Wednesday, October 22, 2014

100 Montaditos, UCF Area - Closed

I had dinner at this Spanish restaurant in that big outdoor mall on Alafaya Trail in Waterford Lakes on Friday. It's in the back by the movie theater. I thought "montaditos" would be something like rebel fighters, but, it is a sub-section of Spanish gastronomy that seems to relate to tiny sandwiches and/or little snacks. I was in Spain last spring and I don't recall that word being thrown around. Who knows? Anyway, they really have 100 montaditos. Actually that is a lie. They have more. They have 100 mini sandwiches. They also have 2 platters (of 9 options), 5 appetizers, 4 salads, and beer, wine, sangria and a drink called "clara".  They also have sodas, coffee and water. Refills are free. And get this. The most expensive sandwich is $3. Five are $1. Fifteen are $1.50. Twenty are $2. Forty are $2.50. They call their rolls "chapata". They are around five inches long. They are like a mini-baguette. Almost REALLY good. I can't even get into what comes on them. I had the whole $1 section. That was - serrano ham, chorizo, salchichon (cured sausage), lomo (dry cured pork loin), and chistorra (basque style sausage) with piparra (peppers). They say the source from Spain. I also had a shrimp one for $1.50. It was way too much. I "boxed" three of them. The fillings (minus the shrimp) were all more than respectable. If I lived near here, I would go maybe every other day. I think it's a chain. I want one. In my house! The wine and some of the beer is all Spanish. The place is counter ordering, but, it looks like a real Spanish tapas bar. You'd swear it wasn't manufactured. It seats around sixty. It was pretty full. This is a real find. It rocks the scales on value and is still kind of novel with respect to the cultural experience. They just put all fast food places on notice. I hope they make all of them pick up their game. Extinguishing a few of them in the process wouldn't bother me either. It is a joke that a place like Subway is a dynamo and this place is barely a whisper. Subway is just the most egregious example. This place crushes any sandwich chain in existence.

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