Establishment: Top Hat Delicatessen
Location: Ft. Lauderdale's Fat Village
Meal: Late Lunch
Drink: Eli's Root Beer (on tap)
Appetizer(s): Matzo Ball Soup and Rueben Egg Rolls
Main: Top Hat Burger (add RED COW bacon)
pastrami burger with swiss cheese
Side(s): Deviled Eggs and a homemade pickle
Dessert: n/a
Server: Lisa
So to clear something up ... I don't *always* order a burger when I go out to eat ... but as someone who started a Burger Quest (!) a few years ago (visiting the 25 best burgers as per Zagat as announced in 2013 ... which is exclusive content only found on the Facebook and which is subject to my travels), if I peruse a menu and see a burger I've not had before, you can bet that that's what I'll be eating that day. Or, in other news, I just recently ate a burger that was comprised of a meat patty made up of a 50/50 blend of beef and pastrami on challah bread PLUS swiss cheese and homemade cole slaw. Here are all the details:
AMBIANCE: 10/10 (in a "up and coming" part of town, it reads like an upscale diner, and the black and white theme is super snazzy ... the front section includes giant garage doors that I imagine get opened in the right temperatures ... and it's a nice touch using dish towels as the napkins ... plus the dessert case calls out to you while you enter and again while you're paying ... all in all, it still feels brand new despite being open for a bit)
FOOD: 9/10 (as the pictures show, the food looks amazing when delivered ... every last detail attended to ... and, with one exception, it tastes just as amazing [I could eat buckets of the soup, and a meal of the deviled eggs] ... only a single point deducted for the sauerkraut getting lost in the rueben rolls)
SERVICE: 7/10 (the server herself did well, especially in describing each item in detail after it was ordered, however a point lost for no one greeting our party as we arrived, leading to confusion over whether we were to seat ourselves, a second point lost for having a different server try to take our order after our server was getting the drinks and a third point lost for having the main entrees delivered before we were only halfway done with the appetizers)
BACON: 10/10 (thank you deli for NOT being kosher ... and for having RED COW bacon as a side, bacon that could be also be added to my burger [note: RED COW is the name of the bbq joint also owned by the proprietors, and is not some kind of colored beef bacon] ... so yes, there will be no points lost in this category)
BONUS: 7/10 (+3 for an owner who cut his teeth in the Lettuce Entertain You franchise [well known to this Chicago transplant], +3 for a motto that serves as a worldview to which we all should aspire [Be Nice!], and with breakfast options all very intriguing yet all to date unsampled, this is a place to which we will be returning [+1])
TroyScore: 43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a solid B
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