After three years of success with the Roasters ’n Toasters location in the Suniland Shopping Center, the owners of the popular Pinecrest eatery are branching out with a variation on the restaurant theme at a location just a little to the north.

Dan Kaplan and Jack Kantrowitz have just opened Roasters ’n Toasters Bubbie’s Express in the Tony Roma’s Shopping Center, 6627 S. Dixie Hwy. The 1,600-square-foot, four-table delicatessen offers prepared foods which can be taken home and heated in the microwave or oven.

"With Bubbie’s, we want people to get the feeling that it’s home-cooked food and bring back memories of when they were young and would go over to their grandmother’s house for Friday night dinner or Sunday afternoon brunch," said Kaplan. "It’s not going to be a restaurant in the normal sense. It’s more like a take-out market with tables inside for a few people."

The food in Bubbie’s will be predominantly of Jewish origin, with executive chef Pedro Rosado, formerly with Mark’s in Coconut Grove, preparing fully-cooked meals-to-order for dinner. The menu offers fish, pastas, beef, chicken dishes and meat loaf.

"One of the reasons we’re opening Bubbie’s is that we no longer serve dinner at Roasters and we have received so many requests to reinstate it," said Kaplan. "But the numbers don’t work because of the number of people we have to use. With Bubbie’s, we’ll be able to offer the dinners that people want utilizing a much smaller staff."

Kaplan said Bubbie’s will be an epicurean-style market and offer free delivery, call ahead take-out orders, menu-planning for people who want to program their dining for an entire week and catering services. He said Bubbie’s will jar its own soups and offer traditional Jewish-style prepared foods such as kasha and botis.

"But, we’ll offer a lot of non-traditional dishes, too," said Kaplan. "Because Pedro is from Puerto Rico, he brings a lot of Caribbean tastes to his dinner food and uses fish, cilantro, mango and other fruits in his cooking."

Both Kaplan and Kantrowitz live in Pinecrest and bought Roasters ’n Toasters three years ago. Kaplan says the restaurant has been an unqualified success.

"We tried to create an atmosphere that says, ‘We’re your neighbor; we’re your friend’ and we want to know when there’s a problem, or when there’s a joyous occasion in your life," explained Kaplan. "If something significant happens in our customer’s life, we want to be a part of it. To us, it’s a community store, not a transient place where people come once and you never see them again. Our customers come in four or five times a week.

"Our premise is to give the best quality at the best price and the service that people would expect if they walked in and saw a friend behind the counter."

Kaplan said that premise will continue at Bubbie’s.

For more information, call 305-665-1239.