Cuba Libre

Tim and I rarely venture into the city even though we live about ten minutes from the center of Philadelphia. We tend to stay in our little nook of the suburbs. However, we went into Philadelphia to take part in Restaurant Week where upscale restaurants offer a three-course meal for $35. Our friends, TC and Laura, joined us for an evening at Cuba Libre, a Cuban restaurant that I have been wanting to try.

First of all, I love mojitos. They are the kind of cocktail that I like to enjoy at restaurants rather than make my own, but after enjoying a passion fruit mojito and a cherry mojito at Cuba Libre, I am inspired to make my own at home. We'll wait for summer for that.

My appetizer was a plate stacked with pork ribs! It was smothered in a guava BBQ sauce. Just like all ribs should be, they were cooked well and had lots of tender meat to pull off of the bone. TC, Laura, and I all had the ribs as our first course. I followed the ribs with a lime-garlic marinated chicken dish on top of a black bean croquete...I have no idea what that means, but it was like a black bean crab cake sort of thing without the crab! It was covered in a mango sweet and sour gravy.

Finally, my third and final course was the dessert. Normally, I do not get dessert at restaurants because I am so full from my dish, but it was part of the experience. TC and I enjoyed Tres Leche de Banana which is a vanilla sponge cake soaked in three different kinds of banana milk and a chocolate-banana mousse on top. It had caramelized bananas on the side too.

I realized on my trip to Cuba Libre that I really shouldn't wait until restaurant week to enjoy the yummy food that Philadelphia has to offer. I should make it a goal to go to the city at least once a month and try a new restaurant.