text: Max Fischer What was your majornnRosemary Cross I did not have a major but my thesis was on Latin American economic policynnMax Fischer Oh that is interesting Did you hear that they are not going to teach Latin anymorennRosemary Cross This was more like Central America nnHa Okay That exchange does not have anything to do with my review of Havana Cafe only that it dances with the SouthoftheEquator theme Which in actuality is the same concept of Havana Cafe That is its a Cuban restaurant with heavy Latin American themes nnFirst and I must emphasize FOREMOST their alcohol selection is nothing short of brilliant They import an enormous amount of South American and EuropeancumLatin influenced wines and serve it both by the ounce and the liter Fascinatingly they have Portuguese reds which i have been exhaustively looking for either instore or dinein around the valley Praise be I have finally found the place They also offer Argentine reds and whites Chileans Sav Blancs and Spanish Tempranillos Perfect selection and VERY reasonable for their exclusivity Their Douro was a serfencouraging That is not very many Escudos no not at allnnFor beer they had several unique selections most notably the inclusion of Argentinas Quilmes Honestly i cannot remember what other selections they had though i remember being roused by the list only to be seduced by the Porteno brew of choicennTheir selection of rums and the accompanying list of rum cocktails was also impressive though sadly sans Havana Club Rum due to Americas archaic embargo vs the snarky nation of Cuba BlastnnWhen the food came out I was impressed by the presentation To start my gf found it in her gullet to order the hearts of palmcarrotvarious rabbit food appetizer which was heavily drowned in vinegar i liked it but she did not care for it all too much My app was the serving of croquetas filled with ham with a side of mildly spicy aioli Not bad but slightly mushy Fry them up a couple more minutes and I would have gladly accosted my taste buds with volcanic pork pieces even furthernnMy entree was the poached chicken with shrimp and rice which tasted well and good on the first try but went up to on the reheat the next day Fucking glorious My gf had the stuffed squash with a Jamaican curry cream sauce She was thrilled with it because she likes vegetables and shit and this was the motherload of veggie heaven veggies filling veggies like some plant orgynnOkay so why the empty star nnIts pricey What was meant to be a casz dinner ended up surpassing the century mark Not a problem really since we got rounds of the good stuff plus basically dinnerlunch out of it but it COULD turn some people off All in all i felt it was slightly overvalued nnStill this will NOT keep me from coming back There is just too much fucking potential here and so many unfurled selections I have got to take down their wine list I wonder if they offer an aroundtheworldwineclub card like some cheesedick chain like The Yard House I will be here for as many happy hours and apps as is necessary to finance the country of Cuba and bypass any restrictions put onto me by the governments Go here and do your part too