I tried this eclectic spot in the strip mall on International Parkway closest to the Verizon offices on Wednesday at lunch. It has been open for eleven months. I had Ropa Vieja tacos (3) for $13. The meat wasn't like any ropa vieja I have ever been served. That dish is usually stringy. This was more like bits of meat. The flavoring was off too. And it is kind of a stretch to shoe horn this recipe into a taco. They tried to play up the Cuban element by adding little servings of yellow rice and beans. But, the beans were Mexican style and they also submitted to the taco demands by serving sour cream with it. It was all pretty savory (one note). They tried to mix it up with some mild salsa. It needed something hotter. Especially if you added the sour cream. The tacos could be flour or corn. And as I've regurgitated before, Mexicans only eat corn tortillas with their tacos. Which is a long way to tell you, I chose corn. They were coaster sized. They serve these tacos in an "accordion" mold. Not much finesse in the plating. Tacos take up a quarter of the lunch menu. They also serve five versions of mac and cheese (as a main), ten or so burgers and some soups and salads. Not too ambitious. Or cheap. The cheapest burger was $13. Up to near $20. Tacos were all double digits. Even the macs were double digits. The dinner menu added a few expensive offerings like steak and fish and a lot of common Italian dishes. Like I said, it's a hodge podge. It seats about 40 inside and ten on the patio. A hodge podge here too/ I saw a patio table inside. The decoration is also from the shabby chic thrift store collection. The bar area feels more "usual". But, that makes it feel out of place in this context. And the tvs showing sports adds to the disconnect. The crowd represented the incongruity of the décor. Most of the table sitters were female (a large table of what must be Lake Mary's version of ladies who lunch) and a bar of guys who looked like they just played eighteen. The wait staff of one was obviously not enough for what was a full house. The owner was helping a little, but, they could have used an extra set of hands. However, my service wasn't effected (except for no refill on a soda that was half ice cubes).. The food came out as fast as a scoop of meat tossed into a shell should. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, but, it wasn't memorable either. The capacity crowd begged to differ. It seems to be in harmony with the tastes of the area. And staying in business is a precept that many restauranteurs seems to forget. I didn't check if they had TP for their Bung-holi-low.
*Travel Notes - Italy/Switzerland/Malta:
Italy: Turin - shrimp tartare (only saw this on a menu), salsiccia di bra (a raw veal sausage), cacao e pepe inside a fried pastry shell, Penguin (a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream pop), grilled eggplant and brie sandwich.
Milan - Cheese flowing over the pizza crust like icing, bread dough laced up with string so when it baked it looked like a pumpkin or other gourd, scamorza cheese, scamorza and zucchini pizza (served by the gram). I had focaccia too, but, you've heard of that. That and panini and pizza and cured meats get tiresome sooner than you'd expect.
Naples - Il cuoppo (a paper cone that they fill with almost anything to go), fried pizza, sfogliatalab (thin strings of pastry wound around an object (usually ricotta in the past but now anything goes) and fried.
Rome - Deer salami (in a great sandwich with caciottina cheese, pecorino cheese and fresh raw mushrooms served at Lost Food Factory near the Pantheon for 6E), Toma Maccagno cheese.
Switzerland: Lausanne - Pato soleil bread, Tomme de Savoie cheese (Fr), Gruyere, steak tartare at the Coop supermarket (and it was better than 95% of the ones I've had), mango and paprika potato chips, pretzel shaped donut, Cannibis Iced Tea, Camembert Bites at BK.
Malta: Black ink arancini, pesto flavored potato chips (actually English brand), rabbit liver (and rabbit in general) with tagliatelle, black ink ravioli, chicken and cous cous wrap with sweet chili sauce.
I also loved a clothing store (big one near il duomo called Mooseknuckles. In English. And yes they were racing semi trucks like we race pick ups at some Nascar events. Wild.
And I know some loyal readers are juicing my page views whenever I bitch about them. Thanks. I will suspend disbelief.
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