Critic's Review
There's a real shortage of New Yorkish things in south Florida, and Delis are no exception. Most delis on Long Island aren't sit down venues; they're places where you can get take out salads and cold cuts that are better than stuff you can get in supermarkets. There's a couple of decent places up north (Ben's in Boca and Poppie's in Delray), but the places in Fort Lauderdale are disappointing and overpriced. So it was worth a trip up to Davie to try a new venue. Stirling is kind of a Jewish corridor, so the chance of something much more authentic than Top Hat seemed higher than usual.
Max and Mo's is in a new Walmart shopping center on Stirling, just west of University drive. The place was dead empty at 11:45, which is when I like to eat. No waiting; no trying to stuff me into a corner by the kitchen.
One thing about Jewish Deli's; You can get breakfast all day. No 10:30 cutoff. Bagels are not just a breakfast food. I made sure I could still get breakfast, and ordered coffee.
"Cream or Milk", she asks. Nice to have a choice; milk is for 8yos.
The little milk jugs are kind of cool. Good coffee; good enough to drink without sugar. I never use sugar at home, but usually restaurant coffee needs it.
I ordered a standard breakfast; breakfast comes with choice of toast or a bagel; cream cheese is included. You also have your choice of potatoes. My conversation went like this, and I heard 3 exactly like it at other tables:
"Home fries, hash browns, oatmeal or sliced tomatoes"
"I'll have the hash browns"
"Our hash browns are like tater tots"
"Oh, I'll have the home fries"
I assume they have the McDonald's style hash browns and people have been surprised when they arrived. I call them pop tart hash browns.
Someone came in and sat behind me and I could feel every one of their movements on my side.
The food came out in 3 minutes; literally.
They call the breakfast egg dishes "skillets", but they're not cooked in the skillet. The skillet is cold. It's just a serving gimmick. Obviously their cook doesn't know how to make eggs; this is what I expect to get at Waffle House.
Not over easy, a puddle of oil, cooked on a grill that's too hot. Edible, but not ideal. They have the good sausages; the potatoes needed much seasoning and were a mixture of burned and underdone; again, edible but nothing to write home about.
The bagel comes with cream cheese; I ordered it toasted;
I'll give the bagel a C+; better than Publix but not something I'd go out of my way for. Bland and very "meh". An old-school NY Jew will tell you that a good bagel is "like dessert". This wasn't like dessert.
A few people rolled in at noon; I'm not sure I'd like sitting at one of the tables.
$12.08 for the whole kit and caboodle.
Conclusion
Max and Mo's is a typical South Florida Deli; they have a good idea but they don't have anyone in the kitchen who knows how to make the food. They have a 16oz pastrami for a decent price; at least they commit to an amount unlike Top Hat who charges the NYC price and gives you a South Florida portion. I don't have much confidence that it would remind me of NYC pastrami, however.
Decent grub if you're in the neighborhood, but nothing worth going out of your way for.