Food: Emiliano's Cafe

Nestled in a spot in downtown Gainesville, Emiliano's Cafe offers up Latin food in the form of both entrees and the ever-popular tapas, sort of the Latin version of dim sum. I'll have to preface this review with a caveat - they were serving from a special "art festival" menu (the downtown art festival was buzzing right outside the door) and thus it seemed like they were really only competing with the gyro hawkers and the funnel cake vendors. But I digress.

The fried yuca was quite good, and it came with some Thousand Island dressing for dipping, a nice touch. The chips and salsa pretty much sucked, though at least the salsa was fresh, if tasteless. My chicken and rice was pretty uninspiring, but my Mom's ropa vieja was serviceable, if a bit cold for our tastes. Our guest's Caesar salad was good, and my sister's herb-grilled chicken was fine, but again, it was not hot enough temperature-wise.

The jury's still partially out, and next time we'll do all tapas, but for now, I give it 2/4 stars.

In an ironic note, a girl I knew from high school, Sarah B., is a server there.