Restaurants

Latin Cafe 2000 snapshots

Some food simply doesn’t need an atmosphere to improve it.

While hanging out in South Florida before and after a conference (held on the Carnival Imagination no less, which reminds me of that classic Dire Straits song lyric “that ain’t working. That’s the way you do it.”) I managed to stumble into two different groups of attendees who invited me to dinner … at a Cuban restaurant.

This Midwest meat-and-potatoes gal had images of chicken heads floating in the chicken noodle soup, mainly because that’s what the waitress put in front of my friend the last time we ate off the beaten cultural path in Miami. I’ve considered counseling to erase the image from my mind.

But when you’re the organizer for a 3-day group event, you go along to get along on these issues. So I said yes, and hoped I passed a drugstore to stock up on Snicker bars in my room back at the Doubletree Grand Biscayne.

In Miami, we pored over recommendations here at Uptake, and wound up choosing Latin Cafe 2000 local franchise — my friend because the concierge recommended it, and then I nodded yes because it was close. I dislike driving our SUV in the first place, and downtown Miami doesn’t do a thing to improve that attitude. And remember, I figured I was headed toward some kind of voodoo dinner to boot.

So I was pretty relieved to at least find myself seated at the outdoor dining patio where there was plenty of room to run screaming should I see something gross. Instead, I found myself engrossed in a list of foods that included black beans and rice and pork dishes, so suddenly everything was right in my world. It’s a great attitude to have in a laid-back atmosphere like Latin Cafe 2000, where English is definitely a second language. For instance, one of our party asked for a hurricane from the bar, and the waiter had to bring the manager over to the table to translate.

Padrino's: the other end of the scale

“Oh no, sir, it might rain but we’re not going to have a hurricane,” she assured him. After we quit whooping over this misunderstanding, we finally got through that we were talking about an alcoholic beverage. They ended up researching it on the Internet to determine the recipe, but brought it out with the little umbrella at least.

After that carefree visit, still happily stuffed with memories of my beans and plantains, I eagerly agreed to dine four nights later at Padrino’s Restaurant up in Hallendale with a family also hanging out at the Manta Ray Inn. This restaurant came complete with beautiful artwork, gift cards and a formal waiter who addressed me as “m’am.” But even though they are a visual opposite of Latin Cafe, I had the same wonderful experience: black beans and rice (which I managed to spill on the linen tablecloth as I mixed the two bowls), plantains, tilapia and good conversation.

Heck, under those circumstances, I could probably withstand another floating head at the table.

Latin Cafe 2000

2501 Biscayne Blvd.

Miami, FL 33137

(305) 576-3838

Padrino’s Bistro

2500 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Hallendale, FL 33009

(954) 456-4550

Photography: Sue Poremba, Padrino’s Bistro