Yerba Buena Cocina Latina
23 Ave. A (E. 2nd St.) 
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New York, NY 10009
212-529-2919 | Make Restaurant Reservations
Cuisine
Open
Dinner nightly, Brunch Sat.-Sun.Features
- Reservations suggested
- Open late
- Business casual
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 Julian Medina’s contribution to the East Village restaurant scene seriously upgrades the quality of Latin cooking in the area. Inside, the restaurant appears bigger than it is by tucking tables away around a corner and by keeping the design touches down to the bare minimum. On the menu, what impresses most is how Medina effortlessly combines Peruvian, Cuban and Mexican cuisines into a frothy whirlwind tour through the culinary highlights of each region. A traditional Cuban sandwich goes open-face and presto! It’s a pizza. Even the shrimp soup gets a dash of the now ever-present aji amarillo. You can still go to town with fatty dishes like picada, a cone of pork belly, tostones and fried yucca, as well as some first-rate Baja-style breaded tilapia tacos. The empanadas, made with chicken tinga, sirloin picadillo and chimichurri; and the blue cornmeal crusted calamari, served with sweet plantains and tomato salad, are crowd-pleasers. Special mention must also be made of the cocktails, which dodge the syrupy sweetness present at so many high-end Latin restaurants---try the gin with jalapeño and cilantro and a pisco sour with organic egg whites. Don’t miss the addictive churros for dessert. |
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