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A word of caution here. While research is good but do not rely on the opinion of one person. For instance the
Zagat guide does not rely on one person's
opinion but most newspapers have one or two food critic who reviews all restaurants. So if you are going to a restaurant for the first time, better make
sure that everyone you can trust has high ratings. Otherwise, stick to what you know is good since you do not want bad food to spoil the mood.
This time I am suggesting that you try
Azucar Cuban Restaurant in New York City but do your own research before bringing your date there.
I got my introduction to
Cuban style Latin cooking while I ate at the
Naked Fish restaurants in the Boston area. From time to time, I visited
Florida and had
some excellent Cuban
meals, but in the Northeast United States, there are not too many restaurants that serve
authentic Cuban cuisine at an affordable price
since I am not talking about restaurants like
Asia de Cuba in New York
City.
Wait, but I have been proven wrong. While just goofing off on the 8th avenue in New York city (at 56th street), we came across Azucar. I looked at the menu
and was attracted to it but my wife also wanted to take a look at
Cancun next door where she had eaten lunch before. Finally, we opted for Azucar since we
had wanted to eat Cuban food after a while.
We were able to sit all the way in the back and the place is nicely decorated reminding one of a restaurant in
Havana. The waiters are all very polite and
the service is excellent. My wife chose pollo aljibe which is boneless chicken breast marinated in citrus sauce topped with watercress, avocado, tomatoes and scallions. Since she is
on the automatic
diet and has a strong preference for grilled food with fresh stuff, she was very pleased too.
I opted to eat pollo guajira which is chicken stuffed with sweet
plantain and cheese sautéed with onion, mushroom and zucchini in a white wine sauce. Due to
the sauce and cheese, it may be somewhat heavy for those on a diet, but it is absolutely delicious. It has that light flavor so typical of tropical food.
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