When Spain and Cuba Meet at Felix, It’s a Continental Lift

You’re sitting at a sidewalk cafe at lunchtime, watching the traffic spin chaotically around the hub of the plaza. After having put away a generous portion of, say, arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) or empanada gallega de pollo (spicy chicken pot pie), you take note of your surroundings: palm trees, a fountain, old buildings, pedestrian traffic. Is this Madrid or Valencia? Havana, perhaps? No, it’s Felix Continental Cafe in Ye Olde Towne Orange.

While best known for its breakfasts, the cafe deserves equal fame for its dinners and, especially, al fresco lunches, when it presents an anthology of Spanish and Cuban specialties.

Begin with an appetizer such as calamaritos fritos gran via, deep-fried squid served with lemon; or the formidable empanaditas criollas, Cuban meat pie; or the papa relleno, a meat-filled snack that is a traditional ware of street vendors in Havana.

Then choose from a wide selection of entrees, served with a choice of rice (order it mixed with black beans), yucca or deliciously sweet fried bananas. The paella with saffron rice, shellfish, chicken, pork, fish and chorizo is superb (and you’ll understand why saffron is so expensive--it is a divine spice), as is the picadillo criollo, consisting of beef, pork, ham, raisins and olives, and the incredibly succulent el criollito, Cuban pork chops.

The beer selection is limited and, alas, there is no bar here. But you won’t find a better place for Latin cuisine in all of Orange County.

Now all we need is to start taking siestas.

Felix Continental Cafe, 36 Plaza Square, Orange. Open daily, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (714) 633-5842.