Cha Cha Cha Cuban Café

CUBA 🇨🇺

[COVID-19 UPDATE: As seen in the photo above, there are a few seats in front if you would like to enjoy your food, but Cha Cha Cha is doing primarily pickup and delivery service at the moment.]

Having never been here before restrictions were put into place for dine-in services, the joy and hospitality this room is most certainly full of cannot be independently confirmed. But even in these days opening the door is much more like stepping into the kitchen of a friend rather than a restaurant.

The staff is busy cooking and sorting lunch orders coming in on the phone and various apps, but never stops being friendly and accommodating, even apologizing that the indoor tables are unavailable when a takeout order is ready.

The cute interior can hopefully be enjoyed soon.

When the dining room is back open, it will be with great pleasure that a return visit will need to take place. Besides these good moods, the restaurant is full of cute reminders of Cuba (including bar stools made from real drums), great music, and artwork with scenes of home.

On this particular visit, food was being picked up for a trip down to the beach, but a few appetizers were necessary to take care of growling stomachs. This was a good opportunity to sit at a table in the front.

The plate above includes an empanada de pollo ($2.50, left) and an order of croquetas de hamon ($1.50, right, their spelling), along with two different types of mayo-based dipping sauces. The croquetas are fried to order and tasty, bites are rich with ham and pepper, and maybe a dash of nutmeg?

The empanadas are also fried in their Cuba renditions, but retain their moist meaty filling. You can also select them with picadillo, but this was full of shredded chicken. To be honest, neither of the snacks requires the sauces, each one full of its own spices that outshine the condiments.

After Florida, New Jersey saw the most migration from Cubans over the years and is no stranger to some of the best Cuban food around, including some very impressive cubanos. The cubano ($9.95, above, lunch price) at Cha Cha Cha checks all the right boxes: toasted right with the cheese oozing out, while the savory, sweet, and sourness of the ingredients all play off of each other perfectly.

When the pickle is allowed to dance and showcase itself like it is in this sandwich, happiness is usually quick to follow.

Amongst other dishes that are also available for lunch specials (Monday through Friday, 11:00-14:30) is the lovely ropa vieja ($10.95, above). This shredded and spiced flank steak is cooked in a savory creole sauce and also takes hints of sour from its olives.

For those that are fascinated by Latin American rices and how each country can create its own taste within them, you will not be disappointed by the ample portion here. Scoops of it with the black beans (both come with the ropa vieja) are enough to conjure up memories of sitting down at a restaurant right on the malecón. For now, the Jersey shore or some proximity to it, will have to suffice.

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KENILWORTH New Jersey
292 South Michigan Avenue

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La Churreria N.2

CUBA 🇨🇺

Cutting through Union City, West New York, Guttenberg, and North Bergen, this section of Bergenline Avenue is one of the East Coast's gems. It would be difficult to decide on any moniker to call the neighborhood by because despite Spanish being the only language heard, the area is quite diverse. After filling up with Dominicans and Cubans near the middle of last century, more recent waves have brought in Mexicans and Central Americans, but smatterings of South Americans are throughout as well.

So far there are no Canadian restaurants, but other than that if it exists in the Americas, you can probably find it in these four neighborhoods. During the day, most establishments are up and running but at night the true nature of it all gets going with families outside meeting their neighbors and of course eating. Restaurants and bars are full and the energy is fantastic.

Empanadas de guayaba y queso.

La Churreria is a workaday Cuban cafe in the southern reaches of all this that opens early enough for breakfast but really is a go to for affordable lunch and dinner specials. It fills up with a varied crowd of old guys talking politics, office folks coming for lunch, stragglers grabbing cubanos and coffee, and families. On weekends these families might be wearing their Sunday best and taking over multiple tables pushed together.

Working class Cuban diners like this are not so prevalent in the city anymore for whatever reason. Cuban cuisine is "cool" enough that many of the eateries are hip and modern, bordering on fancy. Dominicans running counter service diners throughout the five boroughs can certainly cook a great cubano, but a full menu like this is a rare sight on the other side of the Hudson. Here they are everywhere, and La Churreria is one of the best.

