, grilled salmon and fresh catch of the day, chicken and veal osso buco, half-pound pork chops and 12-ounce strip steaks. Lunch is served Monday through Saturday and dinner, with entrees $7-$27, nightly.
Restaurants Around the State
SOUTHEAST: Pompano Beach
Darrel & Oliver's Cafe Maxx
2601 E. Atlantic Blvd. 954/782-0606
The partnership has been doing so many things right, continuing to perfect this anchor operation while doing the same with East City Grille in Fort Lauderdale and expanding into Palm Beach County. Dinner, $20-$30.
SOUTHWEST/TAMPA BAY: St. Petersburg / St. Pete beach
Native Seafood & Trading Co.
5901 Sun Blvd. 727/866-8772
Pedro Alvarez is the very definition of "hands-on" owner, designing and decorating his superb space with a seafood market, spiffy service and his own "Scratch & Sniff" test with the seafood brought to the table before it proceeds to the kitchen. Dinner, $9-$20.
CENTRAL: Winter Park
Maison Des Crepes
348 N. Park Ave. 407/647-4469
An always-fresh surprise tucked into the avenue's hidden garden with fine salads, excellent spinach souffle, seafood and soups and, of course, a tempting array of crepes filled with savories and sweets. Lunch and dinner: $6-$30.
NORTHEAST: St. Augustine
A1A Ale Works Brewery & Restaurant
1 King St. 904/829-2977
Sensational capstone creation of the Mortons, responsible for Atlantic Beach's Ragtime Tavern, and featuring wrap-around second-deck viewing of the famous bridge and the old town. New World fun-filled menu and on-site shiny brass brewery. Lunch and dinner, $7-$20.
NORTHWEST: Seaside
Bud & Alley's
Route C 30-A 850/231-5900
More than a few Florida chefs who are now making headlines have trained alongside owners Scott Witcoski and Dave Rauschkolb, who continue to create their own brand of New World cuisine, grilling freshness from sea and land, blending superior sauces with judicious additions of wine and local herbs and introducing their local clientele to fine wines. Lunch and dinner, $7-$27.