Wednesday, February 20, 2002

A taste of Cuba in Fayette

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Good night, Sweet Basil.

That restaurant's brief return to the southside is over and in its place is Cafe Havana, a restaurant serving Cuban and Spanish cuisine.

Cafe Havana is owned by Ayman Amin and Patrice Azzarito, owners of Baci, and Stuart and Michelle Fail. The group got the idea from a friend who owns Pepe's, a Cuban restaurant in New York City. The friend gave them some ideas for a menu and some recipes to try and the rest, as they say, is history.

Cuban cuisine is known for two different types of sauces: sofrito, a tomato-based sauce that tastes like a mild salsa, and mojo, a citrus-based sauce. Cuban cuisine relies heavily on cumin spices as well as garlic, onion and peppers. Spanish cuisine uses white wine and beer in the cooking and is very different from Mexican food, which tends to be very spicy and use a lot of cheese.

The building that houses Cafe Havana was formerly the Break of Day Bakery and the bread oven is still there. The owners of Cafe Havana are putting it to good use by baking bread for the Baci restaurants as well as fresh Cuban bread for the sandwiches on the menu. The oven can bake 65 loaves at a time.

Along with several styles of Cuban sandwiches, the menu at Cafe Havana also includes seafood paella (a yellow rice dish chock full of seafood), paella con verduras (a vegetable paella dish), roast pork, grilled steak, chicken or fish, black beans, rice, plantains and empanadas, which is puffed pastry with beef and potatoes. Cafe Havana also serves flan, a homemade custard dish, and several forms of Cuban coffee.

"The original idea for the restaurant was to make it an international market, like Harry's, and sell exotic ingredients and products," said Stuart Fail. "Now, we plan to incorporate the retial aspect into the restaurant. Customers can call in an order, pick it up and purchase some side dishes or beverages to go along with their meal."

Cafe Havana, located in the Wisdom Pointe Retail Center along with Hangar 74, Baci and Sushioshi, is open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday for lunch, 4:30-8:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday for dinner, and 4:30-10 p.m. for dinner on Friday and Saturday. Phone 770-631-1113 for more informtion.

Back to Dining Guide Home Page | Back to the top of the page