TUCKAHOE, N.Y. - What a difference a year makes. Last year the café across the street from Village Hall in Tuckahoe was a coffee shop featuring a lunch counter that served breakfast and lunch.
Enter that same spot now and you will find warmly decorated and cozy Bistro Latino, a 55-seat restaurant that serves lunch and dinner five days a week, plus weekend brunch. The restaurant opened last week and is the brain child of chef Rafael Palomino and co-owner Alexander Vanegas. The menu is dedicated to traditional Spanish food, combining Latin fusion and Spanish tapas.
"I wanted to have something for everyone," said chef Rafael Palomino. "But I wanted traditional food but with a lighter touch."
The menu features yummy selections like lobster paella, made with rice, seafood and chorizo sausage, a manchego-crowned herb roasted half chicken with saffron mashed potatoes in a mushroom pan sauce. Also included are a classic ceviche, lamb meatballs, and foie gras-topped seared lobster with passion fruit sorbet.
"My desire is to provide a true taste of the cuisines and cultures celebrated at Bistro Latino," Palomino said noting that the menu also features tapas style cocas, (small flatbreads), De Satas with shitake mushrooms, quinoa, Manchego cheese and a chocolate balsamic glaze.
If Palomino's name sounds familiar, it might be because he has seven restaurants and has authored five books on food and entertaining.
Now a resident of Bedford, Palomino is a native of Columbia, and also owns restaurants in Port Chester and five restaurants in Connecticut.
"I am excited to be opening Bistro Latino, and felt that Tuckahoe, with its industrial past and diverse heritage, was the perfect place to open a restaurant for people who hunger for new authentic flavors and experiences in fine dining," Palomino said.
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