With Sick You Get Egg Roll

The Continental dessert selection was hardly as surprising as the Thanksgiving menu the restaurant was touting -- from mushroom-barley soup to young Vermont turkey and string beans almondine to pumpkin pie ($12.95 per person, $7.95 for children under twelve). Or the lounge, where the talent crooned old favorites to an audience of ashtrays and empty chairs. But aside from those odd overreaches, East Ocean delivers where it counts, with talent in the kitchen.

Side Dish
Joe's Stone Crab owner Stephen Sayitz put his downtime to good use this past summer, moving his restaurant's entrance from Biscayne Street to Washington Avenue. Combined with a new 130-spot parking garage, the new foyer should alleviate some problems with overcrowding, as should the new Joe's Takeaway (the old takeaway site is now a private dining room that seats 50). And a gorgeous mahogany bar, also recently added, ought to make that killer wait a little bit easier to bear. In fact, says Sayitz's assistant Rose McDaniel, Joe's Stone Crab now looks more like it used to. But diehard patrons needn't worry -- the menu has been left untouched. No adjustments needed there.

East Ocean Restaurant & Lounge(in the Thunderbird Hotel) 18401 Collins Ave; 937-1006. Open daily from 4:30 p.m. to midnight.