Unrated: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.

We haven’t found a better Thai restaurant in all of South Florida than Fort Lauderdale's Larb Thai-Isan. This narrow, colorful restaurant is making the best versions we’ve ever had of Thai dishes like khao soi, larb, and som tum in an area that’s dense with corporate chain restaurants. Every ingredient in every dish—from each spicy strand of papaya to the tender drumstick that floats in the khao soi—tastes like the perfect form of itself. And it’s also just a pleasure to eat here. Service is friendly and most tables have a view of the kitchen, where you’ll watch cooks pound and chop away. There will probably be a wait, but you can drink beer outside and stare at the Outback Steakhouse across the street to kill time.

We’ve got some solid dim sum options in Miami, but nothing like Ten Ten, a Sunrise restaurant that treats a meal of endless shumai and freshly carved peking duck like the grand occasion it is. The red and gold restaurant feels perpetually celebratory, and you’ll get ambushed by carts the nanosecond your butt touches the seat. You want everything on said carts—this is the best dim sum we’ve had in South Florida. The soup dumplings have enough broth inside to fill up a big spoon twice, the fried dishes are crispy and hot, and the pastries are cute enough to trigger aggression. Grab the delicate swan-shaped pastries with a durian filling and a little head you can decapitate with your two front teeth. But make sure to order one of the big entrees, too. The peking duck is carved fresh and has skin that's so shiny, you can see your reflection.

Miami has so few Korean options that we made an entire guide to Korean restaurants worth driving out of Miami for. And Gabose is the best place in South Florida to do the cooking yourself on a little charcoal grill in the center of the table. That’s why there could be an hour-plus wait here on weekends (and they don’t take reservations). But it’s worth it to watch marinated short rib, thin-as-paper beef tongue, and spicy baby octopus turn into crispy deliciousness before your eyes. The marinades here are so tasty that even the nearly blackened pieces you forgot about for 10 minutes still taste good.

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Broward—and specifically Fort Lauderdale—is spoiled when it comes to Thai food. Not only do they get the phenomenal Larb Thai-Isan, but just 12 minutes away in Oakland Park, Nour Thai is making Isan dishes with flavors more satisfying than discovering your car has not been towed after parking in a risky spot. The simple strip mall restaurant is quiet enough to not distract from the thrilling menu of Thai dishes. Start by ordering liberally from their separate Isan-focused menu. Over on the main menu, the must-order dish is the gorgeously purple chor muang dumplings. And you’re in good hands with pretty much every curry or noodle dish.

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Chef Tally is really close to the Miami-Dade County line. But it's still a Broward resident. You could argue that Miami has some good jerk chicken options. But we haven't found one as good as this. You’ll be able to smell this outdoor operation before you see it. A team of cooks wearing gas masks huddles over huge grills that send peppery smoke into the sky. And the line that’s likely snaking around the Jamaican food truck is worth waiting in. Your jerk options are chicken, ribs, and pork—plus some seasonal specials like escovitch lobster. But tender, smoky chicken is what Chef Tally does best, so make that most of your order. Just be sure to visit the table of unlabeled orangish sauces on your way back to the car, give everything a squirt, and let it all marinate on the ride home.

Food isn’t the reason you’re coming to this Lighthouse Point seafood restaurant—history is. Cap’s Place is nearly 100 years old, and it feels that way. To get here, you have to take a 90-second boat ride from a nearby marina. Once dropped off at the dock, you can head right to the dining room for a cold glass full of bourbon (which they refer to as a “Manhattan”), or spend some time at the bar, a separate wooden shack that would probably look very familiar to a time traveler from 1929. Get something fried, or just fill the table up with nothing but crab cakes, the only thing on the menu we’d swim back for. But more than anything, Cap’s is a place to sit back and feel grateful that the spirit of old South Florida hasn’t been completely paved over.

Ever since Lorenzo's closed, Miami has been without a great Italian market. That’s not the case just north in Hollywood, where you can find Mimi's Ravioli. This isn’t the biggest market, but they make use of every square inch, filling the place with cheese, pasta, cakes, cannolis, deli sandwiches, and more. Truly, go wild. Fill up a basket with anything that looks good (it will, in fact, be good). But do not leave without the softball-size globs of Mimi's homemade mozzarella. Also, maybe don’t come here if you’re not in the mood to enjoy an entire pound of supple, non-aged dairy for dinner. That inevitably happens on days that involve a trip to Mimi’s. 

Yes, the pho with silky noodles is every bit as incredible as it should be at a place whose name is 50% “pho.” But everything on the menu at this Vietnamese restaurant would be worth jogging from Coral Gables to Davie on a July afternoon. Start with the grilled mussels and the bánh xèo crispy enough to wake a person during deep REM. Then supplement your pho with a beefy main like the “Vietnamese lomo saltado” or a bò né, a sizzling platter of steak and eggs you can build into your own little breakfast bánh mì. Pho Bar works best for groups, especially if you want to take advantage of the other 50% of the name. Come during daily Happy Hour from 3-6pm to drink "phojitos" and order some combination of noodles and beef. There's also a second location in Pembroke Pines, in case that's more convenient.

The owner of this shop started making ice cream at Jaxson’s, an iconic Broward restaurant where legions of children celebrate birthdays by getting jacked up on sugar and hot dogs. But this Miramar spot is smaller and features a selection of Caribbean and Jamaican ice cream flavors as well as more standard Americana staples like chocolate and cookie dough. But get a few samples of the Caribbean options—like the bun and cheese—because it’s what Cleveland’s does best. Their to-go packaging will keep the generous scoops safe on a short ride home, although you might as well sit in a big booth here and eat ice cream next to ice cream wallpaper.

South Florida has a surplus of lifeless strip malls with hideous paint jobs that do a good job of gatekeeping restaurants like Dar Tajine. But pay attention to this one. The Moroccan spot next to a Five Below has brass chandeliers, instrumental Turkish music, and pointed arches that all set the mood for a peaceful dinner. Get the lamb shank tagine, which comes with a massive piece of lamb that slides off the bone showing off how tender it is. Then wash it all down with mint tea poured at least ten inches away into a shot glass with perfect accuracy. 

Unlike Miami's more casual Trinidadian options, Joy’s is a party. Even though it looks a little like an office building, the bar gets crowded at 4:35pm on a Sunday and the Caribbean soundtrack is always turned way up. You’re coming to this Lauderhill classic to wipe your plate clean with Joy’s incredibly tender, still-warm-from-the-flat-top buss up shut. Focus on the roti options, but also start with some well-seasoned doubles. Protein options include curry chicken, goat, duck, shrimp, conch, oxtail, and more. It's all served with a side of curry aloo and enough roti to ensure you’ll get to wipe every last molecule from your plate. Leave with a pint of Joy’s peanut ice cream. 

Plantation is known for its suburban lifestyle, its big green golf course, and (after reading this) “monkey gland sauce” and “bunny chow.” For the uninitiated, one is a tangy barbecue sauce unrelated to monkeys, the other is an unsliced bread loaf filled with curry, and you can find both at Dutchy’s in Plantation. The food here is as fun as it sounds, starting with an entire platter of biltong that will make it hard to go back to jerky. But our favorite is that bunny chow, a comforting bread bowl filled with spicy lamb curry, potatoes, and sambal. Enjoy it while watching a rugby match on their big screen. The biltong platter alone is reason enough to move, but for now we’ll just keep paying $10 for a 2oz bag of biltong at Whole Foods before Miami Sharks matches.