Thursday, December 06, 2007
Latin and Italian? You bet
Larry Bly
Larry Bly has plenty on his plate these days. He's got two TV shows on Cox Cable Roanoke. Click ahead for details and showtimes.
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I recently got such a surprise, food-wise, that I found myself going back again and again to a plain looking restaurant on Williamson Road in Roanoke. The building (a former fast-food restaurant from days gone by with those plastic but efficient booths) belies the menu and quality of food being served.
At first I was intrigued by the name "Latin & Italian Restaurant." We're plenty used to Brazilian-Italian (Norbertos and Carlos) but I had not seen this combination before.
The owner was doing all of the honors except for cooking during the few times I was there. And he does it in a friendly, unhurried and pleasant manner. Edwin and Zayda Cruz are the owners; they're no newcomers to the restaurant business, having more recently operated one at Smith Mountain Lake and another before that in the Norfolk/Newport News area.
What comes out of the kitchen is fresh and delicious. These people take great pride in their food, you can just tell. Edwin claims that the first panel on their menu offers unprecedented dishes to this area: carne asada (roasted meat), pollo frito con tajadas (fried chicken served with green bananas), con pollo (rice with chicken -- this one's a winner), pescado en salsa pincante (fish in hot sauce), and sopa de res (beef soup). Well, you might find a few of these on other menus, but who's to argue?
One recent lunch featured a meat lasagna, which came with the standard ensulada (salad). Most "house" salads aren't much these days, but this one came on a large plate, brimming with fresh, crunchy lettuce, lots of tomatoes, tons of sliced black olives and a generous sprinkling of cheese on top. This could easily have satisfied my luncheon cravings. Shortly thereafter, the lasagna arrived, a nice portion, bubbling hot, and quite good. It was a bit shy on the meat (one had to look hard) but more than made up for that with the dark, red sauce, and ample cheese inside and on top. Also included was bread (hard to find in restaurants for lunch these days): a mini-loaf of piping-hot garlic bread. This was a larger lunch than I anticipated, but nothing was left behind. Other salads -- chicken, shrimp and ham salad with cheese -- are also offered.
Choose any time from a dozen appetizers (including sautéed mushrooms), dinner salads, subs (hot and cold), lunch specials, Italian dishes, dinner plates (spaghetti, ziti, linguine, fettuccini, cheese ravioli, manicotti and cheese tortellini). I was disappointed in the bland Italian sub -- no fire or heat. They could work on that a bit. There are so many great Italian subs being offered in this town that they need to rethink theirs.
For dinner, choose from five different chicken plates: chicken cacciatore, chicken piccata, chicken alfredo, chicken marsala, chicken parmigiana, chicken primavera, and chicken a la vodka (it's great!!), all in the reasonable $10 range.
Seafood plates are a bit more, but still a value in the $12 range. Choose shrimp al buen gusto, shrimp scampi, shrimp alfredo, shrimp marinara, shrimp fra Diavolo, calamarie fra Diavolo (with spices and white wine sauce), and shrimp a la vodka. I didn't realize until the recent Thanksgiving holiday season that turkey tettrazini is made with vermouth. I'm going to give it try some day.
Oh, and did I mention the pizzas, calzones and stromboli? OK, now I have -- lots of variety there as well.
If you go for dinner, don't expect a lavish dining room. But the food will rise above the lack of decor. They seem to have a passion for the foods they prepare -- and you won't mind the price!
LATIN & ITALIAN RESTAURANT
1613 Williamson Road
Roanoke, VA 24012
540-400-8251
All major credit cars. Hot drinks, soft drinks, smoothies and natural drinks only.
