Cafe Habana — off to a good start!

Ajiaco, "national dish of Cuba," is a traditional meat and vegetable stew served with a tasty wedge of yuca bread.

The Ann Arbor-Ypsi area no longer lacks for good cheap taquerias, but we are short on other Latin American cuisines — so when the sign for Cafe Habana went up in the former Shalimar space on Washington Street, we held our breaths.  It could be good, or it could be... meh. You just never know, and we didn't want to get our hopes up too high. We are happy to say that we were very pleasantly surprised with what we found, both inside and on the menu.

A few weeks back we walked in for dinner during their soft opening. The restaurant been transformed into a fresh chic look with a warm Cuban art-deco interior (cool posters!). The menu features a mix of traditional Cuban and South/Central American inspired dishes. Both the Ajiaco and the Ropa Vieja (pictured below) were excellent, as were the chimichurri and mojo sauces we tried. 

Ropa Vieja — the name translates to "Old Clothes" in reference to the shredded appearance — shredded beef in a spicy tomato sauce with yellow rice and tostones (fried plantain chips)

The appetizer taco al pastor was a fancied-up version of what you'll find at taquerias, and quite tasty — though, as everywhere in Washtenaw County, they aren't allowed to make it correctly thanks to the Anglo-centric Health Department.  The churros (pictured after the cut) were nice, and after acquiring the addiction in Madrid, it's great to be able to get churros con chocolate locally.  And the mojitos — exquisite, and respectably strong, as you would hope for from a Cuban restaurant.

The next day I talked a co-worker into going for lunch. We ran into another friend (Hi, Ed!) on the street, and the three of us gave the lunch menu a go. Cafe Habana also offers salads, Cuban sandwiches, and lunch portions of some of their dinner entrées. There was a mix-up in the kitchen with our orders, but the staff handled it with great professionalism. Oh, and our sandwiches were tasty.

In fact, I have to say between the two meals that the only thing that disappointed us was the Pan Cubano appetizer:  three small pieces of grilled bread and chimichurri sauce. The bread and sauces were wonderful, but I felt three dollars should get you more than three small, albeit tasty, pieces of bread. If they were smart, they'd give that bread and sample bowls of the chimichurri sauce out for free just to get people to try an unfamiliar taste that would likely get them hooked and ordering expensive steaks...

On the whole, however, the prices are quite moderate, and lunch is especially affordable with bocadillos (sandwiches) in the 6 to 9 dollar range.

Pan con Bistec — hanger steak with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, (and jack cheese usually, but this one was ordered cheese-free), on Cuban bread and with that awesome chimichurri sauce.

And the breakfast menu...?  That looks very promising, too. The Heuvos a la Flamenca with roasted tomato sauce, fresh peas, chorizo and potato croquetas is probably at the top of my list, but the Torreja (custard-griddle Cuban bread with fruit salsa and fried plantain) sounds delicious, too. I can't wait to try it! But plan for a late breakfast. The earliest they open is 11am weekdays and Sunday at 12 noon.

Cafe Habana
211 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor
734.332.6046

Here are a couple more items we enjoyed...

Cuban Sandwich — roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, mayo and yellow mustard on grilled Cuban bread

Churros with chocolate caliente -- not quite like Madrid but good

Comments

[Alex]

Outstanding! Thanks for the review. I've been eager to try the place but was waiting for a guinea pig...

[Patti]

What Alex said. And thanks for the fabulous pictures :)

[RobynT]

thanks for this! i'm going to post a link to your review on my Facebook page. i've been telling folks about this place since reading your review and can't wait to try it myself.

[-J in Toledo]

Thank you so much for the review. Another good reason to visit AA.

[Charles]

We tried Cafe Habana last night, and overall it was very good. Between four of us we had the Ropa Vieja, the Churasco Chimichurri, the Ajiaco, and Quesadillas (for a lighter appetite). On the plus side, all were extremely flavorful, and the side dishes (e.g., spinach, rice, tostones) were excellent. On the downside, the biggest problem was that the meat in the Ropa Vieja was incredibly fatty. Other problems were more minor (e.g., the Ropa Vieja had far more green peppers than I'd want, or that I've seen in other versions of this dish). The service was excellent. And desserts we tried were terrific (flan, churros). We'll definitely go back, although we'll avoid the Ajiaco next time.

[Kitchen Chick]

Charles, thanks for the review. Why would you avoid the Ajiaco? (Or did you mean to type that the meat in the Ajiaco was too fatty? I would definitely let them know - they seemed eager for customer feedback.)

As you can see from my photo, my plate of ropa vieja wasn't particularly pepper-full. I really enjoyed mine, so I am curious to see if yours is a fluke or a change in their recipe.

[Charles]

Whoops -- yes, I meant to write that the meat in the Ajiaco was incredibly fatty. That's why we'd skip the Ajiaco next time (even though the broth was very flavorful). The meat in the Ropa Vieja was wonderful.

[Myra Klarman]

Thanks for the review.

We tried Cafe Habana last night for the first time and we fell in love. The interior design is inspired, and we thoroughly enjoyed the food. (goat cheese apertizer, sugar cane shrimp, churros were highlights for me.)

Will definitely go again, soon!

[RobynT]

went there last night. the ajiaco was sooo good! yeah, it was a little fatty, but the taste was amazing. it didn't have the corn like in the picture, but those look a bit unwieldy anyway.

the ropa vieja was good too, but not as unique as the ajiaco. and honestly mine was a little cold.

the churros and flan were also great. the chocolate sauce for the churros was so good, but not very spicy. it was a pretty big dessert too--good for sharing. our waitress recommended all the desserts except the coconut turnover.

I cringed when you seemed to imply that Cuba was a Central American country: "The Ann Arbor-Ypsi area no longer lacks for good cheap taquerias, but we are short on other Central American cuisines — so when the sign for Cafe Habana went up in the former Shalimar space on Washington Street, we held our breaths." Cuban culture and food (& geography for that matter) are very different from those of Central America. They should never, never, never be lumped together.

[Joe, Kitchen Chick's husband]

Hmm. I agree, that didn't come out right.

If Cafe Habana were actually a pure Cuban restaurant, we wouldn't have said that. However, it's also got items like tacos al pastor (a Mexican dish which came out of the Lebanese immigrant community in Mexico), quesadillas, and so on. While the theme is Cuban and a lot of the dishes are, their scope is broader than just Cuban cuisine.

Of course, given that it's also got South American items like chimichurri sauce, it probably would have been more technically correct to say "Latin American" or "Latin American - Caribbean". I've corrected it to "Latin American," but we're open to suggestions.

Ajiaco, "national dish of Cuba," is a traditional meat and vegetable stew served with a tasty wedge of yuca bread is soooo sayur asem, indonesian food