Stardate 65837.2
19:45 - This past weekend, Rob and I went down to Florida to visit his Mom and Step-dad for Mother's Day and to move furniture to his apartment. After a hard day's work, we went to an amazing little restaurant El Columbia, which is a Floridian landmark. El Columbia Restaurant was founded in 1905 by a Cuban immigrant by the name of Casimiro Hernandez. Fun Fact, Focus Foxies, this makes El Columbia Restaurant the oldest operating restaurant in Florida. The restaurant has branched out and opened new locations around Florida; we patronized the St. Augustine location. While it may be the newest, the St. Augustine Columbia Restaurant still maintains the old world charm.
While they prepare all types of Latin cuisine, their specialty lies in Cuban cuisine. Looking at their menu, you begin to appreciate the history of El Columbia. Every menu item has been collected over time and has a personal story to the owner's family and the restaurant. 
My favorite items on the menu were the tapas we ordered and the mojitos. For our tapas, we ordered Empanadas de Picadillo, Gambas "Barbacoa," and Coca de Langosta (top to bottom in the picture). The empanadas were filled with spiced beef and wrapped in light, crispy and flaky dough; the gambas or shrimp were barbequed skewers of marinated shrimp and red onion. My favorite was the Coca de Langosta; this dish consisted of coca, Catalonian flatbread, topped with chorizo, tomatoes, juicy lobster (langosta) and manchego cheese. Then, they drizzled Piquillo pepper alioli on top to ignite all of the flavors with a touch of spiciness. As for the mojito, it was fresh and had sugar cane sticking out of it. I love experimenting with mojitos, and this one was one of the best I have ever had.Focus Foxy Rob and his folks becoming Cuban food gourmands with me
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