Until we can get to Cuba, Yoli's will do

[Robin Garr]

Until we can get to Cuba, Yoli's will do

LEO's Eats with Robin Garr

Cuban pork - lechon asada - at Yoli’s


Here's the deal: I really, really want to go to Cuba, and I'd like to get over there before it turns back into Vegas South, which - so I'm told - is what it was more than a half-century ago, when my grandparents used to head over there just for fun.

But that was back when Cuba had a harsh and inhumane dictator who liked the U.S. and was a good buddy to American corporations. After they switched over to a harsh and inhumane dictator who wouldn't play nice with United Fruit and its friends, or the Mob, either, Cuba was declared off-limits.

We quickly clamped down. Urged on by wealthy refugees, we placed this beautiful island full of friendly people under a trade embargo arguably more harsh than the treatment we would later deal out to Iraq and Iran. Who could blame them for buddying up to the Russkies, once we took our pelota and went home?

Now, though, times are changing! Thanks, Obama! But they're not changing overnight. According to a recent CNN report, we can fly directly to Havana now, but you can't just jump on Delta-dot-com and burn a bunch of miles to get one.

But wait! It gets worse. There's no AirBNB, no ATMs, no AT&T data plan, and, for all practical purposes, no Internet … or so CNN reported last month. Nope, it's not going to be a week at a fancy resort. But it could be fun, and a great way to brush up my Spanish skills, and I really want to do it.

For now, though, I can still eat Cuban food in Louisville, so there's that. Havana Rumba is the city's iconic Cuban eatery, but we have a handful of alternative Cuban choices.

But wait, again! Just as our local taquerias may offer a more sharply focused picture of real Mexican cuisine than some of the fancier Mexican spots, how about smaller, Cuban-for-Cuban spots well away from the usual restaurant rows?

You bet! We headed straight for the South End, a neighborhood that somehow over a generation has turned from a white bread scene into one of Louisville's more vibrant immigrant communities. ...


Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5356

See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/08/until- ... s-will-do/

Yoli's Cafeteria Cuban Restaurant
328 W. Woodlawn Ave.
822-3150
https://facebook.com/yoliscafeteria2015
Robin Garr's rating: 79 points

Cool! I like this place and am glad to see it get attention. Solid food and nice people.

[Robin Garr]

Cool! I like this place and am glad to see it get attention. Solid food and nice people.

Yeah, I can't honestly rate it as a destination for creative cuisine. I felt that the paladar analogy came close, though. Nice people serving simple food in a simple environment with a smile and an affordable price tag. That's a lot to like, even if it isn't a gor-may experience.

Thanks for coming down, they make the tamales from scratch starting with the raw corn, I dont know of anyone else doing that..

GG

2206 Frankfort Ave has reopened as Caribe. We are not associated with the concept (owners are old family friends of my dad), but it is Cuban food once again.

this place is really good for breakfast, I went with my girlfriend and they gave each of us at least 4 eggs, 5 pieces of bacon, you can get the yuca for breakfast instead of the fries and the cuban bread. That and we each had coffee was about $19. We could have shared one breakfast. We both ate it all and it was too much for one person.

Plus the restaurant is not busy for breakfast. So good place if you do not want to fight crowds.