Roots delivers Latin fare – and flair – to Springfield, Ill.

When it comes to finding restaurants specializing in top-notch tapas, my hometown of Springfield, Ill., is probably not the destination that first comes to mind. 

But Roots Latin Grill, a small eatery in a west side strip mall of all places, somehow manages to excel at bringing the signature dishes and cocktails of Central and South America to my hometown … one small plate at a time. 

Lola’s brings tapas tradition to NOLA’s food scene

With a recently developed taste for tapas, it was only a matter time before Punky and I found a restaurant in my favorite travel destination of New Orleans that brings the traditional tapas-style cooking to the Big Easy.  And, as fate would have it, we learned of Lola’s through our friend, Ali, who we had met frequenting the neighborhood bar Finn McCool’s in Mid-City.  Ali had started working there and highly recommended we check it out. 

Embracing Jaleo’s total tapas experience in Orlando, Fla.

I love to cook.  I love to eat even more.  It’s probably because of people like me that we have so many celebrity chefs in our culture.  One of my current favorites is Jose Andres, partly because my culinary tastes have been going through a phase where I can’t get enough of the tapas, or small plate, dining that is so synonymous with Andres’ cuisine and Spanish heritage.

With this in mind, when Punky wanted to spend a couple of nights in Orlando as part of this year’s spring road trip, she knew exactly how to get me to go along with it.  She booked us a dinner at the Disney Springs location of Andres’ signature restaurant, Jaleo.