I visited Cuba on two occasions: once in 2000 during spring break with a group of students from McGill University and the other the following year when my parents and I drove from Santiago de Cuba to Pinar del Rio. In Havana, I met a young Canadian diplomat and we chatted about his experience living in the small communist island. He missed being able to catch the latest hollywood blockbuster movie at the local movie theater but most particularly, he missed good food. In his words, “communist revolutions are not good for the local cuisine” and indeed food, which is typically an integral part of how I get to know a new country, played a rather insignificant role in my Cuban experience. Well… unless you consider daiquiris food 😉
The 1961 Cuban revolution had a profound impact on the island’s cuisine which had to adapt to food shortages and government restrictions. It may explain why Barry Gutin, co-owner of Cuba Libre, chose to channel pre-Castro Cuba in its Havana-themed chain of restaurants. After finding success in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Orlando, Cuba Libre is testing the DC waters with a new location near the Convention Center at 801A 9th St. NW. The restaurant officially opened last Friday with a special introductory offer of 50% off all food items the first week, an offer that I fully took advantage of last night when I tried pretty much everything on their food (and drink) menu!
Cuba Libre is a pretty perfect fit for DC’s Chinatown, an area which features a lot of restaurant chains like Legal Seafood, Clyde’s, Ping Pong Dim Sum, La Tasca etc. I’ll certainly come back and order some piqueos to share with friends. The main reason I will return though will be the bar. Cuba Libre boasts an impressive selection of specialty cocktail made with fresh tropical fruit juices. The drink menu boasts some 14 different mojitos, 6 c and of course cuba libres! Our server agressively promoted the restaurant’s rum menu which includes 75 rum varieties. I must say I was very tempted by the rum sampler but my experience with Masa 14‘s tequila sampler has taught me to just say no to hard alcohol samplers, particularly on school nights 😉 Though perhaps I should have been a little more careful with the mojitos too… the passion fruit, guava or pineapple mojitos are so delicious you’ll find yourself ordering more of them than you should and end up with a bar tap that will barely fit in the cigar box in which it will come…
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