Cuban food

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Anyone here from Cuba, have friends from there or have tried Cuban food? I'm interested in trying various foods from all over the world. I have tried Pakastini food and thought it was good. I have yet to try authentic Chinese food. I mainly eat Korean food at home. I also like Thai too. I hear that a lot of Cuban dishes are full of fat. Suggestions?

I've eaten in Cuban restaurants a few times. One was in NYC and the other in upstate NY. Unlike, say Puerto Rican food, the entrees are served with fluffy jasmine rice as opposed to yellow rice or arroz con pollo.
There's are two Paseo Cuban restaurants near where I live, too. Here are a few things off their menu:

Sandwiches
Grilled pork...Cubed pork loin grilled over lava rocks & basted w/ Paseo Marinade until golden brown.
Caribbean Roast...Pork shoulder coated in Paseo Marinade & slow roasted 'til falling into succulent morsels.
Havana Seared Scallops...Sizable sea scallops pan seared in extra virgin olive oil, our garlic tapenade and tossed w/ fresh sprigs of cilantro.

Entrees
Paseo Prawns...6 peeled & deveined Black Tiger Prawns, sautéed in extra virgin olive oil, garlic tapenade & simmered in our vibrant red sauce. Available w/ cilantro
Caribbean scallops...Savory sea scallops seared in extra virgin olive oil, garlic tapenade. & gently tossed in our reveled red sauce. Available w/ cilantro. Available w/ fresh cilantro
Caribbean Roast Plate...Hefty morsels of succulent roasted pork shoulder dripping in Paseo Marinade waiting to tantalize all 9000 of your taste buds.

(Optional spice 1-5 stars)
At $8.50/sandwich and $12.50/meal, those are pretty good prices.

One of the joys of living in Seattle is the variety of culinary delights which awaits you. To wit:
Afghani restaurants
Japanese restaurants
Thai restaurants
Soul Food joints
Korean restaurants
Vietnamese eateries
Mexican eateries and food trucks
Greek cafes
Indian restaurants
Pakistani eateries
Russian restaurants
German joints
Italian restaurants
Irish restaurants
Cuban restaurants
Puerto Rican restaurants
Pam's Kitchen - Seattle's one and only Trinidadian restaurant
Pizza joints
Creole restaurants
Jamaican joints (serving jerk chicken and beef patties all day long)
Hawaiian joints
Ethiopian restaurants (growing more rapidly than others)
Philippine restaurants
One Cambodian restaurant in the International District that serves kangaroo
Somali restaurants (where you eat rice and meats with your hands)
Turkish food trucks
Mediterranean restaurants (Have you had your baklava today?)
Golden Beetle Restaurant in Ballard serves up dishes from Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Israel & Egypt and possibly Tunisia & Syria. They made the trip so you don't have to.

Oh yes about Seattle there is this Pho place near my relative's house that I LOVE going to whenever I visit them. It's owned by Koreans, but they make the best Pho!

I'm half Cuban and cook traditional food frequently.

Full of fat is an overstatement. We do have things that are sometimes fried twice - but they aren't really the things we eat everyday.

Very common dishes include:

Congri: This is a rice dish with sofrito pork chorizo and another meat, and black beans (If you're from Havana) or red beans (If you're from Oriente or Santiago de Cuba)
Generally one would eat pork, salad, yuca and chips (usually plantain), with a congri.

Yuca con mojo is a poplar part of breakfast. Usually yuca, boiled and then fried (or sometimes just boiled and mashed) with mojo sauce, which is made of garlic, orange (sour orange, if you don't have sour orange where you are, then you add lime instead), salt, pepper and oregano.
Usually served with eggs, bread, salad (usually tomatoes, peppers and onion), and a variety of other breakfast foods.

Paella: This is a dish made of rice, some vegetables and sofrito and as much seafood (Mussels, Clams, Calamari, Scallops, Shrimp, Fish, Crab) as you can possibly throw into it. It can be a side dish or a main meal on it's own.

Black beans (or red beans) and Rice: Another dish which is often included as a part of lunch, dinner, or a snack on the go.

Pork is a common mainstay, done in many different ways as you can imagine. Although for some reason, they're not big on bacon.
Seafood and chicken are similar stories.
Nowdays it's not easy to get your hands on beef on the island due to the political situation - but even in times past, beef was mostly for the middle class and the rich. Also Cubans love it and jump at the chance of steak, it doesn't appear on the table 2 nights a week like it does here.
Rice is a main staple - as are yuca, plantain, beans, cheese and lime.
Various tropical fruits such as avocado, pineapple, mango and guava, and occasionally, passionfruit are often included in salads, drinks, or as sauces or marinades for meats.

Tamales, arepas and empanadas (especially those made with ropa vieja, or those with cream cheese and guava paste) also made their appearance fairly frequently.

Cuba has their own particular forms of bread which contain a particular ingredient that most westerns seem to hate (lard), although it is what makes it taste so incredibly good.

Ropa Vieja is another popular one: meat cooked until it falls off and looks like old clothes, hence the name. Almost always with a tomato based sauce with herbs, spices, pepper, onion, garlic, and occasionally wine.

Another one that was a favourite of ours growing up: beef or ox tongue. Sounds terrible, but tastes brilliant.

