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by Manos Angelakis
Florida has never been one of my favorite vacation spots. I dislike high heat and humidity... but I dislike more the intense cold that descended on the New York Metropolitan area during mid-December 2000. So when my brother-in-law, the one from Texas, called and said “We’ll be in Florida for some weeks, why don’t y’all come down?” I decided that hot was better than cold, a mini-vacation was in order and, in addition, it would be interesting to visit a part of Florida we have never seen before. If Burt Reynolds winters in Jupiter, chef Jean Pierre Breher has his headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and Madonna owns a restaurant on South Beach, I figured we would be in good company.
It was interesting, to put it mildly. We saw, what I would consider one of the world’s cheesiest attractions, the Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale, a combination drive-in theater with 13 screens and 88 acre flea market, the only retail establishment with a free circus show, where you can watch elephants perform, while haggling for a second hand mixer!!!
From the ridiculous to the sublime... the revitalized Breakers and its redesigned Ocean Golf Course. The Breakers is a magnificent getaway with two golf
 courses, the aforementioned 6,200 yard, par 70, Ocean Course, and Breakers West. In addition there are ten Har-Tru tennis courts (five lit for night play). There are 6 restaurants; The Circle Dining Room, a breakfast-room known for its Sunday Brunch, the indoor/outdoor Beach Club, one of the finest steakhouses Flagler’s, L’ Escalier - the magnificently restored Florentine Room serving modern French cuisine, the Seafood Bar an upscale raw bar, and the Reef Bar, on the beach, a relaxed Caribbean-style venue. The Spa at the Breakers, takes care of the body with sauna, steam bath, lap pool, Jacuzzi, free weights and cardiovascular fitness equipment.
In Bal Harbour, we stopped at the Seahorse Bar with its whimsical ocean-themed topiary garden and the over 200 living seahorses in a stunning aquarium. The Seahorse Bar is in the Polo Ralph Laurent redesigned Beach House, a 170 room low-key hotel property, like a luxurious private home on the ocean, with a competition size heated swimming pool.
South Beach is a trip, all these wonderfully restored multicolored Deco buildings and the people strolling up and down the street reminiscent of Venice beach in Los Angeles -- only here you rarely hear any English. I have never seen so many surgically augmented busts, all concentrated in one 4-block outdoor parade; I think there were more there than in all the New York topless bars combined. And, as far as the men are concerned... I guess “Miami Vice” was more influential than I thought. Why else would all these persons wear heavy gold chains with medallions and crosses hanging from their necks, single diamond ear-studs and dress like drug dealers right out of central casting?
We found a couple very good restaurants, Ke`e Grill, in Juno with excellent American cuisine, and Too Bizaare, a fun wine bar with tasty food in Jupiter. And on Clematis Street, in West Palm Beach, we found Sloan’s, an ice cream parlor with product better than we have tasted for a while (loved the chocolate/expresso).
© January/February 2001. All rights reserved.
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