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Business & Tech

La Cubanita Restaurant Rates On the Tastebud Scale

May be the second store, but it's second to none.

This La Cubanita Restaurant is the second one of these franchises and is located in the Royal Oaks shopping plaza at the intersection of Lithia-Pinecrest Road and Bloomingdale Avenue, right next to Racoons Bar & Grill. The actual address is 3240 Lithia-Pinecrest Road. The other La Cubanita restaurant is located at the corner of Kings Avenue and Lumsden Road.

This has got to be some of the best Cuban food I have ever eaten, and that is really saying quite something since I am a Cuban food freak! I was feeling particularly lazy the other night so I stopped at the Pizza Hut right next to the Earl Harris Karate Academy on Lithia-Pinecrest Road and got pizza for my wife and daughter.  I wanted Cuban food so I went to the other end of the shopping center for my dinner.

By the way, just a little sidebar, that Pizza Hut is the best one in town. They don't deliver to my house because of a distance thing and I get that, so I drive there instead of letting the other Pizza Huts deliver to my house.

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This started out as a La Cubanita blog but, what the heck, now that I'm rambling, let's do Pizza Hut! The Pizza Hut in Royal Oaks uses fresher toppings than the other Pizza Huts in town, and they are more consistent in the quality of their food. I have never gotten burnt pizza, cheap-cheese pizza or scattered toppings pizza. Every one of you out there right now can think of a pizza place that constantly burns its pizza or shorts you on toppings, and that really ticks us off. Then there are the ones where you order double cheese and your pizza isn't even covered in cheese.

Back to La Cubanita, I had the pork adobo with yellow rice and black beans. Of course, I had to get a hot-pressed Cuban sandwich while I was there, just for later. I think there's a law that says you have to do that or at least there should be one. The pork was cooked perfectly in the Spanish onions, peppers and mojo sauce. It was fork tender and practically melted in my mouth. The rice was fresh and the beans fresher. When the rice has a solid texture and the beans are firm to the bite and in a rich creamy sauce--OMG!

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I ate the Cuban sandwich later and was impressed with the amount of meat and cheese that was on my sandwich. They use roasted pork that is sliced thin and intense with the flavor of cumin and the ringing taste of peppers and cilantro. Cumin is actually a Middle Eastern spice, which has been adapted extremely well with chili, garlic, salt and various peppers to come up with the Cuban spice. BIG FAN!!

Sidebar: If you get a Cuban to eat later, get it without the pickles. The mayo and mustard will react chemically with the pickles to give you a less than desirable feeling later in your stomach due to various strains of bacteria.

It takes two hours for bacteria to start forming in food that is between 40 degrees and 140 degrees. Those are what are known as food danger zones. These temperatures might have changed this year—depending on who took over in the Department of Agriculture and who has to justify their new government position. Last year it was between 40 and 135 degrees and two years before it was 39 and 141 degrees, so the numbers are always changing.  As far as I know for this year, restaurants are required to keep cold food at less than 40 degrees and hot food at temperatures greater than 140 degrees.

Now don't get all excited and go out buying all those bio-therms and pricey digital thermometers. Just keep your food refrigerated and, for goodness sake, don't eat the potato salad at the picnic that has been out for a few hours. Keep it in a tub of ice and teach your friends how not to get sick after the picnic.

OK, now I've gone off on danger zones and picnics; back to work. Bottom line, I highly recommend the La Cubanita at Lithia- Pinecrest and give them 3 1/2 stars.

 

1 Star--Wouldn't go back on a bet

2 Star--Would have to go back, but only on a bet

3 Star--If I was in the neighborhood and hungry

4 Star--Would go out of my way even if I wasn't hungry

5 Star--Would make reservations and wait in a line 

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