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Bringing The Flavor Of Cuba To Palm Harbor

Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST

Juan and Sandy de Sosa are proud to expand Juan's Black Bean Cafe into Pinellas County, in Palm Harbor, after becoming a culinary legend in West Pasco.

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: September 19, 2008

Updated:

PALM HARBOR - Mention the authentic Cuban food in the New Port Richey area and most everyone will direct you to Juan's Black Bean Cafe, an eatery that has become a dining tradition in the West Pasco area.

His signature roast pork or chicken - puerco or pollo asado - and shredded flank steak slowly simmered in Cuban tomato wine sauce - ropa vieja - is legendary among regular loyal patrons. Many have watched Juan's Black Bean Cafe grow from a little take-out deli into a full service restaurant over the last decade in and around New Port Richey.

This month Juan de Sosa opened his second cafe, on U.S. 19 north of Alderman Road, with partner Tom Hoglund. The restaurant's menu includes dishes made from recipes de Sosa learned from his grandmother.

The Palm Harbor Juan's, open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. every day except Sunday, offers a full menu of Cuban specialties. They include desserts such as flan, flavored custard in caramel sauce, to savory main dishes and appetizers such as Cuban tamales or beef empanadas.

The patriarch of this family business, de Sosa, 83, was born in the famed Tropicana nightclub in Havana. Before Fidel Castro came to power on the island nation, the de Sosa family owned a percentage of the nightclub, along with a plantation and the biggest newspaper in Havana.

After de Sosa and his family fled to Miami in 1960, Juan started training with other anti-communist exiles to take back the island in what was to become the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of the island nation. He was captured and endured two years in a Cuban prison camp.

Once released, he returned to the United States and joined the Army to fight again during the Vietnam War era. He moved to Pasco County in 1969 and started training for the restaurant business.

Even though Fidel has ceded the title of president to younger brother Raul, de Sosa is not planning to head back to Cuba.

"I love Florida and will never leave it," he said. "It's a beautiful place to live."

Many of his regular customers in West Pasco remember his first eatery, in a little cramped cabin on Main Street. During lunch they filled the very small eatery, that had a handful of tables, to see what special recipes Juan cooked that day.

There was his picadillio, or beef seasoned with Cuban wine sauce, or arroz con pollo, or chicken baked in seasoned yellow rice.

When was forced by a since-stalled downtown development project to move from his first location to a storefront in the Elfers area, south of New Port Richey, his loyal customers followed. Then a year ago, he opened a large full-service restaurant with around 200 seats and an outdoor patio at 5706 Main St., in downtown New Port Richey.

This month he opened his Palm Harbor location along U.S. 19, between Klosterman and Alderman Roads. Cuban music fills the air. Walls of the eatery are filled with photos and memorabilia.

His philosophy, de Sosa said, is always offer high quality food at the lowest prices possible. If he could not serve first class foods, he would close his doors, he said. Offer affordable lunch and dinner specials, so people can afford to eat a nice meal, he added.

First-time diners find Cuban food deliciously flavorful. Its sauces are more akin to French food than Mexican cuisine, de Sosa said.

With the Palm Harbor Juan's now a reality, de Sosa and Hoglund, a former regional manager with the Golden Corral steakhouse chain, plan to open three or four more cafe's on the Suncoast.

Despite Hoglund's participation, Juan's is still a family business. Juan's wife, Sandy, manages the Palm Harbor operation, and Juan's daughter helps make sure the kitchen cooks up traditional dishes.

The Palm Harbor location will soon offer delivery service and open for breakfast, de Sosa said.

He hopes everyone stops by to sample their great food and friendly atmosphere. "Once they try it they are hooked."

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

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