You no longer have to spend the exorbitant cash to “eat around the world” at Epcot. Urban Café in Lake Mary is a poster child for international cuisine, boasting “Grecian Café” on their sign and screaming “AMERICAN BREAKFAST” in neon letters in their storefront window. And it doesn’t stop there – not only are Europe and North America represented at Urban Café, but South America, too. The first page of the menu is a list of classic Peruvian dishes: lemony ceviche ($9.99) and arroz chaufa (Peruvian fried rice with chicken, $9.99) to name a few.
The juxtaposition of these three nationalities may seem strange at first, but Urban Café pulls off each with international flair and respect for differences of culture. The gyro sandwich ($7.29), whose spicy beef-and-lamb strips unfortunately came swimming in tangy tzatziki sauce, is served with a side. Advice: Pass up the Lay’s and order potato salad. Chunks of potato are bathed with the traditional mayonnaise mixture, but the addition of fresh Greek oregano makes the usually-predictable dish a surprising treat. On the other side of the Atlantic, the seco de carne (literally “dry soup,” chunks of meltingly tender braised beef with potatoes and carrots in aromatic gravy; $9.99), was perfection, with lingering notes of cilantro and spice.
You can’t go wrong at Urban Café, unless you show up after 3 p.m., when the tiny restaurant has closed for the day. Whether you order two eggs over easy with bacon and toast ($5.75), the refreshing spinach melt pita ($7.29) or a pineapple-flavored Inca Kola ($1.99), Urban Café delivers a multicultural breath of fresh air.
(Urban Café, 3801 Lake Mary Blvd., Lake Mary; 407-321-6543)
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