Enchiladas de Maplewood: Ian turns up a southern offshoot of the popular north-county spot Las Palmas

Comments (0) By Ian Froeb Wednesday, Jan 20 2010

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My favorite dish at Las Palmas was the roasted corn and tomato soup. I ordered a cup of it on a whim — almost an automatic response to the recent cold snap — and might have ordered another cup or even an entire bowl when I was done, had my entrée not arrived. The sweetness of corn dominates the dish, lightly brushed with the sharp flavor of chorizo and the gentle spice of poblano peppers. A simple, lovely soup.

Of course, I did have to sample a few of the old standbys. The carne asada brought a generous portion of thinly sliced steak, cooked medium-rare (as requested), the flavor spiked by a lime-juice marinade. Though the menu doesn't offer much in the way of taqueria fare, you can order a torta, the wonderfully overstuffed Mexican sandwich. Appropriately, I could barely hold half of my sandwich in two hands without the various toppings (avocado, onion, tomato, jalapeño) and the meat itself (pork milanesa — beaten thin, breaded and pan-fried) falling out of the bread. Carnitas, on the other hand, were a letdown, the pork neither as luscious nor as flavorful as it should be. And the cilantro rice, which is served on the side of almost every entrée, lacks much character, cilantro or otherwise.

Jennifer Silverberg

Executive chef Alberto George in the restaurant's kitchen.

Jennifer Silverberg

Las Palmas' stuffed chicken.

Location Info

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Las Palmas-Maplewood

7356 Manchester
Maplewood, MO 63143

Category: Restaurant > Mexican

Region: Maplewood

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Take a photo-tour of Las Palmas in Maplewood.

Las Palmas
Roasted corn-tomato soup (cup)...$3.75
Pork milanesa torta...$6.95
Enchiladas de pollo verdes...$7.95
Pescado a la talla...$13.25

7356 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314-645-3364.
Hours: 11 a.m.-midnight daily. (Bar open till 1:30 a.m.)

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One area where Las Palmas definitely needs to improve is service. Servers tend to disappear from the floor for extended periods of time — especially once your main courses have arrived. Based on what I've seen entering and leaving the restaurant through the bar area, many of the servers stand near the kitchen entrance, which you can't see from the main dining room, so catching their attention involves leaving your table — or resigning yourself to a wait.

If you choose the latter, I recommend biding your time by reading through the menu. Your research might well pay off with a dish that will keep you coming back.