Havana Rumba: Cuban food like Mamá used to make
Far from the Cuban outposts of Tampa, Miami, New York City and Los Angeles, Havana Rumba will make you think you've strolled into an eatery in 1950s Cuba.
From the welcome ceiling fans to the sepia and black-and-white photos on the walls, the clock at Havana Rumba has firmly stopped at 1959, the year Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. (Even the restaurant's telephone number — (502) 897-1959 — reflects that.)
Established by a kindly Cuban grandma, the food is just like your mother used to make — if your Mamá was an excellent cook from Camagüey province in Cuba. Havana Rumba remains a family affair: Fernando Martinez continues making food based on his mother's recipes with the help of his brother-in-law, Marcos Lorenzo.
Why not begin your evening as they do in the Caribbean, with a tropical drink? Havana Rumba's picturesque bar serve you a mojito (rum's answer to the mint julep), daiquiri, Cuba Libre (rum and Coke), frozen Cuban Colada, margarita, Mojito Martini, Café con Leche Martini and much more, as well as wines from Spain, Argentina and Chile and beers from all over the world — including Hatuey, a brand once brewed in Cuba.
Follow your drink with one of Havana Rumba's many appetizers — perhaps some tapas, ham or chicken croquettes, an empanada (pastry stuffed with chicken or vegetables, each $6.50) or papas rellenadas, which are ground beef-stuffed potato balls, breaded and fried golden brown ($7.25). Can't decide? A Cuban Sampler ($8.99) lets you try several.
Havana Rumba serves a selection of salads, soups and sandwiches — including the famed Cuban Sandwich (served with sweet potato fries for $8.50). But you'll want an authentic Cuban entree: Lechón Asado, chunks of slow-roasted pork marinated in citrus juices, garlic and Cuban herbs, served with congrí (black beans and rice sautéed together and yucca, priced at $12.99); Camarones Enchilados (shrimp Creole, priced at $13.99) or, perhaps, Vaca Frita, which literally means "fried cow."
For $11.75, you get shredded beef grilled until crisp, slathered with sautéed slices of bell peppers and onions, garlic and lime juice. The Vaca Frita is served with black beans, rice and maduros, sweet fried plantains.
Or split a Parrilla Habanera ($30.99), a sampler of palomilla steak, Pollo Asado (marinated, roasted chicken) and Cuban chorizo (sausage), served with black beans, rice, tostones (fried green platains) and sweet plantains — meant for two, but easily feeding more.
Top off your evening with a lovely Latin dessert. Among the many options are flan ($4.99), coconut ice cream ($4.99); Tres Leches, cake soaked in a sauce made of three types of milk — whole, evaporated and condensed ($5.50); or the restaurant's signature dessert: Havana Bananas, a dark Cuban rum flambé of bananas served over vanilla bean ice cream ($6.50).
Havana Rumba has a special Lunch Menu, which is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
An 18 percent tip is automatically added for parties of six or more. Checks for tables of eight or more cannot be split.
- by Ivonne Rovira, Louisville Reporter for HelloMetro
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