It comes out compressed, the cheese slightly melted, the hard outer crust of the roll cracked and warm and wonderfully tasty. The roast pork shows up again on the plato Cubano , alongside black beans, rice and a side of yucca frita . Ropa vieja , slowly cooked flank steak flavored with lots of garlic, gets its name from a supposed resemblance to old clothes. It tastes much better. Picadillo combines ground beef with garlic and peppers flavored with cumin, oregano, olives and raisins.
Spanish sherry adds to the spicy-sweet blend, and the mixture is served over a mound of rice.
Connel-Maribona has worked as a pastry chef in several restaurants, including Papa Haydn, and his desserts at Pambiche rival anything in town. They range from classic European pastry forms imbued with tropical flavors to traditional simple sweets. At the other end are arroz con leche , a lemony rice pudding, and chocolate-dipped macaroons called coquitos . The bright pink exterior lets you know right away that nothing is taken too seriously, and inside the sun-drenched colors of sky, beach and ocean combine with the sounds of merengue to take you away, if only for an hour or two, to a magical island where life is always good.