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Plan B

November 19, 2008 By Marta Darby 11 Comments

The plan was to go to L.A. and be sophisticated women. To be the cool people who see documentary films in L.A.

The film was supposed to be about Cuban doctors. After reading the description, I had my doubts as to how truthful it would be, but I decided it would be worth it to see the film and glean what truth I could from it. Since it was showing on a Tuesday night in L.A. and the drive was going to be a bummer, I invited Sheila to come with me.

We gave ourselves two hours to get there. Spirits high, we set off . . . and stopped. Ay Caramba!

TRANQUE!

It was time for The Talk. "How long do we sit here until we give up and go home or come up with a Plan B?"

The film was supposed to be just under an hour long and started at 7pm, so we determined that we'd only allow ourselves to be 15 minutes late. If at any point it became evident we wouldn't make it, we would cut our losses and turn back.

At 7pm we were barely arriving in L.A. and still a good 30-45 minutes from our destination. The traffic had been deceptive. Every time we were about ready to give up, it would start moving . . . and then stop again.

"Ok, we are not going to the film. I'm hungry. Where are we? What's Plan B"

By the grace of God, we were close to a new Cuban restaurant I'd heard about, "La Bodeguita de Pico" (yes, it's in the center of the block, just like "La Bodeguita del Medio" in Cuba.

"La Bodeguita, that's Plan B."

Sign-1

It was just beautiful inside. I felt like I'd traveled back in time. It was so warm and so . . . como te digo? . . . so . . . CUBAN.

Y la comida! OLVIDALO! It was delicious! I had the vaca frita and it was great (not as good as Mami's, but pretty close!).

Vaca frita-1

Sheila has been practicing her Spanish. It's really fun when we go places together because everyone assumes that since I'm Cuban, she must be Cuban too. Let me tell you, she ate it. She placed our whole order in perfect Spanish. I was so proud. She did so well that the waiter did not believe that Spanish was not her first language.

Flag-1

As we waited for our food, we began to really take in our surroundings. There was writing all over the walls which added a fun and hip sort of charm to the already lovely surroundings.

Wall 1-1

We basically had the place to ourselves, so we made ourselves at home. We explored every inch of the restaurant (Even the restroom – gorgeous). We read as much of the walls as we could. Inspired and seizing the moment, we asked if we too could write on the walls. They had Sharpies ready for us.

It didn't take long to decide what to write:

"A Lo Cubano! – La Negrita"

Wall 2-1

"Que Viva Cuba Libre! Besos! xoxo – Kikita"

(Knowing the rules about Cubanas and Red Lipstick, it felt only too appropriate to kiss the wall.)

Wall 3-1

(If you ever go and want to find where we signed the wall, go up the stairs, pass the men's restroom at the end of that walkway on the right hand side, that's where we are – it's hard to miss the red lips!) 

When we didn't think the night (that had started off so roughly) could get any better, the waiter asked if we would like dessert. Sheila jumps right in, "Claro que si! Que hay de postre?"

He started to list the basics: flan, tres leches, cascos de guayaba . . . WAIT. WHAT?!?!

I've never found a restaurant in CA that serves CASCOS DE GUAYABA. They are reserved for Miami. I told Sheila she had no choice, I know she likes guava, so I knew she'd love this. And I was right.

Cascos1

Despite the fact that there is no espumita, the cafe tasted great.

All in all, it was worth the 2 hours of traffic. It's funny, we never would have said to each other, "Hey, let's sit in traffic for hours just to go to dinner!" (albeit Cuban food, it wouldn't have happened) But we were perfectly willing to make the sacrifice for a commandante approved documentary . . . silly girls.

This is Kikita, highly recommending you try Plan B. =D

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Filed Under: Cuban food Tagged With: Amy (Kikita)’s Posts, Amy Kikita Hohneker, Amy's Posts

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kikita says

    November 19, 2008 at 12:08 am

    (Kikita hangs her head in shame)Yes, we took the 5. I know, that is something you just don’t do, but the place was off the 101, but closer to the 5 . . . I didn’t think we had time to go up the 405 and then over on the 101.
    We definitely took the 405 home though. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Ody from Miami Lakes says

    November 19, 2008 at 7:18 am

    Kikita,Great story to a great night.

    Reply
  3. George says

    November 19, 2008 at 10:39 am

    I’ve heard about this place … I’ll have to try it one day.I don’t know which freeway you took, but I never take the 5 to go to L.A., especially when I’m going to Portos. To Portos, I take the 57 to the 210 to the 134. I know it’s a longer route, but much faster and much more relaxing!
    BTW, for those non-So. Cal readers, Portos, in my opinion, is probably the best Cuban establishment in So. Cal. I believe MBFCF would concur. Although it’s gotton so popular with non-Cubans, that I think it’s lost a bit of its Cubanism. In the 80s, it was much more tailored for Cubans. My parents would often go there to buy the galletas and the pastelitos.

    Reply
  4. Marta says

    November 19, 2008 at 11:42 am

    George,That goes without saying. Totally concur that Porto’s is THE CUBAN SPOT. But if you don’t want to drive to The Valley (which, seriously, who does?)there is a place in Anaheim called Cafe Contigo. They are in Anaheim near Harbor and Broadway on Anaheim Blvd. and they “import” their pastelitos and bakery-style galletas from Porto’s.
    http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/463053
    Bonus: they’re just around the corner from Disneyland! =D

    Reply
  5. George says

    November 19, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    I just read through the comments on the Cafe Contigo webpage, it appears that the establishment closed shop a couple of months ago….:(

    Reply
  6. Marta says

    November 19, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    Nooooo!George, you’re right.
    So sad!! Apparently it closed about a month ago. That tells you how out-of-touch I am.
    Of course, this just means we’ll have to make a road trip to Porto’s just to feel better. 😉

    Reply
  7. Kikita says

    November 20, 2008 at 1:38 am

    It wasn’t the best location . . . Sad.But, hey, ROADTRIP! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Nathan says

    November 20, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    I’ve read reviews that the food is okay, it serves so-so Cuban food for the price.If you want some awesome home-style Cuban food try “La Cubana Restaurant” they make their pan cubano in the restaurant fresh and have some harder to find stuff like “Apporreado de Tasajo” and you can get “Cascos de Guayaba” there to. (I make my own at home though ha ha), also Versailles has good Arroz Con Pollo and good “Pollo al Mojo de Ajo”
    But like always the best Cuban food is in Cuban households no one can cook like Cuban abuelas and mother’s, something about cooking at home and the family that makes the food “oomph”

    Reply
  9. Kikita says

    November 21, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Nathan,Really? There are so-so reviews? I was more pleased with this place than I was with Versailles a few weeks ago . . . in fact, Sheila told me the other day that she would be perfectly willing to brave traffic again for it . . .
    pero, bueno, not all of us think the same, huh?
    I will definitely check out La Cubana Restaurant, it looks adorable! Anywhere you can get cascos is ok in my book! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Nathan says

    November 21, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    Well great thing about “La Bodeguita de Pico” is you can listen to live Cuban music on certain day’s and dance to it as well as eat cuban food, pretty good combination you can’t get everywhere here in Cali 🙂

    Reply
  11. Kikita says

    November 22, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    My sentiments exactly!Estoy de acuerdo!

    Reply

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