Hitting the Century Mark and Beyond!

Benny's Seafood, My 100th DDD Visit!



Lobster Mofungo at Benny's

 As many of you know I love to cruise.  I have been on over 50 cruises and really have found no way that I like to get away than on a cruise ship.  I have cruised on many different cruise lines but Royal Caribbean (RCI) is the line I have been on the most.  The cruise lines have loyalty programs that are like the ones that all the airlines have.  On RCI I had attained the Diamond Level, which is a pretty high level but I was just a few cruise credits away from attaining the highest level (since becoming the second highest level) called Diamond Plus.  RCI announced last year that December would be Diamond December with Diamond members getting double cruise credits during December.  I looked into taking a cruise and saw that I could take two cruises, a 3 night followed by a 4 night on the same ship for LESS than doing a regular 7 night cruise and get 4 credits in the deal, so I booked back to back cruises on RCI's Majesty of the Seas for the first week of December.  The two cruises would start on Friday and then Monday so I decided to fly down to the Miami area (into Ft. Lauderdale on jetBlue) two days before the cruise and try as many of the DDD locations in the Miami area that I could.  After arriving an getting the car I headed down to Miami to my first of 4 stops on the day.  The first place is in the Little Havana area of Miami, near the location of the old Miami Orange Bowl stadium where the new huge Florida Marlins baseball stadium is being built and will open in Spring 2012.  I found "La Camonera" in a very busy strip mall.  This restaurant is really a fish market with a large lunch counter inside.  They fry alot of the fish there and I got a Fried Shrimp Sandwich that was very good and thankfully not too spicy.  It was then onto a very cool restaurant just over the causeway in Miami Beach.  "Tap Tap" features Haitian cuisine and it seems almost like it is an Haitian art museum.  The walls are covered with colorful Haitian art.  I got a small portion of Oxtail, which is a traditional meal in Haiti.  I was able to chat with the owner-chef who was featured on the DDD episode and he told me all about the restaurant and his cooking with Guy.  He was a great guy and not only made me feel welcome but invited me to walk all around the restaurant to see all the artwork.  From there I needed a break and went over to the airport to find the offices of "Airliners", a magazine I have subscribed to since it debuted in the late 1980's.  I had a nice visit with the editors and told them all about the Washington Airline Society (of which I am the current President) and the airline scene in the DC area.  After a nice visit I headed to a small town called Kendall Lakes to go to my 99th DDD visit.  "Jamaica Kitchen" features authentic Jamaican cuisine and also features a Chinese-Jamaican fusion cuisine.  Jamaica Kitchen is a carry-out restaurant and I was able to get a real light Jamaican snack of a turnover and malt drink.  I chatted with the owner and she gave me some of the dirt surrounding Guy's visit there.  She told me that Guy showed up a few hours late, which infuriated the chef to no end.  I found out that one of the reasons he has featured so many South Florida locations is due to the fact that The Food Network sponsors teh Miami Food and Wind Festival each year so Guy films locations during that time and it seems that Guy had had a really fun night before coming to the restaurant, you'd never know it from watching the episode!  For dinner that night I headed to a place that I had pre-selected as my 100th location, "Benny's Seafood".  Benny's was featured in an early episode and it is one of Guy's favorites and features Puerto Rican cuisine.  The specialty at Benny's is Mofungo.  Mofungo is a meal consisting of smashed plantains, spices and sauces and topped with the meat, fish or vegetable of your choice.  I got the Lobster Mofungo, come on it was number 100!  The staff there was very friendly but I didn't see the owner-chef, so I asked the server if she would sign my book and explained what I was doing so she went into the office and got the owners, the main chef and his wife and they were every happy to see me and not only signed my book but gave me a traditional Puerto Rican drink to celebrate my achievement, what a great place and super people!

The next day I planned to see my friend Jeff, who is a Circuit Court judge in Ft. Lauderdale and spend the day watching him in his courtroom.  I had to be there at 11am so I headed out early north about 25 miles to Boynton Beach to a real New York style diner called Flakowitz of Boynton Beach.  This is a very popular diner in a strip mall and a very good place for a meal.  I was seated in a long booth that is shared by others a and as I sat down a plate of homemade sweet rolls was placed on my table.  I got the typical scrambled egg breakfast, but the real fun was eaves dropping on the conversation next to me, I thought I was in an episode of Seinfeld!  They were more seasoned citizens and they were talking about their homeowners association and running for office, I thought I next to Seinfeld's parents!  Onto court, very interesting and fun to see Jeff in action.  For dinner I went to Deerfield Beach to try a seafood joint called "Whale's Rib Raw Bar".  the seaside eatery is all wood and very popular and features all types of seafood, I liked it!

After a fun and relaxing cruise I returned home and had planned a celebration dinner for family and friends at my number 68 location "Comet Ping Pong".  The owner told me he would love to have us celebrate there and reserved the huge table of 15 in the center of the restaurant.  We all ate great pizza and calzone and played some ping pong.  I had alot of friends come and also my dad and step-mom, sister, brother, too.  It was a great night!  Shortly afterwards my friend Karin in Hawaii told me that they would hold a part for my 150th visit, so that is what my new goal became, maybe they would host my 200th, we shall see!

My Nephew Nathan at my 100th Celebration at Comet Ping Pong

My friend Eric with a jar of Comet's Pizza Sauce

Comet's Brick Oven Pizza

Me with my dad, step-mom, sister Sue and Brother-in-Law Dale

My Brother Chris and my dad