It can also be a great place to break up a longer journey, the comfortable dining room usually has at least a couple tables open and cheap bottles of beer are always cold. Eventually an order of one of those respectable cubanos (above and below) will happen, and that is when life starts getting very pleasant.

Always arriving super thin because of their toasting method, the sandwich is nonetheless filling and packs in all the necessary savory and sour parts that it is known for. Not shown is their excellent medianoche, the same ingredients on a delicious sweet bun that might even be a better choice.

Despite being such an economical place, the tastes are of true comfort and soul warming. From the daily specials list, the bistec a la palomilla ($8.95, below) will not knock your socks off with an amazing cut of meat, but the simple seasonings on this thin steak make you think of grandma even when grandma is from Iowa.

These specials always come with two side dishes, of which the black beans here are a revelation and should never be passed on. The cup comes thick with smoke and pork, and a plate of beans and rice would be enough to satisfy on days that require pinching pennies.

On the way out you may notice that like many Cuban eateries up and down Bergenline, La Churreria announces itself as "El Rey del Pan con Bistec," the king of the steak sandwich so popular in the neighborhood. That title might be given to "two friends" further north, but after this steak you might vow to give it a try next time.

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UNION CITY New Jersey
3300 Bergenline Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

La Pola Restaurant Cafeteria

CUBA 🇨🇺

The flag of Spain joins the flag of Cuba in the front window of La Pola in West New York, New Jersey. It takes a bit of investigation to figure out why since the menu is distinctly Cuban, but the proprietor is originally from Spain, immigrating to Cuba during his teenage years. Now a very kind elderly gentleman, he still runs the place efficiently, greeting both old customers and new and taking everyone's orders.

Every surface of the restaurant tells a story and it is a little overwhelming at first. The menu adorns one wall, while the sandwich counter sits up front with a large pile of slow-roasted pernil ready to be added before pressing the sandwich on the grill. The menu board advertises about five daily rotating plates, but these sandwiches win awards and we recommend you start there.

Some of the ingredients can be pre-stuffed into the delicious bread rolls in preparation of high volume. The shop has a couple different versions including their own house special, but we started with the classic cubano (below), a magical sandwich that has the right amount of everything. They use ingredients that all complement the original intent of the cubano, and work together to create something special, each part playing a role in each bite.

The skill of the sandwich maker is on display as well with perfectly toasted bread and melted cheese. Seconds shorter or longer and it might not have been so good.

Fresh juices and batidos (below) are each $4 and also go well with the food here. For something more sweet, try a cup of their freshly juiced sugar cane, guarapo, also $4.

La Pola is one of the longest standing and most well-respected Cuban lunch counters in West New York, and just opening the door is enough to figure out why. That first bite will certainly convince anyone who needs it.

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WEST NEW YORK New Jersey

5400 Palisade Avenue

El Unico de Elena

CUBA

After finally traveling to Cuba nearly a year ago, the thought of fancy, modern takes on the cuisine are barely below upsetting. The difference in taste between the local lunch restaurants and the tourist-only paladares was negligible. The plates might have been nicer and there was probably a small bouquet of flowers as a centerpiece, but otherwise you walked away feeling fleeced. On the first few nights, the "recommendations" from "locals" to take you to their "favorite" restaurant would come fast and furious. Luckily after a few days they stopped, apparently they caught on.

Unfortunately this was just a way for someone on a small monthly salary to try and pull in a little bit of extra change, as the restaurant (charging about as much for a meal as most people make in a month) would throw a small kickback for every tourist they could rangle. Regardless of your financial situation or the budget of your travels, these paladares showed nothing of the life (the beauty as well as the hardship) of any real Cuba, and that is why any fancified version of the cuisine even here in New York City would be upsetting and unrealistic.

There are plenty of "user-friendly" modern Cuban restaurants around, with decent offerings and probably nice atmosphere. But as this website has been showing for almost a decade, the real good stuff is just across the Hudson in Union City and West New York, New Jersey. The largest waves of immigrants and refugees have been coming here since the Cuban revolution in 1959 to live close to family and friends who had already uprooted in the previous couple decades, making everything nowadays seem very instilled and old school.

