Chicago

90 Miles Cuban Cafe

That pesky anti-Castro embargo makes it tough to legally procure everything from Cuban cigars to Cuban hurlers -- but no act of Congress can stop the proliferation of their finest achievement, the Cuban sandwich. Get that and then some, at 90 Miles Cuban Café.

Started by a Cuban-American couple whose family's been cooking professionally for three generations, 90's a quick-serve, breakfast/lunch/dinner spot dominated by an 11-seat, U-shaped counter made from a century-old Wisco pine fence, and collaged up with pre-Fidel nostalgia: 30s & 40s magazine ads, b&w family photos, even a 1950 Bacardi invoice (Cuba Libres ain't free). The cafe's house-curing its pork and ham for pressed sandwiches like the mainstay Cubano and the house special "Lechón", which's stuffed with pulled pork, grilled onions, and fried plantains, then slathered w/ garlic sauce (once you've got "pulled-pork breath", does it really matter?). 90's also serving up fruit-filled pastries (pastelitos), meaty dinner plates (ropa vieja, bistec, lechón, chicken, etc, w/ rice, black beans, and fried plantains), plus in-house-ground beef empanadas, and breaded & deep-fried ham croquetas -- a triple-can't-miss item, since "everything deep-fried is good", "everything stuffed in pastry is good", and "everything ham is good".

To wash things down, 90's pouring eight tropical fruit shakes (guava, mango, banana, etc), plus caffeinated action like cafe con leche, café cubano, and 4oz cups of cortadito, a 50/50 mix of café cubano and milk -- a milder mix of joe when you're not up to facing a real heater.

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