Downtown Lakeland is seeing growth of so many new bars and restaurants. Nineteen Sixty-One is one of the newest openings. They were originally located in a smaller location in Lakeland, but popularity has allowed them to expand and open downtown. They offer up a wonderful selection of Latin influenced dishes.
I visited them on a Sunday so that I could enjoy their brunch. And what goes best with brunch, bottomless mimosas. They offer a few different flavors. I enjoyed the traditional orange juice and then a few pineapple juices.
I started off with an order of the Croquetas de Jamon. These croquetas were filled with creamy mashed potatoes and a mixture of creamy Manchego cheese and Serrano ham. They placed a guava glaze on the plate. This added a sweet element to the salty croqueta. It was the perfect balance. I loved how creamy they were. The ham gave it an overall savory flavor.
For my meal I ordered the Torrejas. This is the Spanish version of French toast. They took Cuban bread and soaked it in a custard. After pan frying the slices of bread they covered each piece with roasted pineapples and warm honey.
This was no ordinary French toast. The dish overall was sweet, almost like a dessert. Whatever was in the custard, it really gave the bread amazing flavor. It was really good by itself. The honey just added additional sweetness. The pineapple was also sweet but did add a hint of tartness because of the acidic acid found in the pineapple.
The serving size was pretty big so you could share this with someone if you wanted to.
They have a great brunch menu that has traditional breakfast items as well as some hearty options. One dish that looked good was the Nashville hot chicken. Many people were ordering this. I would be curious to try it and see how close it was to actual Nashville hot chicken.
I really enjoyed my brunch at Nineteen Sixty-One. I would definitely go back. I would also like to check out their roof top bar.
You can see their menu at www.nineteen61.com
Enjoy!
T
