Las Palmas Latin Grill Closes After Fire

Fire damage will keep Las Palmas closed until late spring, 2022.

One of the saddest pieces of business news we heard recently was that a 20-minute kitchen fire had closed Las Palmas Latin Grill, located in the same plaza as Five Guys Burgers & Fries and LA Fitness at County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. 

Owner/chef Ramses Garcia says that although there is no definitive time line for Las Palmas to reopen, he estimates at least 5-7 months. At our press time, Ramses said that the cause of the Oct. 11 fire was not yet known and that he’s thankful that no one was injured.

In the meantime, there is some good news, as Ramses announced on his Facebook page he will soon be serving his popular Cuban sandwiches (and other dishes) from a food truck.

“I have some good news…I have purchased a food truck to hold us until the insurance company decides when are they going to release funds for the cleanup and rebuild,” Ramses wrote. “The plaza landlord has given me permission to place the truck in the parking lot of the restaurant for the time being.”

Ramses doesn’t have an exact date for the debut of the food truck, but said it is already registered with the DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) and the Division of Hotel and Restaurants.

“I’ll keep you posted of updates as we get close to open,” Ramses wrote. “I’m really trying hard to have this done as quick as I can. I probably look at 15-20 trucks before I picked these one. The truck is in “the bag” and soon ready to serve those awesome Cubans we make for the best customers in my world
 my Tampa peeps!”

One of his customers, Cynthia Havard, started a GoFundMe page to help Ramses rebuild, and if you want to help out, CLICK HERE.

Also at our press time, Las Palmas was either leading or in second place among our readers’ Favorite Latin Restaurant and in the top-10 for Favorite Restaurant of any kind in New Tampa, so obviously, a lot of people are unhappy that it has had to close, even if it’s just temporarily. — GN

Las Palmas Earns The Title Of Best Cuban Restaurant In Tampa Bay!

Ramses Garcia, the owner/chef at Las Palmas Latin Grill off County Line Rd., just south of the Pasco County line (near Five Guys Burgers & Fries), is a pretty confident guy — confident about his food and his restaurant’s entrenched position in our community — and that confidence has been boosted in recent years, as Las Palmas has won a couple of impressive titles.

After being named as the purveyor of the “World’s Best Cuban Sandwich (Tampa historic style)” at the Cuban Sandwich Festival held in Ybor City the last two years, and with the shocked reaction he received from the community when he closed his former Las Palmas location (in the Pebble Creek Collection, a little further south on Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) nearly two years ago — as well as the overjoyed reaction he and his wife Ana got when Las Palmas resurfaced in its new location earlier this year — it’s easy to understand why he feels so strongly about what he does.

But, even the big man with the bigger personality couldn’t possibly have expected to win the title bestowed upon him recently by another well-known (even though I’d never heard of it before…just kidding) local publication — Best of the Bay Cuban Restaurant, by Creative Loafing. 

Or did he?

“Hell yes, we deserve it,” Ramses says proudly. There were at least 75 other Cuban restaurants throughout the Tampa Bay area that received votes, so that’s not something you can win by accident. You and the Mrs. love my food, don’t you?”

Heck yes, we do. I’ve enjoyed so many dishes over the years at both of Ramses’ Las Palmas locations — from the ropa vieja (shredded beef) to the breaded palomillo steak to the lechon asado (roasted pork) and the crispy beef, aka vaca frita (which is marinated in garlic-lemon mojo sauce sautĂ©ed to a delicious crisp), to the deep fried pork chunks drizzled with garlic mojo (masitas). 

But, the dish that hooked Jannah on Las Palmas that also has been my long-time favorite is the merluza a la Russe (whitefish with Russian sauce, made with chopped eggs, parsley and spices; left photo on next page). Well, maybe it used to be my favorite.

New Favorites?

The reason is not because I don’t still love this flaky, white fish (also known as hake), lightly breaded, flash-fried and topped with chopped egg and delicious spices. It’s because Ramses recently added a few new menu items that are now vying for attention as my favorite. 

