Las Palmas, Mount Dora

I ate lunch at this Cuban restaurant in the center of town (Donnelly St) yesterday. It is oddly one of two Cuban plays on the same block. I had the lunch size Picadillo (ground beef) platter for $10. Mostly because I think I have tried most of the other Cuban dishes on the menu over the years. I may even have had this at some point. It's just a bowl of ground beef stewed with olives, potato and black raisins. It's funny that if they went through the bother of forming this into balls then maybe they could charge the extra $2 that they would at Pizza Bruno's. Bruno would have to kick in more beef though. The beef was made more palatable (and a cheat for the sandwich they have with ground beef) with the delivery of some free pressed bread. It helped balance the richness of the beef eaten solo. The beef did come with a choice of two sides. They also helped balance the meal. I chose red beans and arroz con gandules. The red beans were good. They were stewed with sliced sausage. The rice had pigeon peas, chicken and pork added to it. It was yellow in color. Over cooked like every Latin/Island rice I've ever had. Good enough though. Served in a form. It was hard to finish all this. The menu is large and has what you'd expect a Cuban restaurant that serves lunch and dinner to have. Quite a few platters have lunch prices. Oh! I forgot. The rice was included. I had a salad as my second side. It was a boring lettuce and tomato salad, but, it made it feel like I ordered an app. Service was good. The place looks pretty nice. I remember that they painted the pressed pattern tin ceiling black. I forget what the walls were. It seats about sixty. The room has windows along the sides of the room. There is a little bar room. It's well run and a value. However, it's still Cuban food at the end of the day. I haven't ever been knocked off my feet by it. This is a respectable representation of what it can be.