including appetizer, entree and dessert (excluding drinks and tip).
$ = Less than $40 ?? $$ = $40 to $60 ?? $$$ = $60 to $80
Aventura
New City Grill
3595 N.E. 207th St., 305/466-9969
Veteran restaurateurs Jack Feldman and Lori Roney moved their non-stop act down from Delray Beach into this wonderful marina setting behind the Shoppes of the Waterway, serving humongous portions of All-American food. Lunch and dinner: $
Clearwater
Travis
28530 U.S. 19, 727/712-9101
Class-conscious bistro where proprietor Gail Adams teams up with local chef Robert Masson and his globe-circling menu with such zingers as wasabi-seared tenderloin, szechwan swordfish and escargot with tomato, prosciutto and goat cheese. Dinner: $$
Coral Gables
Pascal's on Ponce
2611 Ponce De Leon Blvd., 305/444-2024
Pascal Oudin is the main man here, redefining contemporary French cuisine with roasted wild striped bass, veal rib-eye with braised endive, steamed salmon with blanquette of scallops and shrimp christened with champagne sorrel cream. Lunch and dinner: $$
Delray Beach
Michael's Seafood
1010 E. Atlantic Ave., 561/276-6453
Art Deco delight in the former Erny's space developed by 32 East's Michael Bilton, who imported Brennan's Red Fish Grill chef in New Orleans, Devlin Roussel, to create a bit of bayou magic on the city's street of great eats. Dinner: $$$
Restaurant Thirty Too
Shoppes at Addison Place
16950 Jog Road, 561/638-0532
The winning team from Delray's 32 East has done it again, providing super chef Wayne Alcaide with a next-door gourmet deli, 32 Eats (what else?) and a cool bistro setting with highly skilled staff. Lunch and dinner: $$$
Fort Lauderdale
Brasserie Las Olas
333 E. Las Olas Blvd., 954/779-7374
Mark Soyka continues his winning streak from SoBe's News Cafe, the Van Dyke Cafe and Miami's News Cafe II plus Soyka, and now this 300 indoor-outdoor seater, serving his solid menu of comfort and trendy foods with class. Breakfast, lunch and dinner: $
Gainesville
Mildred's Big City Food
3445 W. University Ave., 352/371-1711
Big city all the way with great luncheon salads and sandwiches and downtown dinners built around rainbow trout with crab and lobster-braised sweet potatoes, pasta provencal, and for the good ol' boys, pan-fried grouper on grits splashed with red-eye. Lunch and dinner: $$
Jacksonville Beach
Lighthouse Grille
2600 Beach Blvd., 904/242-8899
Waterway wonder with great value. Non-stop menu bursting with steaks and Danish baby-back ribs, seafood Po Boys, mouth-stretching sandwiches and burgers, fresh fish of the day. Lunch and dinner: $
Miami
Mandarin Oriental
500 Brickell Key Drive, 305/913-8251
Newest of the new, opened mid-November with an upscale Azul Room worthy of Hong Kong haute and more casual Cafe Sambal, all under the able care of former Golden Spoon-winning chef at Coconut Grove's Grand Bay Hotel, Christian Schmidt. Breakfast, lunch and dinner: $$$
Miami Beach
Bambu
1661 Meridian Ave., 305/531-4800
Pan-Asian achievement of the highest order with celebrateur Cameron Diaz a partner and executive chef Rob Boone watching over a menu of sashimi, sushi and the rolls we all love, plus noodles, Kobe beef, shabu shabu. Dinner: $$
Fish Joynt
2570 N.E. Miami Gardens Drive, 305/936-8333
From the display kitchen and dessert table to the blackboard listing of what's fresh from the sea, from calves liver to cowboy steaks, this is a real discovery -- thanks to owner David Bianco. Lunch and dinner: $$
Mark's South Beach Hotel Nash
1120 Collins Ave., 305/604-9050
The tireless Mark Militello has done it again, making a trifecta out of his Las Olas and Mizner Park triumphs, this one with partner Michael Freundlich. Lunch and dinner: $$$
Orlando
Two Fat Chefs
1375 S. Semoran Blvd., 407/273-1333
One is straight from Iceland, the other from Disney, and together they do great gravlax, chicken livers on the flakiest of pastry beds, tiger shrimp with rice and blue cheese sauce, veal cutlets with caper-freckled orange butter and pistachio-covered pork tenderloin. Lunch and dinner: $$
San Marco
BB's
1019 Hendricks Ave., 904/306-0100
Wildly popular high decibel bistro noon and night with "little b" starters like almond-coated calamari and tuna tartare followed by grilled pizzas, fresh fillets of fish and outrageous desserts. Lunch and dinner: $
Sarasota
Michael's Mediterranean Grille
214 Sarasota Quay, 941/951-2467
The former Michael's Seafood Grille has the same leaders in place -- Michael Klauber and Phil Mancini -- working with chef John Zottoli for a Mediterranean makeover Italian-style, from Tuscan white bean soup to mushroom-laced risotto with white truffle oil. Dinner: $$
The Lazy Lobster
7602 N. Lockwood Ridge Road, 941/351-5515
If you like the Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Bradenton, you'll like owner John Horne's latest achievement, where the Disney-like fun decor is as nautical as the menu, where lobster is the star. Dinner: $$
St. Petersburg
Bonefish Grill
5901 Fourth St. North, 727/521-3434
Good old gulf grouper gets lots of TLC but so too do the slabs of salmon and cobia, the mussels and squid, even the pork tenderloin Caribbeanized with jerk spicing. Dinner: $
Tallahassee
Albert's Provence
1415 Timberline Road, 850/894-9003
French-born chef Albert Ughetto provides the Provence with a strong, knowledgeable and loving emphasis on seafood, and David Ferguson supplies the moxie, the managerial skills, to make this one of the capital's best. Lunch and dinner: $$
Tampa
Zazarac
3702 W. McKay Ave., 813/350-0481
An offshoot from famed New Orleans chef Anne Kearney with local chef-partner Jayson Polansky producing such southern Louisiana lusciousness as genuine gumbo, Creole crab cakes, cornmeal-fried oysters and redfish court bouillon. Dinner: $$
Winter Park
Sage
358 N. Park Ave., 407/647-4556
This remake of a corner landmark features innovative fare starting with southwest crab cakes on corn-crusted green tomato and baby spinach-blue cheese salads. Follow that up with sweet onion-crusted snapper and black sesame seed wasabi tuna on Asian vegetable slaw. Lunch and dinner: $