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A lot of folks come to Tomato Express, near the crossing of Osceola Parkway and Old Dixie Highway, for the groceries of home. It's here you'll find brand names of soda or shampoo that are scarce outside of Argentina or Colombia or Brazil. I grew up in Iowa. I just came for a cheap lunch.
On the far side of the shop, away from the supermarket aisles, are a bakery, deli, and hot lunch counter. The $3.99-a-pound salad bar is tiny, but the marinated olives look good. Your can get lunch to go or sit in a little partitioned area near the wine department with a rural mural of farm animals. The drink cooler is stocked with drinks from inside and outside the U.S., including several rows of Quilmes, the most popular beer in Argentina.
Also from Argentina, the sandwich called Choripan ($3). A chorizo sausage is butterflied, grilled and put on a bun. This isn't the dried, dense Mexican sausage but its fresh Argentinean cousin. Spiced but not spicy, it's a coarser, chewier grind than your average bratwurst. I usually don't recommend add-ons that increase a sandwich's price, but it's worth an extra $.99 for cheese, tomato and lettuce.
The Cuban sandwich ($4.50) is big enough to give you your money's worth but the grill is inconsistent. Once, it was pressed good and flat but cool in the middle. Another time, hot all the way through but barely pressed.
Tomato Express also a steam table of meals that can be dished up fast. For just $3.99, you get a lunch plate of pork chop, sweet plantains and a big mound of yellow rice with pigeon peas and a little more pork. I'd ordered just as the kitchen was pouring brown sauce over the pile of pork chops and the counter girl let me pick my own like pointing at your lobster in a tank. Salty, but not too salty, I think I even taste a little sherry in that gravy.
If you're in a big hurry, or buying now so you can eat later, get a couple empanadas ($1.25 each). The crust is baked, not fried, and filled with ground beef and tomato sauce or chicken with green peppers. Two empanadas will fill you up, but if you still have room, hit the pastry counter. Guava in a square of puff pastry is just a dollar and the filling is generous enough that it's even in the corners.
Dish: It's called Tomato Express, but the grill can also be slow compared to the prepared dishes on the steam table. By the time a friend's sandwich arrived, I'd already chewed on my pork chop bone and was down to my last plantain.
Damage: Plenty of meat/starch combos for under $5 – and if you pick right, you can even afford a little starch and sugar for dessert.
Decision: You can grab a quick, cheap lunch at Tomato Express, thought the grilled sandwiches could be quicker. On the way out, get yourself a two-liter of cola champagne soda. (There are multiple brands.) It's like cream soda with a little orange and bubble gum.
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