2-Bit Review: Cafe Habana

One or two visits. A few hundred words. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

If you’re looking for heart disease on a plate (and I say that with love), you’ll find it with the Huevos Habana breakfast entrée (above) at the newly opened Café Habana on Washington. Since they're open early for breakfast, I stopped in one Saturday on my way to the Market and ordered their version of Eggs Benedict with a Cuban twist –pulled pork over arepas (corn fritters), with two eggs and roasted poblano hollandaise. I am not a big Benedict fan, but this dish reminded me of a fantastic Creole version I once enjoyed in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The spice in the pulled pork and the poblano Hollandaise were right up my alley.

A few days later during a lunch outing, my friend ordered the Baja Burrito(above left) stuffed with lots of fresh tasting shrimp and mahi mahi, corn relish, and topped with a zesty green salsa. My Ropa Vieja was essentially shredded latin pot roast in a tomato-based sauce over rice – great comfort food, with plenty of leftovers for the next day. To close the meal, we ordered Coconut Turnovers for dessert. A little dry, even doused with the chocolate sauce. “Do you think they taste like an Almond Joy candy bar?” our waitress asked. Um, yeah, kind of. Actually, more like over-toasted coconut pop tarts. But points for being unique.

And tonight I ate at the bar. The restaurant was almost full, about two thirds of the guests were ladies. “Women like mojitos,” speculated the gentleman sitting next to me at the bar. Encouraged, I decided to try a Lava Mojito – the traditional Cuban drink jazzed up with mango and pomegranate (left). Then I moved on to a Caipirinha. Jim, the bartender, makes it with simple syrup infused with mint – tasty, but not really caipirinha-ish to me.

For dinner, I started with the baked goat cheese. A good app to share, and with the tomato sauce and pepitas on top it had a nice zip. But it was under the broiler too long. Better if the goat cheese still had a little structure, not quite so melted. Then came my entrée, the Churasco Chimichurri.What a great dish! “That’s my favorite,” commented Jim. The hanger steak was medium rare as ordered, and surprisingly tender. Marinated extra long, perhaps? Topped with tart, parsley-heavy chimi and served with rice and sautéed spinach, it was yummy. And at $14, a reasonable price.There’s a lot of overlap between the lunch and dinner menus at Cafe Habana. Down the road the restaurant will need to come up with some daily, unique specials to keep repeat customers intrigued (lest they fall into the food fatigue I always seem to experience at Prickly Pear). But with great breakfasts and dinner entrées averaging $14, and lunches around $9 or less, Café Habana slots into an economical niche in the downtown restaurant scene. And in a very stylish atmosphere, too.