La Cubana

La Cubana Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Chef Carl Ruiz, who has appeared on Food Network, opened his first NYC restaurant in the buzzy Meatpacking District. Upon entering La Cubana, guests walk past an in-bloom container garden and a wrought iron gate into a spacious terra-cotta washed dining room. From the comfortable teal banquettes, they can feast on Havana-inspired cocktails and cuisine, and listen – and perhaps dance – to live music.

Likes: Beautiful space; ensalada del mar, pork chop, fried red snapper, cocktails.
Dislikes: None.

Food & Drinks: At scene-y Meatpacking restaurants, food can come second to the vibe, but here it’s no afterthought. A salad of marinated shrimp, squid, scallops, avocado and raw sofrito gets sweetness from pineapple and just a touch of heat. It’s a nice complement to a long list of hearty, rich dishes, like non-greasy empanadas stuffed with spinach and gooey cheese, or spicy jackfruit, and a Spanish frittata served alongside a generous assortment of cheeses and cured meats. When it comes to entrées, the house-smoked pork chop with Creole okra stew is succulent and exactly the right amount of smoky. But the star of the show is a whole fried red snapper, whose crispy skin yields to tender fish, which the waiter advised to eat with our hands. For dessert, a pastry filled with guava and creamy cheese harkens back to those empanadas, in a good way. Patrons may choose from a number of wines on offer, and the rum-centric cocktail list provides plenty of well-balanced drinks, like La Isla, a concoction of Havana Club rum, Braulio Amaro, and a squeeze of lime juice.