Cuban, Anyone?

by Steve Fey

Saturday, September 12, 2009

The outside of the Florida Cafe
inside Howard Johnson's lobby
Photo by Steve Fey

Some friends turned us on to a place called The Havana Grill. The Havana Grill, located not far north of the 215 Beltway, in Henderson I believe, makes a mean arroz con pollo among other things. Luckily for those of us who have migrated into the depths of the city, they have a sister restaurant, or mother restaurant really, called the Florida Café, at 1401 South Las Vegas Boulevard. That’s well north of the strip, but still south of downtown proper. That’s my opinion, but the sign outside says “Strip” on it. The address, in fact, is that of the Howard Johnson’s Strip Hotel. The Florida Café is inside, just off of the lobby, and just across from the Shalimar Wedding Chapel.

Sitting just across from a wedding chapel can be entertaining in any case. For instance, while we were having dinner recently, we saw a bride in a traditional long white dress, under which she was wearing thongs (the shoes, I mean.) Those little rubber sandals were decorated with glittery things, maybe rhinestones or something similar. The groom was harder to pick out of the crowd, although one of our party speculated that it was a gentleman in green shorts. I’ll never know if he really was the groom, but it was fun to watch the party. Scenes like that one remind me of one reason I like living in Las Vegas: you really don’t commonly see the sorts of things that are common here when you’re anywhere else. I silently wished the bride and her groom, whoever he was, a long and happy life together.

The view out the windows of the Florida Cafe
Photo by Steve Fey

Back inside the restaurant I was enjoying the best mojito I’ve ever tasted. Very fresh and minty, using a mild flavored rum (almost certainly not from Cuba, unfortunately,) the drink was about as much better than the common mojitos that I’ve tried previously as it is possible to be. Even Tami, who doesn’t like the taste of alcohol, thought it wasn’t bad. From her, that’s a major endorsement of an alcoholic beverage.

The web page at the Florida Café will probably disappoint you, as it’s only a simple advertisement as of this writing. But the menu is virtually the same as the menu at the Havana Grill, which has said menu on an easy to read web site. Both restaurants feature a wide variety of Cuban entrees, of beef (carne de res), pork (puercos), chicken (pollo) and fish (mariscos,) plus vegetarian dishes. One difference at the Florida Café was that the arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) came with a side of black or red beans. I don’t remember having that option at the Havana Grill, but maybe my memory is weak due to the overwhelming quality of the food. I do love a good meal, and the food at Florida Café is always a good meal. They even offer a “Cuban Pizza,” which I’ve never tried. Interestingly, while some of the food sounds the same on the menu as familiar Mexican dishes, Cuban food comes spiced in an entirely different manner than does Mexican food. It’s tasty, and it’s spicy, but it’s not hot spicy. This can be good because it allows you to enjoy the underlying flavors of the meat and vegetables more clearly.

This endorsement of the Florida Café is an endorsement of the Havana Grill at the same time. The Grill, though, features late night music and dancing, where the Café features a view of wedding guests. Both, however, feature really good mojitos and even better Cuban food.

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