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.

A2 Questionnaire: Tommy York

(Same 6 Questions, Different Victim)

Tommy York, Owner/Partner, Morgan & York


Tommy, what's your favorite dish to cook?
I love to braise / roast fatty meats this time of year. So things like osso buco, ox tail stew and even chilli are hitting the spot. It has been so warm we are still eating chef salads for dinner!

It's Friday night and you're exhausted – what do you do for dinner?
We don't carry out that often but if we need carry out food we'll get sushi from Miki, pizza from Anthony's or burgers from Blimpy. Julie and I usually plan ahead so that we can have something made ahead like soup or a crock pot meal. We prefer to cook if we can. Sometimes cooking aftrer a long week can bring me back to the land of the living.

It's Saturday night and you're ready to go out and have a great time – what do you do?
Hanging out with friends is the most satisfying. We are so busy with the boys that going out for a drink and some appetizers will do the trick.

What's your favorite restaurant to take out-of-town guests?
I have three that I think are great Amadeus, Eve and Logan.

What do you love about Ann Arbor that you think is unique among other cities?
There are many things - Top of the Park, shopping cart races, Ann Arbor Velo Club, The Ark, UMS, the Peony Garden, sledding at Vets and on it goes...In summation I love that often more than half of the Observer is dedicated to what is happening in town!

Last question. If you were to write a Blues song about living in Ann Arbor, what would the title be?
"I Used To Have a Unique Town and Now All I Have Is This Stupid Wal-Mart T-shirt"

Five Fav Lunches

Five lunch entrees that are reliably tasty and economical.

Word Play Challenge (WPC): Guess the celebrity, public, or historic figure using the entrée name in a sentence – answers at the end of the post!

The nice thing about ordering a cheeseburger at Old Town is that if you order it medium rare, it comes to you medium rare. The melted Swiss and sautéed mushrooms add to the gooey, gut-busting pleasure, and the crunchy, steak-cut fries are icing on the cake.
“My dear Lizzy,” cried Mrs. Bennett, “I feel quite certain that Wickham would never have taken Lydia to an establishment such as the Old Town, much less required her to partake of a cheeseburger with grilled mushrooms.”

“When you took the picture of your salad,” my friend said laughing, “you should have SEEN the expression on the face of the lady sitting next to us! You'd have thought you were taking a picture of a pile of s---!” Ah, the hazards of blogging, though why a fellow diner would give a s--- whether I take a photo of my food, I don’t know. Regardless, Café Zola’s salad sampler serves up a perfect little plate of chicken, egg, tuna, and lettuce salads. I don’t even LIKE egg salad normally, but Zola’s is fantastic.
“I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is the Salad Sampler. Because there are samples. And it’s salad.”

I’m starting to feel like broken record singing the praises of Vinology. With their sandwich and salad/soup combo, you can choose from any of their lovely sandwiches – I like the chicken salad or the shrimp po boy – and have a salad, or one of the day’s selection of soups. And it comes with a pile of perfectly crisp shoestring fries. At only $8, it’s the best lunch deal on Main Street in a crisp, contemporary atmosphere.
“I have no plans to be a candidate for president again, I don't expect to ever be a candidate for president again. But I will tell you that I plan to have the soup and salad combo at Vinology for lunch today."

I imagine the owners of Makkara generate most of their income providing sushi in little carry-out boxes to groceries like Busch’s. But their storefront on Packard next to Fantasy Attic is an easy stop when you’re on the east side of town. I always order a spicy tuna roll, which the staff serve quickly with a smile. And their drink cooler is the coldest in Ann Arbor – my bottle of Diet Coke is always just short of frozen. Looove that.
“Being in jail was like being in a cage, but that nice sheriff did let me send out for a spicy tuna roll.”

In college I worked in a sandwich shop owned by a Korean family, and became addicted to BiBimBop. Bell's Diner, over on West Stadium, serves up a satisfying bowl of the stuff in an old fashioned diner where you might expect Andy and Barney to walk through the door any minute. And I’ve found it’s a great antidote for what ails ya the day after a night of overindulgence. Beef, egg over easy, and don’t forget the hot sauce.
“The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains, and everything to gain including BiBimBop. Workingmen of all countries, unite!”

WPC Anwers: 1) Jane Austen 2) George W. Bush 3) Al Gore 4) Paris Hilton 5) Karl Marx