Ramses has a unique take on the traditional Peruvian-style fish ceviche tapas. Not only does he marinate raw whitefish in lime juice and spices, he places chunky pieces of it into edible cups made out of plantains and tops this tapas with onions and red and yellow peppers. Other favorite starters/tapas on the menu include yuca fries, empanadas, deviled crabs, stuffed potatoes and croquettes.

Las Palmas also has a great café salad, topped with smoked ham, Genoa salami, Swiss cheese, green olives and banana peppers and his creamy herb dressing is outstanding, although he also has great balsamic vinaigrette and ranch dressings, too.

Ramses also recently added thick-cut loin pork chops (costillas de puerco; photo above) that are available breaded and deep fried or marinated and grilled (as in the picture) and are tender and super-tasty.

But, my favorite of the new menu items is an amazing churrasco steak (above), topped with one of the best homemade chimichurri (green) sauces I’ve ever tasted. And, even though the churrasco is flank steak, it is amazingly tender and cooked to perfection.

“Of course it’s tender,” Ramses says proudly. “That’s prime flank steak — the best you can buy. It costs a little more, but I want people to know that when they eat here, they get top quality at great prices.”

For those looking for a quick and delicious lunch (served 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday only), many of Las Palmas’ Cuban favorites are available with one side dish for $8.49 to no more than $9.49, including the roasted pork, ropa vieja, picadillo (minced beef), fried butterfly shrimp and the chef’s selection “Tour of Havana,” a classic sampler trio of ropa vieja, roasted pork and picadillo.

Available lunch sides include black beans, boiled yuca, sweet or green fried plantains, green beans, peas, a side house salad and even French fries. 

And, of course, Ramses sells a lot of his “World’s Best” Cuban sandwiches at lunch, too. He also serves a Miami-style Cuban (without salami), a roasted pork sandwich, breaded or grilled palomillo steak and a breaded basa (freshwater fish) sandwich, all served on artisanal Cuban bread. 

At dinner time, you can have your choice of yellow or white rice and black or red beans, in addition to the lunch sides mentioned above. You also can substitute a cup of one of Las Palmas’ premium soups — black bean, white bean and collared greens, garbanzo beans or black beans and rice soups — for only 45 cents additional. Other dinner entrĂ©es not mentioned earlier include chicken and yellow rice, grilled chicken breast and two shrimp dishes I sadly can’t sample — breaded, fried shrimp and shrimp in garlic sauce. 

What About Dessert?

You definitely should save room for dessert at Las Palmas.

The sampler pic above features items that are available every day in the beautiful display case at the front of the restaurant, including (l.-r.) the tres lechĂ©s (sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk, including evaporated, condensed and heavy cream), a traditional chocolate layer cake, Cuban-style flan and a light and delicious creme brulĂ©e, which has that perfectly crisp topping even though it’s not flambĂ©ed tableside. A second display case located near the cash register offers a variety of perfect pastries, all with flaky crusts and delicious fillings like guava and (I believe) some kind of berry. 

And of course, there’s amazing espresso (aka cafĂ© Cubano) and some of the best cafĂ© con lechĂ© in town.

Las Palmas’ catering menu is extensive but never expensive, with corporate events and large parties a specialty, and Ramses says beer and wine is definitely in the restaurant’s future. 

Las Palmas Latin Grill is located at 6431 E. County Line Rd., New Tampa. It is open Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. It is closed on Sundays. Reservations are never required. For more information, call (813) 803-3903 or visit LasPalmasLatinGrill.com.   

Las Palmas Café Is A Lot More Than Just Great, Authentic Cuban Cuisine!

When the husband-and-wife team of Chef Ramses and Ana Garcia took over Las Palmas Café in the Pebble Creek Collection four years ago this month, the restaurant was already a popular little place that not enough people outside of Pebble Creek knew about.

Today, in addition to revamping the interior, Ramses says he “changed literally everything on the menu” to make the Cuban dishes more authentic. And, using his training from places he worked for in his hometown of Miami, he has slowly added many other menu items, some of which are not traditionally Cuban, although everything we’ve sampled on Las Palmas’ extensive (but never expensive) menu has been delicious.

