Casual Hababa Cafe

[jtphjl]

Casual Habana Cafe - 125 Main Street, Hackensack (201) 880-9844

has opened in the site of the former DiSalvia Fish Market. (Open Monday - Saturday 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM)

Just met a friend for lunch, two blocks from the Court House - owner and Chef Ben (Last name hmmm: ) offered his black beans and rice, saying, "if you don't like the rice and beans, the basics, then leave and I will understand" one bite, and we were ready to move in! The slow cooked beans romanced the tender white rice, and led way for a Sopa De Pollo ($3) and Caldo de Pescado ($4) !

The chicken soup was chunky and tender, the broth light, aromatic with a fresh squeeze of lime, the Country soup with its pork, thickened by mashed white beans, with slivers of sausage, smokey, tender, was comfort food at its best!

Still sampling from the Thursday specials, we shared an order of Picadillo ($6) a lean ground beef platter with herbs, onion, carrots, garlic (of course) and potato, and a classic Cubano made on fresh cuban bread, a solid stack of fresh meats, sliced pickle with tostones (thin sliced fried platains.

A daily selection of stews, chops, fish (average price $5.00 - $6.00) is making this a new Hackensack favorite.

Batidos (Milk shakes) for $3.50 include, Guava, passion fruit, papaya, mango and blackberry.

The dinner menu (Can't wait to return!) includes Grileld Steak ($13) Hanger Steak ($11.) Seared Beef with Egg ($9), Plantains with Pork ($8), Seared Grilled Chops ($8) Chicken Cutlet ($9) Fried Sword Fish ($8) and Plantain Crusted Tilapia ($10) to name just a few... (All entrees are served with two side dishes).

Take out and delivery is available. Ben said he opened a few weeks ago. Formerly from the kitchen of La Tour (Ridgewood) he is now living the dream of having his own place.

Jan

[jwjojo]

A friend and I went here last night on Jan's review. We were very impressed. The place is a little nicer than a typical cafeteria...not a lot of ambience, but okay. It was busy for a Thursday night in Hackensack. We noticed there was one waitress on duty...she was nice enough, but rushed. Ben, the owner/chef came out and introduced himself. He brought us out an appetizer of pork with mixed rice and beans. I don't eat pork, but my hispanic friend said that it was very good, very typical. She really enjoyed it.

We started with a salad with avocadoes. It was mixed greens with a great lite dressing...quite enjoyable. I had the tilapia encrusted with plantains &rice&beans (10$), and my friend had the chicken special (chix w/creamy garlic sauce) (9$) with rice and tostones. My dish was the winner, although my friend enjoyed her chicken too. The beans were very good, very typical as well. The tostones were also good.

Hopefully he will be able to gauge how busy they are and have another waitress on busy days (we had to ask for water several times, and it came out too late), but aside from that Ben came over often to see if we were happy, and the waitress was doing her best. We will definitely be back soon.

[MJP]

How would this compare to a similar restaurant in Union City? I've been dying to bring my girlfriend for some proper Cuban food and I haven't found THE place yet.

[jwjojo]

It is better than many of the little places in Union City...more delicate in my opinion. The places in Union City are for hearty stews, meats and the like. I guess it depends on what you are in the mood for.