Food Fidel Would Approve Of…

In a town that’s saturated with mexican food and taco shops, it was a welcome departure to enjoy some latin food but from a different part of the world. Havana Cafe has been serving up traditional cuban dishes since 1989, so obviously they must be doing something right to have stuck around for all these years. That’s not to say they haven’t been effected by the state of the economy the past year and a half or so, having to close down one of their 3 locations. They made the decision to close down the newest location over in Ahwatukee, sticking with the original restaurant on Camelback and the North Scottsdale location on Bell. After racking up numerous awards & very favorable reviews consistently throughout the years, and our love of cuban food we knew we had to give it a try. We hadn’t eaten cuban since the last time we ate at Cuba Libre back when Julie lived in Philadelphia, so we were long overdue.

Although Havana Cafe had small but cute outdoor dining area, despite space heaters we decided it was still a bit too chilly and made our way inside. The interior isn’t much larger than the outdoor area. ok that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it certainly is on the small and cozy size. because of how small the restaurant is there’s no waiting area, as soon as you step foot through the door you’re right in the middle of the restaurant which is slightly awkward. especially when there’s a guy sitting right next to you strumming his guitar and singing traditional cuban songs. luckily we got sat rather promptly ending the awkwardness. the decor, while a bit dated in my opinion, is bright, colorful and very lively. Our waiter came over pretty quickly to take our drink order, sangria being the obvious beverage of choice for the meal. red sangria for myself, white sangria for julie. the sangria was good, i just wish there was more, if any cut up pieces of fruit in it. part of the fun in drinking sangria is making your way to the bottom of the glass knowing alcohol soaked apples and other fruit are waiting for you to munch on. back to our waiter real quick though, if i have any real complaint with our dining experience at Havana Cafe that night, it was our waiter. Not that he wasn’t attentive and quick, but he was very awkward. I’m not looking to become best friends with every waiter i have, but i do enjoy SOME dialogue. I tried a little banter with him and he either just didn’t get it, or was not interested in talking to us whatsoever beyond taking our order. I am far from a cuban food authority, same applies to julie, so naturally we had many questions when it came to the menu and certain terms, foods, etc. He answered any questions we asked, kind of…? At the same time though he seemed somewhat annoyed that we didn’t walk in already knowing everything there is to know about cuban food. Like i said, that was the one real negative. After ordering was behind us we were good to go and ready to chow down.

So many things on the menu looked and sounded good to us. we decided to order a bunch of tapas instead of big entrees, which gave us the opportunity to try a lot of things which i always enjoy doing whenever possible. so we both perused the menu and each chose a few things that caught our eyes. For the most part everything was delicious and bursting with flavor, as i have come to expect from good cuban food. the standouts to me were the black bean fritters and potato croquettes. empanditas and chorizo just behind. the avocado dip and creamy lime cilantro sauces were amazing. put either of those sauces next to a plate full of runner pieces and i’d gladly eat it. the mofongo was kinda the wildcard choice of the meal. crushed plantains and pork pieces rolled into a ball topped with mojo, a light olive oil based sauce with garlic lemon/lime juice and other spices, sounded like it could have been a winner. It was just ok to me, interesting texture though which i enjoyed. Chorizo i pretty much have to order anytime i see it on a menu. The light saute gave the sausage a nice little crunch to the edges and was great with the peppers, though a little greasy. Just the right amount of spice and heat too. As for dessert, much like chorizo anytime i see bread pudding on the menu i have to order it. i could be wrong but i don’t exactly think bread pudding is a tradiitonal cuban dessert, but apparently as long as you type the name out in spanish it becomes cuban. good enough for me! not the BEST bread pudding i’ve had, wish it was warmer, but even bad bread pudding is good bread pudding in my book.

Would i go back? Definitely going back, wouldn’t mind a different waiter though next time. I’d like to go back for lunch and try a cuban sandwich or two which i’m a big fan of. I’d also like to go back for another dinner. We got to try and bunch of stuff but there were still so many things on the menu that sounded good to me. Julie wants to go back and order an entree, but i may have to stick with a table overflowing with tapas again…

Emapanditas - Three mini pies filled with sweet peppers, onions and chicken. Served with salsa cubana.

Frituras de Frijoles Negros - Black bean fritters served with calypso avocado dip.

Chorizo - authentic spanish cured sausage lightly sauteed with tri-colored peppers.

Papa Rellena - two potato croquettes filled with beef picadillo, accented with a creamy lime cilantro sauce.

Mofongo - crushed plantains and pork cracklings rolled together and served with mojo.

Red & White Sangria

Pudin de Pan con Chocolate - Warm chocolate bread pudding studded with Ghirardelli chocoloate chips served with a rum fudge sauce and whipped cream