Boca Raton

What normal nineteen year old has eaten her way through Boca Raton savoring all the unique flavors, different restaurant styles, and experiencing new cultures. Well let me start off by saying that I am not normal and my time in Boca Raton was anything, but ordinary. Now you are probably wondering what this not normal nineteen year old is doing in Boca Raton, a place repeatedly labeled as a grandparents town. I am a student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY. After finishing your freshman year, each student is required to do a 14 week internship. Now I bet you are now wondering why I chose to come to Boca from April until July during the rainy season and the unbearable heat. The answer is that I wanted a life adventure. Being originally from Houston Tx, I wanted to come back to that unbearable heat and leave the snow and my winter coat in New York. Little did I know that Boca Raton would surprise me with all of its culinary delights.

Living in Mizner park there are so many options for great food. If I wanted Greek food I would turn left and walk down to either Skewers or Souvlaki Fresh. The chicken souvlaki is my favorite at Souvlaki Fresh. Laced in a tangy sauce nothing except maybe finding true love is better. Skewers has a fattoush salad. Cucumber and tomato heaven if you wanted to know. I topped mine with Falafel, golden nuggets of crispy deliciousness. If I walked right across the street I literally ran into Kapow and wow is it good. I have been here three months and have been to Kapow ten times. I think that is a pretty great testament to how mind blowing the food is. My favorite item on the menu is the Mongolian Short Rib Bao Bun. Tender short ribs are placed in a pillowly bun topped with green apples for acidity and pickled fresnos for heat.

Now if you want to be adventurous like me and venture outside of Mizner park there are plenty and I mean plenty of places to go and eat. It's like how in Tennessee there is a fudge stand at every corner. In Boca Raton a new restaurant sits at every corner waiting to be discovered. I ate at Zinburger savoring and maybe even salivating over my french dip burger and the salted caramel milkshake was just the cherry on top. The Tin Muffin Cafe had the cutest decor. I could have just sat inside reading for hours and I did. The chicken salad tea sandwiches were adorable and some of the best chicken salads I have ever had because if you truly know me I could be the next chicken salad aficionado. Shane's Rib Shack made me want to get up and dance and I don’t dance. I had the BBQ plate, fried okra, potato salad, and peach cobbler. Man what was a mouth full and were lucky my jeans fit the next day. The chocolate croissant I ate at Côté France Café was hors de ce monde or out of this world. If you have ever wanted to go to Italy and have never been now you can and without traveling so many hours. When you go to Vespri Siciliani it's like walking through a teleportation device. I seriously have never met nicer people. I was so full at the end of the meal that I took my dessert to go because I didn’t want to miss out.

I can't wait to be back in Boca and I hope that I have inspired you to travel and find some unique places to eat. All you have to do is “Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” Ruth Reichl