That distinct charm lives in a lot of the area's bakeries and restaurants, including El Unico de Elena, named for the late wife of the owner who still works to this day. Opened in 1976, the "charm" spoken of is probably the same quality that would earn the place a snarky review on Yelp for being dirty. But it is definitely not dirty, just worn, and this is part of why you feel so good here. The acoustical ceiling tiles, the old wooden paneled bar and throwback diner barstools were probably all originals. There is an even a working payphone inside.

The other shocking development here is that prices also seem not to have changed for decades. Heaping plates of food come out for $3.50 to $6. The ropa vieja ($4, above) is certainly workaday, but what a value. They have good rice and beans here as you would expect from any good Cuban place, and the quoted prices always include those and a couple slices of fried sweet plantains.

Our other choice this day was lechon asado ($5, below), which we had served with moro, the rice and beans combination famous in Cuba. We found this lacking the depth of richness found in the regular black beans, but the roast pork was delectable. Our server brought a spicy sauce and pointed to the pork, hinting that the combination would be worth trying. He was right.

When two people have finished their meals and juices, the check's total makes a 20% tip seem far too low. Tax is not added, so even a generous tip stretches your twenty dollar bill quite far. For those lucky enough to live close and become regulars, there is a special feeling awarded from the family that still operates this long running institution of Union City.

UNION CITY New Jersey

4211 Park Avenue

[CLOSED] Havana Sandwich Queen

CUBA 🇨🇺

[UPDATE: CLOSED]

This queen is much less royal than the name might inspire, but that is definitely not a bad thing. Not much from the outside, stepping inside is somehow into a warmer climate with tropical colors and wicker furniture. Paintings of La Habana decorate the entire space and inspire memories of travels not so long ago.

The clientele is also blue color, with locals taking quick lunches and the West New York Police Department taking slightly longer lunches. A few people linger over coffee and the paper. In front, the kitchen prepares mostly sandwiches, hot pressing them when ordered.

It does not take long for an order to arrive, giving you scant time to try and translate all the fun idioms covering the walls. Regardless, when the cubano ($4.99, below) arrives, your attention switches immediately to it anyways. The freshly pressed Cuban bread is perfectly toasty and soft within, with layers of ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. The pickles always play a more oversize roll than usual in a cubano, their deliciousness essential to the sandwich.

Little known is the fact that the sandwich is said to have been originated in Florida, a direct descendent of the ham and cheese sandwich that remains popular in the United States to this day. When travel and work between Florida and Cuba was much more fluid over a century ago, Cuban workers were said to be the first to eat the sandwich while taking lunch from the cigar factories.

You can get most of the sandwiches here in three sizes, 6 inches, 8 inches, and 11 inches. All three are great value depending on your appetite.

Also of interest are the empanadas. The empanada de guayaba y queso ($2.50, below) is a Cuban classic, and does not disappoint here.

Ours seemed fresh out of the oven, but the hunks of cheese do not fully melt. Plenty of hot guava is in there, so be careful as you take bites and it starts squirting forwards and back.

Unfortunately there is no alcohol here, especially Cuban alcohol like Havana Club rum, shown painted below on the wall. That would just have to wait until we got home and got into our illegal bounty from a March trip.

Dancing did not seem very likely here either, unfortunately, but otherwise the friendly ladies run a lovely place that does have transportative qualities even on cold December days. I miss you, Cuba.

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UNION CITY New Jersey

106 48th Street

Margon

CUBA 🇨🇺

Definitely the best lunch option in the area around Times Square, this Cuban takeout lunch counter seems wrapped in history and character, and will always impress! The empanadas ($2) are a good bet, while the $8.00 pollo asado is a steal. Even the menu guarantees it will "never let you down."

The Cubano ($6.50, below) will not disappoint either, both cheesy and pickley, but is not mind-altering like the steak sandwich ($6.50), which comes with their special mojito dressing. They do know what they are doing on all fronts. Enjoy this place while it lasts!

