A new restaurant has opened in Pinecrest, but you can’t drive to it and you can’t go there to eat. It is the nation’s first virtual eatery, where you can order your dinner via the Internet and have it delivered to your home at whatever time you say.

Ron Marks prepares to deliver his Internet dining experience.

"I chose Pinecrest and South Florida to start this concept because people here are much like those in Southern California," said Ron Marks, president of The Fast Fancy Food Company. "They are open to new ideas and they’re willing to try things that people in other parts of the country may not be willing to accept. People here are adventurers and they’ll try something new."

Marks, 34, and his family own Fiddle’s Restaurant, 13611 S. Dixie Hwy., a successful Pinecrest eatery for 18 years. The new virtual restaurant is being operated out of the Fiddle’s kitchen. He says volume for the new enterprise has been so substantial that soon he will set up separate facilities for the on-line restaurant.

"It’s sort of like a restaurant without a restaurant," Marks said. "And the food is basically the same thing you would cook at home if you had the time."

The menu includes such cuisine as raspberry chicken, lasagna, snapper, dolphin, tuna, meat loaf and various stir fries, and it changes often so the customer doesn’t tire of the fare. An individual dinner consists of a main entree, two sides, a dessert, choice of salad, fruit or soup for a base price of $10.95. There’s a family meal available for $19.95 that Marks said is enough for four people and children’s meals also are offered. Special meals such as salt-free food are planned.

After five months of operation, Marks said he has learned that his average customer spends $200-$250 a month with him and utilizes his service three days a week. That is important because the more often a person orders from this virtual restaurant, the cheaper the meal becomes.

"We do offer discounts to people who order from us more frequently," Marks explained.

To check out The Fast Fancy Food Company, access the restaurant’s Internet home page at <www.fancyfoodtoyou.com>, click on the menu icon and simply plan your meals for the day, week, month or two-month period. Punch up the days of the week you want food delivered, pull up a menu for each day and make your selections.

"You have the convenience of ordering your meals over the Internet and have them show up at your house when you want them without the hassle of going to the grocery store to shop, and all the ins and outs of preparing a meal," Marks said.

Food for The Fast Fancy Food Company is prepared daily and arrives at the customer’s home frozen and in sealed, single-use microwaveable containers, so there’s still some work to do before it’s ready for the dinner table.

Marks said his virtual restaurant concept has been received very well by the south Miami-Dade County community and he hopes to expand it soon to serve all of South Florida. He said he has already been approached by people in several other U.S. cities interested in franchising his on-line dining idea.

"I would like to think that I’ll have a facility in every major city in the United States in the next 10 years," he said optimistically. "But right now I’m more concerned with giving people in this area good food and good service."

For more information, call The Fast Fancy Food Company at 305-232-7337.