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Dining review: Las Palmas tastes like a Tampa tradition

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Arroz con pollo, a Cuban sandwich, the Las Palmas Cafe Salad and homemade sangria from Las Palmas Cafe in New Tampa.

By MARY PATRICK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 12, 2009

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TAMPA - The only thing missing is the ambience of old Tampa — no clicking dominoes, no old men solving the world's problems while hunched over café con leche, no lingering cigar smoke.

But Las Palmas Café has the food, and that's the important thing.

Sure, it's closer to Wesley Chapel than Ybor City, but you really can get ropa vieja there like my friend's Cuban abuelita used to make. Not to mention green beans and yuca swimming in garlic butter.

Visiting Las Palmas is a long drive for many, except for the lucky folks in the New Tampa area. The small eatery is tucked in the Pebble Creek shopping center on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, just north of Hunter's Green and Cross Creek Boulevard.

The unassuming restaurant features workmanlike chairs and tables, and the walls are adorned with black and white photos of Tampa, including shots of downtown from the 1920s. We found the service prompt and excellent with recommendations, particularly for the Texas couple who joined us and had never eaten Spanish food before.

We started with an appetizer combo basket, a deep-fried pairing of devil crabs, stuffed potatoes and croquetas. The potatoes came stuffed with a mixture of seasoned pork and beef and stood out among the three as the most exceptional. Better was the beef empanada, a deep-fried pastry stuffed with picadillo (a Latin American beef hash).

Better than all of these, however, was the sangria. It really is among the best we've tasted in Tampa. Served in jelly jar glasses rimmed with cinnamon and sugar, it is a bargain at $15 for a full carafe.

For main dishes, we tried the arroz con pollo, which was a bit bland for our tastes. An improvement was the Bistec de Pepe, a breaded and fried palomilla steak topped with burgundy wine mushroom sauce, Swiss cheese, peas and pimientos. The meat was tender, nicely breaded and fried, but the burgundy wine and mushroom sauce was nothing exceptional. Entrées come with two sides, including peas, sweet corn, yuca, green beans, tostones (fried green plantains) and platanos fritos (fried ripe plantains).

If you go, the entrée to try — especially for first-timers — is the Taste of Ybor, which offers up three different meat dishes, all worth recommending. The best is the ropa vieja, which is served alongside delicious picadillo and lechon asado (pulled pork in a sour orange, garlic and herb mojo).

For dessert, we tried the flan, which boasted a creamy yet dense texture with a caramel sugar sauce.

On a later visit, we tried the take-out service. The food preparation was swift and every aspect of our order was fulfilled. This time around, we tried sandwiches, all of which came served on very fresh bread. The palomilla steak sandwich proved to be our favorite, simply served with mustard and sautéed onions. The sweetness of the onions combined with the tartness of the mustard offered a perfect backdrop for the tender, deep-fried steak.

The ropa vieja retained its boldness in sandwich form, and the lechon asado was actually better, served with mojo sauce on the side for dipping.