SALTY: Havana Central

Last night I ordered from this restaurant Havana Central in Union Square, I had it once before, and it was okay, but it’s really cheap and has a lot of good reviews so I thought I’d try it again. Let me just say I am appalled and they should be embarrassed at how not good it was. I wouldn’t say horrible, but in NYC there is a higher set of standards. It was okay for like Long Island, but NOT for NYC. There is just waaaayyyy too much competition to be okay or mediocre. It’s like Chinese food, pretty much everywhere on LI all Chinese food is almost the same, and all the dumplings are exactly the same. I hate it. Not in NYC though, with 6 restaurants in a 3 block radius your dumplings have to be the best and your delivery service has to be the fastest *insert Chef 28 or Noodles 28 with sesame sauce* Whatever your category is, you have to be at least above average, with the best price for the quality you are serving. But I digress.

So as I was saying or writing, the food just wasn’t that good, and as cheap as it is, I will go as far to say that I probably will never get it again. There were some things that were okay, but over all, not worth the calories. To date, the best, BEST, Cuban food I have had has been from Kuba Kuba in Richmond, VA www.kubakuba.info. It’s like this hole in the wall-ish place, first come first serve, nothing fancy, owned by a guy with a salt-n-pepper scruffy beard who drives a beat up pick up truck; First of all everything is made right before your eyes, yes, it can get hot in there, but at least you can watch the guy making your food and know for sure he is not picking his nose and scratching his butt, or dropping your empanada on the floor and applying the 5 sec rule….My top favorite things to eat there are the Empanadas, beef or spinach, plantains, coconut risotto cakes, and the turkey press. All phenomenal. I am hoping to make a trip down there and visit Kuba Kuba, Edo Squid, 821 and NY Deli (I’ll tell you about those later) and of course my friends. My life doesn’t completely revolve around food.

Here is my assessment of Havana Central: It once was really good, but as it grew more popular, two things happened 1)the food was assembled in mass amounts, and 2) they hired people who don’t give a s**t about the quality - now lacking the care and love it once had. For food to be good, its got to be made with love, sounds cheesy, but if its made with love it means the person who made it takes pride in what they are serving, ultimately striving to put out the absolute best that they can.

Empanadas– I’ve had the beef and Cubano, its got all the basic stuff there, but flavor wise..eh…2 out of 5 stars

Cuban Tamales – very dry and they used dark meat and I hate dark meat, 2 out of 5 stars

Fried Sweet Plantains – it’s pretty hard to F these up, 5 out of 5 stars

Zesty Corn on the Cob – hmmm not so much, 2 out of 5 stars. if you want really good zesty corn on the cob go to Pita Grill, AWESOME.

PS - The lettuce in the picture is my addition, got to get your veggies!