Gloria's Cafe - L.A.

The correct answer to the question "do you want plantains with that?" is a resounding YES!  The plaintains at Glorias are wonderful.

I have never had plantains like these before.  They are cooked to make some kind of sweet glaze over the tasty little bannana-ettes.  The outside has a very thin almost candy coating while the inside is a sweet, gooey, slightly fibrous goodness.

If you order the appetizer plate of plantains then they come with re-fried beans and sour cream.   The sweet plantains mixed with the creamy sour cream and sticky re-ried beans comes together in a heavenly concert of flavors and textures.

What Bolero is to music, Gloria's plaintains is to mexican food.  Just as the bolero music starts off slowly with a simple one-piece rhythm which builds up and up as other musical instruments are added, the culinary experience is similar.

First, you go straight for the fruit and kind of only recognize the very sweet and unique flavor of the plantains themselves.  Probably because in the US it is kind of an exotic food still.  The American palette isn't used to it.  After you are over the sweetness then you recognize the fact that they didn't serve the fruit alone and decide to explore the options.  So, you dip a fork-full of plantain into the sourcream to give it a go.

The creamy-sweet mixture reminds you of milk and cookies.  A fleeting thought about the triple-digit number of calories you're inhaling in this indulgence runs though your head.  "I'll try it with the beans.  Beans have protein and that's good."  The rationalization worked.  You try the 3-ingrediant mixture.  "Ay Carumba, that's good!"

Gloria's gets a solid 8.5 on the triple-d scale of awesomeness.  The plantains were obviously the star of the show in my opinion.  The rest of the meal was pretty darned good, too.  I had the Bistec Encebollado which was steak strips with onions.  Very tasty indeed.  Not, enough to make me want to tear up my return ticket back to Texas but, pretty darned good.  Definitely worth checking out.
 

Gloria's Cafe
10227 Venice Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 838-0963
www.gloriascafela.com