Now that we're at war-sort of-I've been conducting a kind of spiritual culinary experiment. I've been eating at a lot of restaurants run by our former sworn blood enemies-yesterday's Evil Evildoers of Evil. I'm making the rounds: Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Germany. Five years from now you'll probably find me raving about the latest trendy Afghani restaurant to throw up a tent at CityPlace. And just because I'm developing a taste for Pho, the national soup of Vietnam, doesn't mean I've forgotten that two million Vietnamese died during our most recent war on communism. In fact, I give those two million souls a fair amount of thought over the spring rolls and jasmine rice. I don't mean to be a wet blanket here, but John Stockwell, a former [turncoat] CIA agent, reckons that the U.S. dropped the equivalent of a 500-pound bomb on Vietnam for every one of its citizens.

Food and bombs are opposites, don't you think? One nourishes and succors, the other blows you to smithereens. That's why one South Florida activist group, which goes around collecting food for the hungry and homeless, calls itself Food Not Bombs. As it happens, the way they get most of their loot is by hitting up restaurants. It's a great system, because it's the nature of restaurants to generate a lot of food waste, and this way the schizophrenic guy who stands out on the median at Congress and 10th can find himself chowing down on basically the same gourmet grub as the ladies who lunch at Amici or the highrollers at the Governor's Club. For free. There's a kind of lovely righteousness in that, I think. May the circle be unbroken.

Anyway, most of the places I'm going to tell you about have been written up elsewhere by other restaurant critics, because your average professional foodie, in spite of a silhouette to rival Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit, likes to strike with the velocity and force of a coke-demented cobra. So let this serve as a gentle reminder, Dear Readers, both of a number of worthy restaurants in Palm Beach County that should be on your short list; and also of a few places we've been, militarily speaking, in the last 60 years or so. That low whine you hear in the distance might just be the sound of history repeating.

Red Cyclo
125 N. Congress Ave
Boynton Beach
561/733-2925.

Judging from films like "Vertical Ray of the Sun," the Vietnamese relationship with food is as complicated as the sexual peccadilloes of an extended family-in contrast, the cuisine itself is direct, bright and simple. This charming whitewashed restaurant, decorated with trinkets from the old country and run by the Nguyen family, is a great stop for a simple home-cooked Vietnamese meal. Cyclo's décor reflects that straightforwardness: tile floors, white walls, red accents. The food is light, fresh, full of color and crunch, and occasionally accented by a burst of amazing flavor. Herbs like cilantro, lemongrass and basil provide the culinary entertainment, along with a purplish leaf that tastes something like cinnamon perfume. The owner couldn't tell me what this last herb was called, but he promised to bring me a rooted specimen for my garden next time I came in. A sampler appetizer comes with fried rolls stuffed with vermicelli noodles, pork, and vegetables; beef sticks marinated in lemon grass; and shrimp mousse grilled in stalks of sugar cane. Grilled beef is wrapped in betel leaves. The phos (big pots of soup with vegetables and meat or fish) are fresh and aromatic. An egg crepe is stuffed with bean sprouts and marinated pork; chopped spring rolls are served over vermicelli noodles; catfish is slathered in caramel sauce. Forr vegetarians: half a dozen variations on tofu. Few dishes run over $15.

Kawai
809 Lake Ave
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561-721-1963

Run by a young and handsome husband-wife team (one Korean, one Japanese) transplanted from New York, where they previously owned a Korean restaurant, Kawai serves Korean specialties as well as excellent sushi and Japanese dishes, but you have to ask specially for the Korean menu-either they're sick of cooking Korean or they just assume you're there for the sushi. Korean hot pots-soup as a meal--are extraordinary, flavorful, and very spicy, complemented by a slew of little dishes-kimchee, chiles, spicy string beans. The soups contain monkfish, clams, pork, onions and vegetables, and they're big enough that you'll probably end up taking some home. Bulgogi is extra-thin-sliced beef marinated in fruit (usually apple or pear), a semi-sweet spicy treat that melts in the mouth. Bibimbap is prepared at the table-julienne beef, rice, sprouts, cucumber, a raw egg, and seaweed are mixed together and quickly stir fried in sesame oil and chile paste. Also try the assortment of fritters, pancakes, and dumplings, all homemade Korean specialties. Once you've made it through the Korean menu, work your way through the Japanese, which is equally fresh and invigorating. Prices are reasonable.


Rustico Italiano
701 Lucerne Avenue Lake Worth
561/547-2782

Since it opened a couple of years ago, this quaint café, straight out of some storybook Italian village, has had one or two kinks to work out. Used to be the proprietor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Roberto Benigni, evidenced a kind of controlled hysteria while he rushed around with steaming plates of mussels in wine sauce and al dente spaghetti. These days things at Rustico seem a bit calmer, and the food is still as good as ever. The simple menu doesn't offer much beyond the staples: carpaccio, calamari, mussels, and a deep fried mozzerella; soups and salads, a variety of pastas in light tomato or cream sauces, and chicken breast, veal, steak and salmon as entrees, plus nightly specials. But all those staples are winners. Fresh cheese and mushroom ravioli is perfectly cooked. Prices are very fair.

For more information on food redistribution contact Food Not Bombs, Miami, at soyape@yahoo.com; or Lake Worth Food Redistribution at 561/547-6686 (ask for Waffle).