From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published April 23, 2007 Casa Gomez 2$ Mandeville: 643 Lotus Dr. (just off West Causeway Approach at La. 22) 985-624-8667 Lunch and dinner seven days. AE MC V Cuban. Mexican. Jorge and Alina Gomez have cooked good Cuban food for about twenty years in Mandeville. And--because Cuban food is a hard sell on the North Shore--they've done pretty good work with Mexican dishes, too. The restaurant is a big, colorful place which, nevertheless, one might drive by a thousand times without noticing. It's on what amounts to the service road of the West Causeway Approach, just off La. 22--across from Beau Chene. The first taste of the restaurant is a good one: freshly-fried tortilla chips with a salsa so peppery that you know they're holding nothing back. That's certainly true of the Cuban food, which I'd recommend above the Mexican, if only because Cuban food is so rare in our area. The list isn't long, but it includes the classics. It starts with a great black bean soup and ends with flan--two dishes made better by Cubans than anyone else. They you have two versions of slow-cooked beef: the familiar ropa vieja (which we all know means "old clothes," because it's shredded), in a sauce flavored with tomato. And a similar dish made with garlic and onions, which I thought was a little better. The Cuban steak is made with sirloin here, sliced thin but served in the traditional plate-covering sheet. The most substantial entree of all is the roast pork, big chunks of tender pork with just enough fat to flavor it, served with rice and beans. The Mexican side of the menu also covers the expected combo platters and basics. They make especially good tamales here, about three times the size of the ones you remember from Manuel's, with a very good chili sauce that shows up on quite a few other dishes, as well. The grilled steak and chicken dishes are the best food here, seasoned very well and sent out sizzling. When they were in their original location elsewhere in Mandeville, Casa Gomez occasionally offered cabrito--barbecue baby goat--but I haven't seen that in a long time. Maybe it's still there as a special. In addition to the excellent flan, they also make sopaipillas--Mexican beignets, with cinnamon sugar and honey. They come out in a plate that gives enough for at least two people. Thursdays through Saturday nights, they have live music here. The bands are surprisingly good, and will keep you at your table drinking beer and margaritas. This was a restaurant in the 2007 Top Sixty Ethnic Restaurant Countdown. To view the entire list, click here. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.