I'm no expert in Comida Latina, but I just want to sound sexy reading all those wonderful food…read morecreations listed on the door of this store....empanaaaaada, frrrrresco, chicharrrrrron. See?
We stumbled across this place because we arrived early at a restaurant and assumed it would be open for breakfast. Our assumptions failed, but opened us up to discovering this cute grocery slash cafeteria slash everything latino store. It seemed like a central hub to every brand of authentic groceries and cuisine. There's nothing fancy about it, but it didn't need to be. Although it had your typical overhead fluorescent lighting, it still had charm.
We were mostly interested in getting some coffee, and when I saw the most techy machine for espresso and a techy steamed milk maker, a large cafe con leche was predicted to be in my immediate future. I'm no pyschic, but it was true. We ordered our cafe con leche from the cutest lady who spoke a lick of English, but it didn't matter. It's just one of those places where you get the special stuff if you speak another language. I don't speak any Spanish, so I may have lost out on that special stuff. The last time I thought I would get the "special stuff" off a menu, I ended up with fermented goat milk. So, with one sip of my coffee, I was in heaven. If you have not tried a cafe con leche from a latino market or a cuban restaurant, it's crack with milk. They do it right, and yep. I was set for the day.
I had a chance to peruse the aisles and not only did they have dried goods, they had a butcher meat section, a small produce section, stands with a myriad of spices, an area with tables and seats, a check cashing station, a bunch of pastries, and different types of hot foods served for lunch. That's one-stop shopping, people.
Check it out if you're aiming to get some specialty latino market items, or just to even have a coffee like we did. There are these little treasures to discover in a place like this, and for dirt cheap too. It exists in the Joe's Diner/Rumba Cafe plaza and it's pretty visible from Airport Road.
7-2015