In fact, there are so many great items available at this still-hidden gem that I didn’t have room for a pic of what has always been my favorite dish at Las Palmas — the merluza a la Rusa, or flaky, breaded white fish with a unique topping of hard boiled eggs, pimiento and parsley.

Instead, I did include a pic of Ramses’ equally delicious (and less fattening) grilled fish, with a side of yellow rice, and his grilled chicken with a side of homemade fried plantains.

I’m all about trying new things, so I told Ramses to make some of his favorite dishes for us to sample at the Neighborhood News, and he didn’t disappoint.

First up was a fried yuca appetizer, served with a delicious cilantro lime dipping sauce. I don’t always love the consistency of yuca, but Ramses no doubt knows how to make it crisp, tender and very tasty.

Ramses’ award-winning “historic” Cuban sandwich also didn’t make it onto these two pages, in part because his full-page ad on page 41 has such a gorgeous picture of it, but also because he wanted me to try his equally tasty Cuban club sandwich, which includes ham, turkey, bacon and Swiss cheese, with lettuce, tomato and mayo pressed on perfect Cuban bread.

“Our traditional Cuban incudes our famous roast pork, ham and Swiss, with mustard, mayo and pickles pressed on Cuban bread,” Ramses says. “We entered the Cuban Sandwich Festival for the first time in April (as reported last issue) and we were proud to win, but not surprised. We sold more than 1,000 mini-Cubans in the two days of the festival. By the time they announced that we had won (on Sun.), we were already almost sold out.”

Other traditional Cuban cuisine Ramses made sure we tried were the Havana Trio — ropa vieja (shredded beef), roast pork (lechon) and picadillo (ground beef with olives and veggies in tomato sauce), and Ramses’ must-try braised ox tail.

I told Ramses that I had only ever had ox tail at Jamaican restaurants, and usually, it was in a soup, which I didn’t love. But, his ox tail is in big pieces, on the bone like a veal or pork shank, in a dark, savory sauce.

“We only make ox tail on Thursday,” Ramses said on my recent Thursday visit. “But, we braise it for six hours and have regulars who come in every week for it.”

And, as if on cue, in stepped Bob, a Pebble Creek resident whose first words were, “Where’s the grumpy guy? I’m here for my ox tail.”

Other new and old favorites of mine at Las Palmas include the grilled flank steak with chimichurri sauce, the breaded  steak milanese with marinara sauce and Italian cheese, the “masitas” (pork chunks) and tender, grilled pork chops.

One item I couldn’t try that everyone else in our office raved about is the shrimp in garlic sauce, served with a side of homemade tostones (large and not sweet fried green plantains). If you’re not allergic to shrimp, I definitely suggest dipping Ramses’ perfect Cuban bread in the sauce.

Other popular appetizers include ham, chicken or cheese croquettes, empanadas and pork tamales. Soups include black bean, chickpea and chicken tortilla. Try the house and Las Palmas salads (the creamy herbal dressing is addictive), too.

Other favorites on the menu include the chicken and yellow rice, the Cuban-Creole shrimp stew, the “vaca frita” (crispy beef), the Cuban rafters (merluza topped with shrimp), Ramses’ steak sandwich (unbreaded palomillo steak topped with sautĂ©ed onions and shoestring potatoes) and the fried fish sandwich.

Daily Lunch Specials & More!         

Even though all of the entrées on the menu are only $8.99-$14.99, many of the previously mentioned favorites (including picadillo, ropa vieja, pork chops and more) are available as lunch specials (with white or yellow rice and a side item) for only $7.99-$8.99 for lunch.

There’s also a great kids menu, with all items $4.99 or less, an extensive catering menu and many homemade desserts, including flan, rice pudding, creme brulĂ©e, triple chocolate truffle cake and Ramses’ homemade tres leches dessert, which Bob says is, “the best I’ve had anywhere and I’ve had it all over the world. Do yourself a favor and try it for yourself!”

Las Palmas Café is located at 19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in the Pebble Creek Collection. It is open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday (closed Sunday). For more information, call (813) 907-1333, or visit LasPalmasCafe.net. And please, tell Ramses and Ana that we sent you!