Oh, Habana Outpost. Why The Lies?
5 August 2008, 12:45 PM. By Daniel Mauser
We have a love/hate relationship with Fort Greene eatery Habana Outpost. We love it because it’s adorable and the food we’ve sampled there, for the most part and while inebriated, is not undelicious. But… Why would a restaurant with a Cuban-inspired name serve quesadillas and margaritas alongside mojitos and decidedly lackluster Cuban sandwiches? Is there not enough good Cuban food out there to fit the theme? Do the restauranteurs just not care about lumping all Latin food together? Curiously enough, Habana Outpost is the third ostensibly Cuban restaurant we’ve gone to in New York that has ended up having a mostly Mexican menu. All three did manage to have mojitos though, which was nice, and really terrible excuses for Cuban sandwiches, which hurt our hearts.
Anyone who can find a way to ruin a sandwich that consists of, basically, “ham and pork and pork and ham and a little Swiss and mustard and pickle, and then some more pork and ham” is suspect. Guys… some of these sandwiches didn’t even come on toasted bread. Not that we’d been able to taste it through our tears.
So, as a personal plea, we ask please, restaurants-with-Cuban-names, don’t deceive us any longer. When you’re ready to play fair and make a nice, toasty, pressed Cuban sandwich with melted cheese all running off the sides, let us know. In the meantime, we’ll be sadly sipping a mojito underneath a spangly sombrero. :’(
On a related note, please enjoy the comments by angry Cubans on a recipe for Food Network chef Paula Dean’s take on a Cuban sandwich. Teehee! (But, seriously. Mayo? That’s almost as bad as an “authentic” Mexican restaurant that uses sour cream instead of table cream.)
Habana Outpost [NY Mag]
(11) 
Post Your Comment
Did you know you can now share a link, image or video?
Click to submit your own notas.
I live right down the street from there! Their tortas (so Cuban!) are pretty tasty. I’m kind of addicted to the avocado and white cheese one. With Jarritos Guayaba soda. Yum Yum.
i work near a salvadorian resturant that sells mexican food. I think the only salvadorian thing they sell are popusas.
I live in Washington DC where we have no good Cuban options so I don’t feel too much sympathy for you all up there. People, at least, have the option of going to a place like Union City to get the real Cuban food while we have to suffer through cuban sandwiches that cost $10 or are made on crappy french bread and is made from limp ham and no lechon. Cry me a rio grande!
Evidently, a lot of latin restaurants freak out and decide that to be successful they have to cater to lowest common denominator. Most people know Margaritas and tacos and don’t know ropa vieja or croquetas de jamon, for example. Hence the mexican food at other latin country restaurants. I view it as selling out but then I don’t have to make a living managing a restaurant.
I was really pissed about this when I went to Habana Outpost. But then I heard that their sister restaurant, Cafe Habana, is named after a famous Cuban restaurant in the D.F.–hence the mixture of cuisines. I’m not sure if this is true, but after a bite of their tasty corn, I was willing to forgive them.
P.S. The underlying problem is that most U.S. anglos think that all Latin food is Mexican food…because they also think that all of Latin America is IN Mexico.
@zaperoko: Mmmmmmm, croquetas.
@souldejayuya: Word. At Cuban restaurants people always ask why there’s no guacamole. And, I half believe the “Cafe Habana” part. The decor of both features a lot of Cuban 1950’s travel posters mixed in with the Virgens de Guadelupe though. So, I guess they’re not TOTALLY lying.
I blame the white people. They always like to jumble anything Latino into one thing and think it’s all the same. So when they go out to eat at a Cuban restaurant, they complain that there are no quesadillas, etc.
Also, it wasn’t until I lived on the east coast for a bit that I realized how much I love Mexican food and how much I missed it.
Hello, I was just reading my RSS feed and was pretty upset when i discovered your post about the restaurant that employs me. Habana Outpost and Cafe Habana is a Mexican restaurant. It is spelled with a b instead of a v on purpose. it was named after a diner in Mexico that was frequented by Cuban expats.
I am of Honduran descent and I look like I’m biracial, I know something about getting lumped into categories that don’t fit me. Habana isn’t trying to be something that it isnt, so please don’t judge before you find out a little something about where it came from
-Raven
@ Raven: Habana is spelled with a “b” in Spanish. Because its the name of the city. It has nothing to do with it being a Mexican restaurant. If you name your place after Cuba’s capital - regardless of whether it’s referencing another restaurant in Mexico - don’t be surprised it people are going to assume, and possibly expect, that it will serve Cuban cuisine. Also, the restaurant’s decor is mainly Cuban, which further cements the idea that the owners just don’t really care to differentiate between different countries and that Latin America is just, like, a giant Epcot for tourists to peruse.
Cuban decor? According to who? you? I wouldnt say that at all, in fact we use all sorts of imagery, We purchase our decorations from a company based in Mexico, thats sells specifically mexican party decorations for weddings and sweet 15’s so there goes your theory on our decor.
My comment it aimed at the writer of this article, not the people who commented on it. The Writer, specifically should have done his/her homework. No matter what your personal opinions, it doesn’t not excuse the lazy writer, and their lack of journalistic integrity, Passing opinion off a fact is as good as lying to their loyal readers. And thats where the problem lies.
@ Raven: It’s an opinion piece, which why I had the audacity to offer my opinion. And, yes, the decor of the restaurant - both the facade and interior - resembled the decor of many Cuban homes, despite having been strung with paper chains purchased at Casa de Los Mexican Restaurant Decorations, Inc.
I’m not sure why this piece offended you so much, to be honest. I expected Cuban food from the name of the restaurant and got Mexican food served with mojitos. Which, hey! That’s fine. But it was the third time it had happened to me in a New York restaurant. Hence my decision to write this post.
I’m also not exactly certain how writing how I expected one thing and got something else is “lying” to my readers. “I really enjoyed the mojitos” would be an example of a lie, see. I referred to an “ostensibly Cuban” restaurant and “restaurants-with-Cuban-names.” I don’t quite see how either statement is false. And I think most (although very obviously not all) have the common sense to reach their own conclusions and to separate an op-ed piece from a Wikipedia post.
I’d respond further, but I’m feeling kind of lazy and am rather in the mood to wait in a very long line for a mojito that tastes like someone urinated on a freshly cut lawn. Recommend a place?
Your so right,
people can make up their own mind about Habana Outpost
The highly rated food
The frozen mojitos, mixed and made in house
Our free educational programs
Our free environmental education programs for teachers where we treat them to dinner and free classes about conservation
Our free parties, D’J’s , kids corner, family friendly atmosphere.
Our green design build program for students ( our toilets flush with collected rain water)
No reservations, first come first serve,
Just a bloggers opinion
What was I worried about
Thanks!