At the other end of the scale, there are rumblings in the jungles of exotic eatertainment. The multimillion-dollar Rainforest Cafe mini-chain, with outlets in Downtown Disney Market Place, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, suffered plummeting earnings projections that sent its share price to all-time lows. Orlando-based Planet Hollywood has experienced similar misfortune and put further expansion on hold.
Carrabba's Italian Grill, the Little Italy offering of Tampa's super successful Aussie-themed Outback Steakhouse, closed nine shops last year-a first for the company. But it also opened new Carrabba's, most recently in Delray Beach and Jacksonville Beach, for a nationwide total of 61. Twenty-six are in the Sunshine State. Ten additional units are on the drawing board this year.
Morton's, Palm and Ruth's Chris steakhouses, with bases in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, respectively, continue to expand across the U.S., including south Florida, where Manhattan's Smith and Wolensky steakhouse started its national roll-out three months ago, across the street from Joe's Stone Crab on Miami Beach.
For a much more modest investment, the founders of Hooters (215 units) premiered Pete & Shorty's Tavern, a simple shack serving White Castle-size burgers and a quartet of sandwiches. Could be the start of another successful chain, but for now its only location is next door to the original Hooters on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater.
Another chain wannabe rattled its first link this year in Kissimmee at Ramada Inn Resort Main Gate. The Michael Andretti & Mike Piazza Sports Cafe is named for one of auto racing's leading money-winners and the all-star catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their sportsploitation is similar to that at two of Florida's most successful celeb sports bars, Pete Rose's pair in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach and Wilt Chamberlain's in Boca Raton, but this newcomer has far more ambitious plans, hoping to open 50 new cafes this year and a three-year goal of no fewer than 300.
Cha Cha Coconuts is also expansion-minded, flashing its fun tropical flair as far afield from Tampa headquarters as Miami (February) and Orlando (April). In the not too distant future, other links in central and south Florida will join Cha Cha's established locations in Tampa's Ybor City, St. Armand Circle in Sarasota and The Pier in St. Petersburg.
Maybe the most rapidly expanding restaurant chain in the state is Bilotti's, based in Boca Raton. Former airline pilot Joe Bilotti has gathered under his wings ten Italian eateries: five in Boca, two in Coral Springs and one each in Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach (January) and Pompano Beach (March). Bilotti named eight after himself; two others in Boca kept their original names: Roboli Ristorante Italiano on Clint Moore Road and Boboli Italian Grille in the Somerset Shoppes on Glades Road close to Wilt Chamberlain's.
A Bilotti's is opening in Coral Springs, in Magnolia Shoppes close to Sawgrass on University Boulevard, and look for Joe's first in Pompano Beach, on the corner of Atlantic and Powerline. Another dozen in south Florida are scheduled for the next two years. Most ambitious will be Bilotti's Dockside, 7,000 square feet with l5 boat slips at the new Boynton Beach Marina.
All that is in addition to the eight New York and New Jersey Italian-American feederies he has an interest in, which are being updated and upscaled in accordance with the Bilotti style-modern, modest-size (3,000 square feet), moderately priced trattorias, heavy on pizza and pasta, with take-out and delivery services and a full catering menu. Investors and partners are always welcome, and managers with a year of successful service can buy into the store.
A feature of the Bilotti operation is menu identification of heart smart entrees, from a vegetarian pizza with broccoli, eggplant, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes ($8), to grilled portobellos layered on spinach with sundried tomato-basil vinaigrette ($7), and chicken Giuseppe, sauteed with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, red onions and sundried tomatoes splashed with Madeira ($14). My favorite meals are built around warm spinach salad ($7), penne pasta smothered with pink vodka sauce ($11), and shrimp Genovese, jumbos simmered in creamy pesto and proudly propped on fettuccine ($15).
In Boca there's plenty of competition for the family-dining-out-Italian-style dollar. Here are four that I've recently experienced:
Carlucci's Italian Ristorante
1930 N.E. Fifth Avenue 561/362-8990
Boca Raton Fifth Avenue Shops Plaza
In appearance, design, menu and mode of operation, this certainly could pass for an easy-to-recommend Bilotti link, but there are greater and more diverse pizzabilities and a greater variety of pasta, chicken, veal and seafood selections. And it is an independent. For lunch, I like the gorgonzola salad, served in a fresh-baked pizza dough shell, as prologue to penne primavera, a vegetable garden blessed with a bracing marinara sauce, or one of the specialty sandwiches, such as the Club Alla Americano or Hamburger Italiano. For dinner, I commence with salad caprese, which is defined as roasted sweet red peppers along with vine-ripened tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and basil, and I follow with grilled red snapper served with fresh grilled veggies or a zuppa di pesce harvest from the sea. Lunch and dinner, entrees $8.50 to $18, daily.
Sal's Restaurant and Pizzeria
7491 N. Federal Highway 561/994-9768
Boca Raton Boca Valley Plaza
Not to be confused with another mini-group called Sal's Pizzeria, this five-link collection has shops elsewhere in Boca (10012 S.W. 2nd Ave. and 1 St. Andrews Blvd.) as well as Coral Springs (10140 W. Sample Rd. and 4609 University Dr.) with two more planned, in Coconut Creek and Deerfield. This family affair was started by Sal Stellino, his sister and brother-in-law and is a little more modest in size, scope and menu than Joe Bilotti's new place. Joe is Sal's son-in-law and was once a partner. Budget-pleasers include "Sal's World Famous Lunch," a half-sub with soup or salad and a slice of cheese pizza for $4.75. There are also good pickings for the early birds, $7.50 to $10, and take-out and delivery. Lunch and dinner, entrees $10 to $16, daily.
Vito & Michael's
6298 N. Federal Highway 561/998-7788
Boca Raton
A seven-link chain with four shops in New York and New Jersey and two others in Florida-Fort Lauderdale, 4838 N. Federal Highway, and St. Petersburg Beach, 7704 Blind Pass Road, both converted pizzerias. The Boca operation took over a free-standing, multilevel restaurant with a touch of class. The menu features thin and thick crust pan pizzas including fagatze, lightly marinated in olive oil and baked without cheese. The soups are super spicy and the pasta al dente, especially my favorite penne tangled with broccoli and plum tomatoes. Lunch and dinner, entrees $7 to $14, daily, and there are also early bird specials.
Mario's
1198 Dixie Highway 561/392-5885
Boca Raton
Opened December in a rehabed site that housed the original Tom's Ribs, this is the third triumph for Tony and Laurie Bova and a copy in concept of their cash cow Mario's, 2200 Glades Road, opened l985. They are also responsible for Mario's Tuscan Grill in Boca, 1450 N. Federal Hwy., an upscale treat with bar, innovative antipasti buffet, wood-fired rotisserie-grill and super chef Egyptian-born Yousry Hosein, trained in Tuscany and the Big Apple. I order his Tuscan special of the night. At Mario's on Dixie, I have one of the soups, then pan-grilled, garlic-sprinkled shrimp flattered by spinach, red peppers and feta, followed by ziti mingled with cannelloni beans, fresh escarole and more garlic, or, if I'm really hungry, Sicilian pork chops or a ribeye spiked with chili peppers and pepperoncini sauteed (with garlic, of course) in a cast iron skillet.