Cubasian Invasion

Asia and Cuba.  Two places that don't really seem to jive...or so I thought.

Wednesday night, my favorite date, Steph (sorry, Dave), and I hit up Miami Beach style hot spot Asia de Cuba for a Restaurant Week dinner.  The cheaper Restaurant Week menu was our incentive this time, but I don't think I'll need to added motivation to return - our meal was great!  Everything is meant to be shared and Restaurant Week diners choose 2 apps, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert for $35/person. 

We started with beef dumplings two ways.  This was the perfect starter because it showcased the unlikely Asian/Cuban marriage well.  Three dumplings were steamed Asian style with a nice broth and three were fried almost like empanadas with a plum sauce.  They weren't afraid to add a little spice, which I liked because it helped differentiate these dumplings from the million others around the city.  The next appetizer was a mondo salad topped with tons of calamari, hearts of palm, cashews, and bananas.  This was no normal appetizer salad.  It was larger than an entrée (which we still had coming), so Dave got some yummy late night leftovers.  We were already filling up, but the honey rum glazed pot roast of pork was too good to pass up.  A slight tap with our chopsticks and the meat effortlessly fell apart.  By this point, we were full and tipsy off our lychee martinis (the signature cocktail of Tess and Steph dinner dates), but we further stuffed ourselved with a slice of coconut cake with chocolate ganache and coffee ice cream.  The "slice" was more like a mini cake, but we didn't let it intimidate us.  We are food warriors, and we soldiered on.  Even though it was Restaurant Week, we weren't given tiny portions or made to feel like second class citizens who weren't bringing in the bucks.

We didn't manage to get one of the normal tables, so we were seated at one long, high, tightly packed table.  While this made eating a little less comfortable, it made it easy to make friends (then again, that could have been the lychee martinis).  Our new gal pals next to us weren't able to finish their ahi tuna and wasabi mashed potatoes so they offerred us a taste.  We didn't mind helping out.  After all, what are friends for? 

A dark pic of the dumplings