I was in the neighborhood I grew up in and it was time for lunch. We decided on Cabana Nuevo Latina Cabana Nuevo Latina, a place I had fond memories of from over 10 years ago. I remember this being the first place my father liked, outside of Chinese food. He liked that the Paella came in a cast iron pot that stayed covered so that the food would not cool too fast. I also have fond memories of their Churrasco (Latin American style skirt steak) and Tostones Rellenos. Since then, they have opened four more locations, two in Manhattan and two in Florida. As with most expansions, the quality of food slides a bit but it’s nice to see that the menu hasn’t changed much.

I didn’t think any of the food today was as amazing as it was back when I was a teen (although I did not order the same things). The lunch was still good though and certainly satisfactory at it’s price. I ordered the La Playa Salad, which was so massive that I could not finish about 1/3 of it. I ate all the grilled shrimp and sea scallops, but left a lot of lettuce and chopped tomatoes/onions. The salads come with a soup of the day; today it was Lentil Vegetable, which was very good. I kind of wish the cup of soup was larger and the salad smaller.

Caroline ordered the Empanadas. It came with a choice of two (she liked the shrimp more than the chicken), yellow rice and black beans, and a generous salad. Again, good for it’s price.

It’s no longer a place I would rave about, the way I did back then, but for their lunch prices (at least in Queens), it’s what I would expect of the quality, and actually more than expected in quantity.

posted by jessica at 05:27 PM Filed under Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.