Cubans also make their own version of horchata, although they don't call it that: instead of using rice, they made it using Cashews and drink the cashew milk, usually with sugar, lime, cinnamon and coconut.

It is probably changed since the 90s, but If you go to Cuba (getting round the embargo is easy for Americans I'm told) , they actually operate limited private restaurant, that are allowed to have under 10-15 people, pretty much operating out of someone's house. You ring up beforehand, it is pretty much set menu. I can't remember how you find out about these, they might be recommended in lonely planet guides.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are more relaxed about things now, I know there are private restaurants now that operate more like standard restaurants. Though I know they do give party members more advantages.

The tourist and sate restaurants are terrible. The all inclusive hotels don't give you anything authentic.

Last edited by 0_equals_true on 28 Apr 2013, 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yuca that is what they call Cassava/Manoc in Peru. Is it not a Quechuan word?

Cuban food is strongly influenced by Carib, Central and South American and Spanish it seems.

When I was there in the 90s the state endorsed restaurant were terrible, and meat was rationed, never felt I got a fully authentic experience apart from one restaurant.

This is true. All of the "official" restaurants charge a fortune - and are mostly crap. Cubans themselves never go there, only tourists do.

If you want decent Cuban food - you have to go to a paladar (usually illegal restaurants run out of someones home by the family). Most cities, including my current city (half a world away, with a tiny Cuban population here), has a paladar - so you should be able to find one wherever you are. Usually they are run and advertised by word of mouth, so you have to know Cubans to be able to find them.

The paladares have indeed been legalised now (although with a permit that costs a fortune each month) but many are still operating "under the table" due to the heavy taxes that are making it difficult for them.

See my dad was friends with ex-cuban diplomat, we knew in Angola. They virtually never got leave whilst they was out there, it was like once every 10 years, they got a flight back to Cuba.

Anyway we met up some years later.

He is true believer, but still my dad got on with him perfectly fine, that is kind of the job of diplomats anyway.

My dad actually was brought up per-revolution in Havana, also Caracas as Grandfather was in Shell, and also is a major music fan, and wears the clothes. So they has stuff in common.

Anyway, we met up, but he had to ok it, first. The restaurant was terrible, and it was a stale atmosphere. This was a party restaurant, I don't think tourists could turn up.

I mean there was one decent one, but the food wasn't out of the ordinary, stuff like chickpeas and chorizo, etc.

Anyway the paladar was the best, it was legal, but not all the options were legal. In that she was offering some food, that required a little effort to get hold of, and she need to know in advance. We didn't take that up, what she made was great.

I think there was maybe 2-3 other groups sitting.

I actually surprised it hasn't reformed more-so, in that time.

It seem to me that they allow some foreign businesses so long as there is state shareholding, but the employees are all connected party faithful. Not anyone can just get a job there.

Foreign businesses are only allowed if a Cuban or Cubans own 51% or more of the business. They still must employ Cubans first, and only a very limited amount of foreigners will be allowed for work purposes (actually the amount is tiny).

Cuba is changing rapidly in some ways right now, but is snail-pace as always in others. The locals on the ground are having a hard time adjusting because although many of them would like to set up their own businesses, practical realities (like the incredibly slow internet connection you would expect from something in the 80's) makes it very difficult to do so, and in some cases impossible.

Getting out of the country if you are a Cuban - or into the country if you are a foreigner on anything that isn't a tourist visa - is still incredibly difficult to impossible.
Marriage or children are really the only way, as you can imagine since it is the only way, it tends to be abused. Otherwise it is on talents, and they prefer to keep their talents in country and others out, although there are exceptions sometimes, if they know someone will be a good walking advertisement.

The party make exceptions, often signed by the Castros themselves, to some who are born in Cuba or overseas to Cuban parents if they have strong ties to the party or a favour to be called in very high up on the chain of command, and will give them Cuban citizenship on the extremely rare occasion, especially if the other country of their citizenship are on very good terms with them - but it is incredibly rare and never advertised.

Thanks.

I find this this Cuban restaurant near my relatives house.
Any suggestions on this menu that isn't fattening?

http://www.martinoscuba.com/source/MartinoMenu.pdf


Also I find these Cuban restaurants in DC.

http://www.habanavillage.com/menu.html
http://cubalibrerestaurant.com/menus/city/Washington-DC

Most of that menu is fine.

Tres Leches is a desert which can be quite heavy - maybe stay away from that.
Since this is the U.S. - the plates and meals will be much bigger than in Cuba. That will be your real problem - the calorie intake due to that, not fat content.

There is nothing on the list that is double fried so I honestly don't see anything to be worried about.

http://www.thehavanacafedc.com/menu

OK this particular Cuban place isn't a sit down. It's in a food court near my office. What should I get? Also their portions from what reviews I read are HUGE enough to serve at least two people. I do want to try that Cuban restaurant in NJ near my grandma's house. I might as well visit Miami and go to Little Havana. I always wanted to visit Miami especially after watching CSI Miami.

If they're big enough for two people, then take someone else with you! It's always what I used to do when I lived in the U.S.
Personally I'd go with the Ropa Vieja or Arroz Pollo for a meal. If you're going by yourself, then it's probably better to just get some of the sides.

Now I want to go to Cuban festival. I googled it but so far came up with just in Miami. Not seeing one in DC area.