Casavana Cafe, May 17, 2015

After a week of mostly just okay all-inclusive food (well, the fruit, bread, & chorizo were terrific) in the Dominican Republic, I was really pleased to be able to sit down to a Cuban meal at the Casavana Cafe in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. While it really lacked atmosphere and our waiter was pretty awful (my wife actually saw him put the credit card belonging to the guy next to us in his shirt pocket and then act like it was a mistake when the guy said, "Hey!"---perhaps it truly was, but we wondered---and he was terribly slow even taking our order, as well as trying to tell me that I wanted the congrí instead of the black beans and white rice), the food was quite good for airport food. It didn't measure up to the restaurants I love in Miami, but it was a heck of a lot better than most airport food I've come across.

I chose the masitas de puerco, my favorite Cuban main course, with a side of black beans and a side of white rice. Jeannene went for the Cuban-style hamburger with Swiss cheese and potato sticks. We shared a side of maduros (fried ripe plantains). The maduros were fabulous, but the amount (4) seemed pretty skimpy, given that it was a purchased side and not something that came with one of our meals. My masitas, pieces of pork marinated in mojo before being fried and served with onions and lime wedges, were incredibly generously portioned, however. They were yummy, too, although I needed to ask for more limes, as the wedge I got was terribly dry. The beans were a little bland, with no pieces of green pepper or onion in them, as I tend to expect of Cuban black beans, but overall, they were pretty good, too. Jeannene's burger was terrific.

Sadly, their espresso machine was out of order, so we couldn't have cafe con leche with our dinner. Luckily, there was a quick service version of the cafe just a little further down. So, after dinner, we stopped there for coffee. I was hopeful that they might also have pastelitos (little pastries) with guava paste and queso blanco. They did and, boy, were they fabulous! We also picked up some empanadas to bring home for tonight's dinner. I was disappointed in the Cuban coffee and the cafe con leche I had. They were good, just not as good as what I find in Miami proper.