I’m going to tell you about one of Boca Raton’s best restaurants ever. Maybe you know it. I’ll give you a few hints…
It’s only open Monday through Saturday from 11-4. Cash only. Everything is homemade.
Did you guess yet?
The bathroom is the main attraction. You walk in and the first thing anyone asks you is, “Have you seen the bathroom yet?”
Now you know where I’m talking about, right?
The Tin Muffin Café. If you haven’t been there, please drop everything you’re doing and go right this second. Well, only if it isn’t Sunday and it’s sometime between 11 and 4. I’m serious; this is one of Boca’s best. It’s been there for years, and hasn’t changed a bit. When you walk inside, you feel as though you’ve been completely transported out of South Florida. Then as soon as youset foot in the famous bathroom, you know where you are – a tropical rainforest with beautiful colors and sounds and everything is refreshing and makes you feel like you’re on top of the world.
Bubby first introduced me to The Tin Muffin years ago during one of my solo trips to Boca. I thought it was the cutest place ever, and the food was just out of this world. Can you believe that I have not been back since then — even after having lived here for two years. My recent lunch trip to Tin Muffin was well overdue. A small part of me wondered if it would be as good as I remembered, but then I walked inside and knew that nothing had changed and I was about to have one amazing meal.
I checked out the chalkboard of specials, but decided to stick to one of the menu staples and ordered the curried chicken salad with roasted red pepper dressing on the side. The curry was very, very mild and despite what you’d think, the red pepper dressing actually complemented it well. The chicken salad also had blanched almonds and sliced red grapes and sat atop a bed of mixed greens, tomatoes, grated carrots and cabbage, sliced cucumbers and asparagus.
My lunch date got the house specialty, the shrimp salad sandwich. The shrimp is seasoned with Old Bay, which he said is totally what sold him on it. We both really enjoyed each dish. I tried the shrimp and it was good, but I have to say my curried chicken was way better! I’d suggest going with one of the salad platters when you go. It really is a beautiful presentation of food and a decent portion, too. It also comes with one of their homemade muffins – today’s were blueberry and banana; I got banana.
I don’t think anyone could leave Tin Muffin without indulging in one of their homemade desserts. The list of yummy cakes and pies is almost as long as the list of specials. Today’s had all sorts of deliciousness: pumpkin cupcakes, coconut cream pie, double chocolate cake, peanut butter pie with ganacheand cherry crumb pie. But what stood out to me was the pumpkin cheesecake. I am powerless before a good pumpkin cheese. So we ordered that to share.
You know when you bite into something and your mouth does a happy dance and fireworks shoot overhead and confetti starts to fall from the sky? No? You’ve never had that happen to you? Oh…
I don’t really know what else to say now. I think I’ve successfully made myself starving and in dire need of another slice of cheesecake.