Tonight was P’s work holiday dinner, which was held at Durham’s new Cuban Revolution. I checked out the menu this afternoon at work, and it looked great – a huge selection of moderately priced tapas plates, lots of sammies, and several tasty-looking entrees. The menu was also fun and funky looking, with lots of leftist political statements on it. I was stoked to try it – until I got home and read all the Yelp reviews. I love Yelp a lot because of its dependability – I find that myself having similar opinions of reviews of places that I’ve been myself – so I trust the people who write on there. But yikes! The place boasted 12 reviews, 11 of which were one or two stars – most complained about the service. However, I noticed a lot were from when the place first opened – and god knows I’ve had a few rough nights running around restaurants as a server (who doesn’t), so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and chalked every review up to opening-month(s?) jitters. I was still eager, albeit a bit nervous, to try it.
I’m so glad we made the trek over the American Tobacco District. First of all, the service was just wonderful. Our waitress was friendly, sweet, and patient the whole time she dealt with our party of 20+. Never once did I have to ask for a drink refill (always something that I like), the food arrived in a more-than-timely manner, and everyone’s entrees arrived at the same time. I was so happy to see that it seemed as though the service kinks were worked out after a few months of operating.
The food was delicious! I’ve only had Cuban cuisine a few times, so I by no means am an expert, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate. So I consider it a success. Oh, first off though, here’s the menu.
See how bright and funky it is?
Everyone at the table ordered different appetizers, except most couples ordered the fried green beans. This seems to be a popular appetizer at restaurants these days, and a very American one at that. Green beans? Healthy? Let’s FRY them. Well, I thought they were delicious, served with a creamy, spicy roumelade-esque dip.
We also ordered the chips and salsa, which I expected to be mediocre like most places. However, their salsa was black bean salsa, and it had corn in it too, with a nice little kick of spice. Delicious and fresh-tasting!
Other appetizers that I didn’t get pictures of included the sweet potato fries (tasty), maduros (fried ripened plantains), black beans and rice, and black bean soup. But the fried green beans were the most sought-after, it seemed.
After sharing all those appetizers, P and I were pretty stuffed, so we just got some of the “World’s Best” sammies, as they were called. I got the steak sandwich and P got the cuban (pork, salami, cheese, pickles, and lettuce/onion/tomato). I added hot peppers to mine, which gave it a great spicy kick, but the meat was tender, flavorful and juicy on its own.
Our lovely friend Sonia, who is Puerto Rican and helped us with the unknown menu items (“Sonia, whats an empanada?” “Sonia, what’s a maduros?” “Sonia, what’s guava like?”) ordered the ropa vieja, which translated means “old clothes” and consists of a far tastier stew-like mixture of shredded flank steak and vegetables over rice. And her husband Paul ordered a selection of tapas – his black beans and rice, empanadas, and cuban wrap are in the background.
The wrap was really interesting and tasty – it had rice, lettuce, tomato, a piece of maduros, and hummus in it. A whole mix of flavors and textures that worked really well with each other!
Anyway, if you linked to Yelp you’ll see that mine is the only positive review, which I was happy to give. I hope Cuban Revolution has worked out its kinks, because the service and the funky atmosphere, not to mention a whole menu of other menu items I’d like to try, were enough to get me to drive back to the American Tobacco District for another go!
