Cheap eats: El Tamarindo

El Tamarindo is the anti-Taco Bell. The Fort Lauderdale restaurant boasts a reasonably priced menu of good Latin American food, a warm atmosphere and attentive servers who keep your water glass full and check on you often.

While the menu expectedly includes tacos, fajitas and burritos, it also offers Salvadoran-style shrimp ($10.95), top sirloin ($9.99), pork chops ($6.99), chicken with onions ($7.25) and fried fish (market price). If you have a taste for beef, fish and fowl, try the Tamarindo’s Special, with steak, shrimp and chicken ($10.99).

But don’t ignore the Mexican fare: A big, delicious burrito ($3.95) laden with tender chunks of beef and accompanied by chopped bits of tomatoes, onion and spices is melt-in-your-mouth good, as is the three-taco meal ($4.95).

Diners may eat at one of many indoor tables, or outdoors, with piped-out music, the flow of big trucks making their way to and from Port Everglades, a lovely view of Lester’s Diner (and the Fontaine Truck Equipment Company) and if you’re dining at just the right time of evening, tiki torches and a nice mist created by the sprinkler system.

On two recent visits, only a few people were sitting outside. When that’s the case in other restaurants, servers may forget about you. That doesn’t happen here. This place has exceptional service, whether you’re having breakfast, dinner or just some appetizers. Many tables are often available, but as more people learn about this place, that certainly won’t be the case for long.

El Tamarindo is located at 233 State Road 84 in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954/467-5114.

Full-court press

LeBron James isn’t the first sports star to have his likeness rendered in the pages of a comic book. Back in the day, Joe Namath, Johnny Bench, Rick Barry and, yes, O.J. Simpson were caricatured between the covers of Marvel and DC comics, albeit in ads that were clearly designated as such. (Muhammad Ali actually squared off against Superman, but he wasn’t plugging anything.) Now, NBA superstar James has flipped the script, starring in his own comic book, which is really a thinly veiled advertisement for a new sports drink and available with multiple purchases of Powerade. Titled King James and released by DC, the book was commissioned by Powerade, which, coincidentally, has also contracted the 19-year-old, first-round draft pick to pitch its latest concoction.

Called Flava23 — 23 is ’Bron’s number — and sporting his comic-book likeness, the new beverage was apparently created with input from the Cleveland Cavaliers standout, who is the youngest player to score 40 points in a game and the youngest to reach 1,000 career points. According to a press release, James was involved in choosing the flavor (sourberry), color and packaging of the sports drink, which hit store shelves last week. In the comic book, which is displayed at www.flava23.com, ’Bron and his buddies defeat an international roster of bad-guy b-ballers to show up the evil Hetairia cartel, then triumphantly head for home. “You showed those Hetairia what flava was all about, ’Bron,” one of them says. Now that’s subtle. But in case you missed it, a full-page ad on the back of the book touts the premiere of Flava23.

It took 18 years to get this far

For its latest offering, Centenario Gold, the Nicaraguan rum maker Flor de Caña steeps every batch for 18 years. Talk about delayed gratification. The distillery makes use of a slow aging process that gives the rum an almost butterscotch hue, apparently teases out a complex blend of flavors and lends the liquor a finish smoother than the small of Beyoncé’s back. As it has for more than a century, Flor de Caña ages its rums in its original barrelhouses, which are unencumbered by air conditioning, electrical ventilation or humidifiers, so sippers are assured no funky taste or smell creeps into the final product. Depending on your taste and budget, Flor de Caña also makes rum in 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 12- and 15-year-old batches and offers a 4-year-old, naturally flavored limón variant.

Would you drink this?

Nesquik, orange juice and a shot of ginger ale

Chaille Stovall, a 15-year-old documentary filmmaker from Miami (see “The kid stays in the picture,” Colleen Dougher, Aug. 4), says drinking this concoction has become a family tradition. To make it, add two teaspoons of powdered Nesquik to one cup of orange juice. If you’d like a little bubble action, throw in about a half-cup of ginger ale. Stovall also enjoys putting a hunk of cornbread into a glass of buttermilk and eating it with a spoon.

Have a strange or disgusting recipe? E-mail it to us at citylink@citylinkmagazine.com.

Cyberfare: www.peanutbutterlovers.com

Who doesn’t like peanut butter? It does, after all, go with just about anything: peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and celery, peanut butter and fried eggs. You get the idea.

But how much do you really know about the brown stuff? At www.peanutbutterlovers.com, you’ll find nearly everything you ever wondered about it, including its origins. You may be aware of George Washington Carver’s peanut experiments at the turn of the 20th century, but did you know that in 1890, St. Louis physician George A. Bayle Jr. supposedly encouraged the owner of a food-products company to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn’t chew meat? The doctor experimented by grinding peanuts in his hand-cranked meat grinder, then mechanized the process and began selling peanut butter from barrels for 6 cents a pound.

Peanut butter has come a long way since then. Not only does it taste good with chocolate, marshmallow, jelly or just straight off the spoon, but it also is believed to lower blood pressure, protect against breast cancer and fight adult-onset diabetes. Of course, it goes well with fudge, too.