We’re sure the owners of Cuba Cuba miss their relatives back in Miami, not to mention the city’s beaches, night life and walk-up espresso stands.
But if that’s the price for giving Denver diners a delicious slice of Havana six days a week, we can only ask: Please, cowboy up.
Since opening their restaurant four years ago, Kristy Socarras Bigelow and her chef- brother, Enrique, have served terrific Cuban dinners in the Golden Triangle. In early April these children of Cuban expatriates added lunch hours.
The result: Big flavors with modest prices, and some of the Mile High City’s niftiest sandwich options.
Two traditional standouts – and benchmarks for any Cuban lunch operation – are the sanwiche cubano and pan con lechon, both $8.
The Cuban sandwich is robust, with flavors that are at once deep (the combo of roasted pork, ham and swiss cheese) and bright (mustard and pickle.) The goods are piled into a generous loaf of Cuban bread, then pressed to crispy perfection.
Pan con lechon comes with savory roast pork stuffed into a Cuban roll, dressed with sauteed onions and garlic-lime mojo. For diners who enjoy going whole hog, it’s a reminder that the Carolinas hold no monopoly on doing transcendent things with pork.
The Elana Ruz ($8) will be familiar to folks who get creative with Thanksgiving leftovers. The sandwich features roast turkey, cream cheese, strawberry jam and spinach on a baguette.
Pan con bistec ($8) takes the restaurant’s palomilla steak entree and gussies it up as a sandwich, with a novel twist: Matchstick potato crisps top the beef. One quibble: The steak, while flavorful, is a chewy cut. The sandwich would be more manageable if the beef was served sliced rather than whole.
Patrons fishing for seafood can order the Caribbean- spiced tuna ($8): seared ahi on a baguette with caper aioli, lettuce, tomato and onions.
Sandwiches come with salad or french fries. The latter are served with housemade tomato-and-guava ketchup, with hints of cloves and star anise.
Not all lunch options arrive between two slices of bread. Camarones al ajillo ($12) features sauteed shrimp in a lime-butter sauce. Empanadas de picadillo, turnovers stuffed with raisin-studded ground beef and pork, is a fine $6 starter. There’s a daily soup: A creamy garbanzo ($3.50) was recently featured.
Imbibing patrons can try a bottle of Hatuey, a traditional Cuban beer now brewed in Baltimore, or one of the restaurant’s signature mojitos.
Staff writer William Porter can be reached at 303-820-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com.
Cuba Cuba
Cuban|1173 Delaware St., Denver 303-605-2822|$8-$12|Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner Monday-Thursday 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Visa, MasterCard, personal checks
Front burner: Terrific Cuban food prepared by people who know how it should taste, with a few Caribbean grace notes tossed in for good measure. Wine, beer and cocktails, including the signature mojito.
Back burner: Portions tend to be hefty, so it’s best to factor in a trip to your refrigerator with the boxed leftovers.
