Under the Cabana

Luke Dean-Weymark

Over the years, New York City, like various other parts of the U.S., became a melting pot of so many different cultures and so many different cuisines. I’m so lucky to live in the metropolitan area, to have grown up in New York and to have been exposed to so many different kinds of Hispanic cuisine; whether it’s Mexican, Dominican, Colombian, etc. It’s simply one of my favorite ethnic cuisines.

One restaurant that serves authentic and delicious Hispanic food is a Cuban fusion restaurant called Cabana. Their original location was in a part of Queens, NY called Forest Hills. I grew up about twenty minutes away from Forest Hills in another suburb called Howard Beach, so I was particularly keen on its proximity. However it wasn’t until recently when I went again to their new midtown location, which is located at 1022 3rd Avenue, that I had an even better experience, mostly because I was older and was more open to experimenting with different flavors. 

I went with my brother, sister, best friend, and my niece and nephews. We started off with some appetizers. The first was something called, ‘mariquitas,’ which are thinly sliced plantains cooked until crisp, and served with garlic mojo dipping sauce. It’s kind of like a different spin off of potato chips, but with a flavor and authenticity all its own. They’re thicker and a bit softer and they have a savory rustic taste that pairs very well with the dipping sauce. The other appetizer we ordered were the ‘tostones rellenos’, which are fried green plantains filled with chicken sofrito, ropa vieja and picadillo. The outer crust tasted similar to the plantains in the ‘mariquitas’ appetizer and the different fillings were cooked with authentic Cuban flavor that hit your palette in such a way that it made you want more. The first tostones rellenos was made of chicken, a Hispanic spice called sofrito, and a couple of other seasonings. The ropa vieja filling contained shredded skirt steak, onions, bell peppers and plum tomatoes, and the picadillo was a combination of lean ground beef and potatoes sautéed with garlic, plum tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, olives and capers. 

Although we had an array of already delicious dishes, we had to save some room for entrees. I love chicken, so of course I ordered the, ‘arroz con pollo,’ which when translated means, chicken with rice. This dish is comprised of chicken sautéed in sofrito with chorizo and spanish olives simmered in a caldera of saffron rice. I ordered it without the chorizo but I’m sure it’s just as delicious with it. I think the sofrito and the Spanish olives are what really set this dish apart from any other chicken and rice dish. It’s what gives the arroz con pollo its genuine Cuban zest. 

Cabana shoots and scores in some of the most bona fide Cuban dishes the city has to offer, and if you’ve never tried it before, you’re definitely missing out.