Cafe Habana

[Daniel]

Went for a quick lunch to Cafe Habana. There was a 15 minute wait at the restaurant. Luckily grabbed one of the three our four two seat tables at there take out restaurant next door. Ordered a cuban sandwich, a plate or roast pork, and two butter and cheese coated grilled corns.

The cuban sandwich..

Instead of trying to have this sandwich meat my requirements for what i think a cuban sandwich should be, I took it at face value.. Its a really good roast pork, with ham, pickles, mayo wit swiss on grilled italian bread sandwich. Call it what you like.

Roasted pork with white rice and black beans.

The meat was tender and sweat, mixed with a little lime juice and seasonings. Enjoyable sides of black beans and rice..

Roasted Corn.

Roasted corn covered in butter rolled in a hard less sharp tasting type of parmesan.. Had some red pepper dust..

Edited June 19, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Luckylies]

just get the macro lens?

[Daniel]

what does that mean. Ahh, i just like the lens to get a little taste too..

Edited June 19, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Luckylies]

really nice pictures. I like the corn at habana but it frustrated me when the dishes are just an iunch off of authentic. Iowuld have been weeping wih sadness if my cubano had shown up at my table un-melted. I'ts just that sort of thing that drives me out of my mind (rant over) they have hot staff. Sometimes that makes up for unmelted cheese.

[Daniel]

To go further into the cuban sandwich, the bread wasnt authentic, the cheese wasnt authentic, and it had mayo and no mustard.. That all being said, it was a good sandwich as long as you arent comparing it to a cuban sandwich...

I would say this place is more mexican then cuban, but still a solid place for lunch on a nice day..

[JohnnyH]

Whatever -- that corn alone is worth the price of admission. The lines outside, though, can be a little aggravating...

[Bux]

. .  . .

I would say this place is more mexican then cuban, . . .

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Not surprising since I've always understood it's inspiration was a place called Cafe Habana which was in Mexico City.

[bpearis]

I always thought the corn had mayo and cheese. well i've never been to Cafe Habana, but the other places that have corn like that use mayo.

[Daniel]

Ahh. I was thrown off because the Zagats I was looking through at a deli in Nolita had it under Cuban. We were looking for Cuban food and first walked to Cuba on Thompson..It was a little too formal for what we were looking for, so we opted for here...

[Bux]

Cuba, the restaurant, doesn't look all that formal, although I suppose in comparison with Cafe Havana it might. I see they even have a Sandwich Cubano on the menu ($6.95). This place has escaped my notice before and doesn't seem to have merited any posts on the forum. Has anyone been there and got something to say about it?

[Luckylies]

Cuba, the restaurant, doesn't look all that formal, although I suppose in comparison with Cafe Havana it might. I see they even have a Sandwich Cubano on the menu ($6.95). This place has escaped my notice before and doesn't seem to have merited any posts on the forum. Has anyone been there and got something to say about it?

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One of their sister restaurants Havana Alma de Cuba was okay.

I ordered from them the other night. the pork was too dry and everything was too salty. they also forgot my sweet plantains. grrrrrrr. also my cubano had no mustard on it and the cheese only covered half. It was just not good enough to warrant attention.