Casa Havana
The real estate in Chelsea is so pricey these days, it was a re-occurring wonder to me that Casa Havana has stayed in business for this long. I’ve passed it a hundred times on my way to some chichi 8th Avenue restaurant or gay bar, but last week I needed to kill some time waiting for Chris and thought I’d drop in for a glass of wine (to supplement the three I’d already had). From the outside Casa Havana looks like a dumpy storefront where they shove sandwiches at you through a hole in the window. I was totally shocked to find a full-service diner with a long front counter (full disclosure – I LOVE long front counters. I think it was all the time I spent in Woolworth’s as a small child), a jukebox and a tucked-away little garden in the back that seats ten. I was already sold and I hadn’t even tried anything. Fortunately the adorable servers, recognizing a tipsy easy mark when they saw one, knew just what I needed, and set me up with a glass of excellent Spanish rioja and some homemade ceviche, which has got to be one of the best-kept secrets in NYC.
For the bargain-basement price of $4.95, you get a candy-dish-shaped bowl brimming with over a dozen full-size shrimp “cooked” in a tart bath of ripe tomato chunks, lime, cilantro, onion and a couple other ingredients I couldn’t identify, but which made my tastebuds absolutely sit up and beg. It was seriously superb; I almost drank the broth right out of the bowl. Although ceviche always evokes summer for me, the counter boys assured me that this dish was served year-round (and themselves of a regular customer).
Casa Havana serves old-school Cuban fare, the kind that will put a smile on your lips, fat on your booty, and raise your cholesterol ten points. I resolved to come back in October to try the Cuban sandwich, as well as their roast pork platter (which is always my barometer for the quality of a Cuban restaurant. If your pork isn’t tender, juicy and marbled with thick striations of fat, it’s likely nothing else on the menu is worth trying).
Awww yeah.
They also have a full breakfast menu, and everything is more than reasonably priced. There’s even a rudimentary hard-liquor bar behind the counter that looked to be fairly new, judging from the amused reaction of a regular spotting it for the first time. The conversations flew thick and fast as customers streamed in to pick up their dinners and exchanged cheerful jokes and salutations with the waiters. I was delighted. Such a breath of fresh air on that overdone avenue. Fancy eateries have their place, as we know, but some tricked-out ceviche, a whiskey soda and salsa music on the jukebox gets me in the mood just as well.
Casa Havana, 190 8th Avenue between 19th and 20th Street; C or E to 23rd Street; 212-243-9421. Cash only.
