[My new series for 2016 continues ... with the SIXTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Havana's Cuban Cuisine
Location: Cooper City
Meal: Too late for lunch, too early for dinner
Drink: Coca-Cola (in the Santa can)
Appetizer: Sopa de Pollo (and warm garlic bread)
Cuban style chicken noodle soup
Main: Chicharrón de Pollo
Tender chunks of chicken breasts marinated with garlic and onions and deep fried
Side(s): White rice and black beans and puré de papa casero (mashed redskin potatoes)
Dessert: Dark chocolate bar (bought from a tiny patron)
Server: Rafael
Website: not applicable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HavanasCubanCuisine/
Funny story ... this place was visited during the time company was here (those two weeks filled up my "taste bank" until March), and it was completely a fluke. We had planned to eat at a local Cubano stand, but got rained out on that day ... and a few days later, we were out running errands, and turned to Siri to find a place near the intersection where we were ... and *this* Cuban restaurant (potentially one of three in the area, although rumor has it that one may have closed) was in the strip mall just beyond the light (in Florida -- EVERYTHING is in a strip mall -- I'm actually shocked that it took six weeks to feature an eating establishment inside one).
AMBIANCE: 9/10 (straightforward room with outside seating available and banquette cushions that were very well broken in, but a point lost for a large group next to us that included children who get progressively louder because no one was paying attention to them)
FOOD: 9/10 (hot garlic bread and hot homemade chicken noodle soup [with potatoes and large chunks of chicken] to start the meal? -- yes, please! [even if I opted out of squishing the traditional latin lime into it] and the garlicy cuban chicken nuggets were juicy and flavorful, but a point lost for cold potatoes
SERVICE: 7/10 (one point lost for not having a system to know which one of us ordered what, and one point lost for a server who seemed a little ho-hum about the whole encounter, and one point lost for waiting until a conversation at the end of the meal to disclose that there was a secret menu whereby a cubano sandwich could have been ordered)
BACON: 6/10 (those black beans had a smoky bacony flavor [reminding us of the BEST beans we had in San Juan, Puerto Rico many years ago], and a few points for having ham as a topping on multiple dishes [not quite bacon ... but getting close])
BONUS: 6/10 (+3 for serving enough plantains that the whole table could join in in eating them, and +3 for letting one of the little kids from the aforementioned group sell his fundraising candy bars table by table at the end of the meal)
TroyScore: 37 out of 50 -- aka 74, a solid C
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