I told a Cuban friend I'd had vaca frita at Havana on Sunset. It's easy to guess why.
Restaurants prefer neat, easy things to cook, and vaca frita is a mess.
Braised flank steak is teased into shreds, then fried with onions and bell peppers. It's a celebration of browned flavors, like a heavily fried Mexican machaca , and there's no way to make it without grease flying all over. Let's stipulate that Versailles, thanks to some special occult technique, makes the best Cuban roast pork in town. But Havana on Sunset has the most ambitious Cuban menu and the most sophisticated style. We're in Hollywood here, among the shops that ring the Metropolitan Hotel.