A cross-section of the famous Cubano.

Very good rice and beans come with sweet fried plantains.

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TIMES SQUARE Manhattan
136 West 46th Street

La Isla

CUBA 🇨🇺

La Isla just has a good feel to it. The vibe is right on, with friendly staff and good music. I'm not the biggest fan of Washington Avenue in Hoboken, but this is welcome respite.

Another charm (read: perk for cheapsters) is that they serve no alcohol, but let you bring in whatever you like from outside. Grab a six-pack and take a seat somewhere in the restaurant that is divided between tables on one side (mostly seating only 2) and the long bar with stools on the other.

The ceviche de camarones ($8.50, above) tempted me off the appetizer list, but was ultimately a little dull. The onion-cilantro-lime mixture was not heavy enough on the lime or something, and the shrimps were a little chewy for my liking.

The sandwiches are well-priced, but downright boring unfortunately. I have said this before, but a Cuban sandwich is not rocket science, and is either good of bad. The Cubano here ($8.50, above) is the latter. No sauce, no pickle taste, thoroughly dry. Also dry is the choripan ($9, below), which comes with rubbery chorizo and a bed of little crisps which actually provide most of the taste.

The entrees section of the menu is possibly trying to shine too brightly, or maybe it is just my general distaste for all things fancy. The pechuga rellena ($17, below) is certainly interesting, but doesn't live up to it's artful design and price, which would also put it out of reach for this blog's purposes.

Almost a work of art.

Hmmm.... I have not said much that is nice here. But I leave the restaurant very happy, and that is key. And for Hoboken, it certainly shines out from most on offer.

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HOBOKEN New Jersey

104 Washington Street

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Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

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La Cubana Bakery

CUBA 🇨🇺

This small bakery is usually hopping on the weekends, and for good reason as the aroma it is giving off fills the surrounding streets with sweetness. The old signage inside advertises empanadas de guayaba y queso, but there are more like pastelitos (little cakes). I found the ones below ($1/each) to be a little too sweet for my liking, like many Cuban sweet pastries, but the filling was delicious if a little light.

There are signs around for sandwiches, but on this weekend morning there were no cubanos to be found. Not sure if this is a full time thing or not.

The refrigerator caught my attention with a soda I had never tried before. I am a big fan of mate, but not so much of the "Materva" yerba mate soda ($1). It served its purpose of washing down the treats, but like most Latin American sweet drinks is too syrupy for me. The people here were sweet though, and despite having to fight other customers to place an order (battles which I ultimately lose since I am too shy about my Spanish to shout), I will definitely return whenever in the area.

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WEST NEW YORK New Jersey

5700 Hudson Avenue

Dos Amigos

CUBA 🇨🇺

The bread man double parked outside, and a customer came back in to ask who it was that was blocking his car. After a few minutes the situation was resolved without problem, but I was sitting oblivious to it all, still stunned by the flavor soaked into the meat in my pan con bistec ($5.50, small, below). I had chosen the smaller version only because I had eaten so much already this day, but never again will come with a stomach so full.

There are two options on the menu here to eat, chico (small) and grande (large, $6.50). So the decision process is very easy, and the focus this place has on its pride and joy has gone to good use. As I sat eating my sandwich, I wanted to bring more children into this world so that they too could enjoy it. An exaggeration maybe, but I was almost completely speechless by how good a simple thing could be. The sandwich is stuffed with fries, and I chose the cheese upgrade ($0.50), but probably won't again because the slices of American only served to take away from the beauty of the meat.

The sandwich was perfectly accompanied by the batido de guanábana ($4, below), one of the best versions I have had in New York.

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WEST NEW YORK New Jersey

5300 Bergenline Avenue

Centro Latino Restaurant

CUBA 🇨🇺

The meat empanadas are mediocre, good but not special more than any other bakery or restaurant on Bergenline. But the guayaba y queso ($1/each, guava and cheese) version is to die for. Served for takeout, these beauties were delicious and just the right temperature, and had me skipping down the street.

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WEST NEW YORK New Jersey
6217 Bergenline Avenue