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Tempt those taste buds

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For many second- and third-generation Hispanics, it’s common for childhood memories to revolve around eating comida hispana.
These meals were usually prepared by your mamá, abuelita, tía or maybe even papá. Traditionally, food and language are two important ways people maintain their culture.
Of course, comida is a little easier and tastier than language. Plus, your pancita gets full.
In California — and certainly Kern County — you’ll find a bountiful selection of delicious Mexican food options. From hole-in-the-walls, taquerías, traditional style, festive Mexican restaurants, or if you’re really in a hurry, those fast food chains like Taco Bell or Del Taco.
But did you know that there are other Hispanic restaurants on the local “dining out” menu as well? This week, MÁS takes a look at two restaurants that serve Cuban and Salvadoran food.
Recently, brothers Sergio and Pedro Aguilar opened Cuban Flavor/Sabor Cubano Restaurant, which serves 100 percent Cuban fare. Cuban Flavor/Sabor Cubano offers comida cubana for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Too tempting to pass up.
Keeping on the same theme of hermanos y comida, Jose and Freddie Alvarado from Los Cabos Restaurant cook up a combination of Mexican and Salvadoran food, though they’re best known for their salvadoreña dishes, especially their pupusas.
So read on and enjoy!
— Luz Peña/MÁS staff

Take a cue from Cuban comida

The little island nation is big on flavor & now available among local eateries

By Luz Peña
MÁS staff

It’s opening day at Cuban Flavor/Sabor Cubano Restaurant — and it’s lunch time.
People are lined up, patiently awaiting while their panzas grumble.
Looking at the tasty food on display, there are some lips being licked.
Smiling faces stand behind the tempered glass, ready to take customers’ orders of sabrosa comida cubana.
Too many choices for one combo.
White rice or Moros y Cristianos (black beans with white rice)?
Black beans or red beans?
Fried yucca or plantain?
Now for the main dish — fish, seafood, beef, pork or chicken?
Yes, it’s Day One for this Cuban eatery — co-owned by brothers Sergio and Pedro Aguilar — and all signs point to many, many more busy days to come.
“We’ve been very busy. Everything is going very well,” said Sergio just a few days after the opening. “This is the first 100 percent Cuban restaurant.”
The smell of fresh garlic, oregano and parsley travels throughout the restaurant — located on the corner of Chester and California avenues — from the steaming hot dishes at the counter.
On any given day, you’ll likely see Sergio and Pedro supervising and offering a watchful eye to each meal being prepared. They’re trying to keep all the dishes authentic.
“We want to keep everything purely Cuban. People are ready to taste something different,” said Sergio. “Our fellow Cubans are coming out and eating here. Not only Cubans, but others who like or want to try some real Cuban food.”
The restaurant serves Cuban favorites like Chicken Fricase (chicken in red sauce), Bacalao (cod fish in a red sauce with green olives and potatoes), Shrimp al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp), Ropa Vieja (shredded beef simmered in tomatoes, bell peppers and onions), Papas Rellenas (Stuffed Potatoes), Picadillo (ground beef or pork sauteed with onion, tomato, garlic and spices of choice) and a variety of sandwiches, including the classic Cuban sandwich — a submarine-style layering of meats like ham, roast pork, cheese and pickle on a sliced length of Cuban bread, which is then grilled in a sandwich press.
For the freshest of Cuban flavors, some items at Cuban Flavor, like the tropical milkshakes, are made to order. The milkshakes come in the following flavors: mango, mamey, papaya, guanabana, coconut or mixed.
This isn’t the first time the two brothers have tried presenting a Cuban food menu to customers. In 1990, at their Mexican restaurant, the Aguilar brothers added a few Cuban items to their menu. Unfortunately, the customers weren’t quite ready for the distinct flavor, according to the brothers.
“I served plantanos fritos to a mexicano from Michocán,” said Pedro. “He ate one and said ‘Hermano, no me gusto (Brother, I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it),’” said Pedro.  “It was something too different from what he was used to eating. That’s what makes both Mexican and Cuban food so beautiful — they’re very different.”
But now, the brothers say it’s perfect timing because of Bakersfield’s ever-changing demographics.
“People are more open-minded,” said Sergio. “They’re are excited to try and taste new things. This is a dream come true for us.”
“People are moving to Bakersfield from Los Angeles or up north, so they’ve tried Cuban food,” added Pedro.
The brothers’ mother and father came to the U.S. in 1980.  By 1990, both Sergio and Pedro were living in Bakersfield.
Today, they’re enjoying their new business and sharing their culture with their customers.
The patio area at Cuban Flavor is decorated with cast iron palm trees, while inside, salsa and merengue music is played, especially from la reina de la Salsa Celia Cruz. The ceiling features a mural depicting a house from their hometown and a Cuban sunset.  
Cuban Amanda Nóbregas, who’s originally from Brooklyn, New York but came to Bakersfield in 1992, is excited about the new restaurant. Nóbregas plans to take her co-workers and family to Cuban Flavor.
“What Sergio and Pedro are doing is great. The food will be ready and people can come and get their food quicker,” she said. “I just love eating Cuban food done right.”
Although Nóbregas considers herself an expert cook, she still likes to eat at restaurants that serve Cuban food.

She often goes to Azores Café, on 18th Street in downtown Bakersfield, which serves Portuguese, American and Cuban dishes like Cuban sandwiches, Pork Pernil (roasted pork loin marinated in mojo), Chicken Fricase, and Bacalao.
“The sandwiches and coffee are great. Most of our meats are slowly cooked.  We use mojo a lot, which made up of garlic, salt, sour oranges, olive oil and some lemon. Our food is flavorful,” Nóbregas said.
— If you also have a restaurant that makes Cuban food — or maybe you whip up some Cuban dishes in your own kitchen at tu casa — please share it with our MÁS readers online. Post a comment, or even a recipe or two, at our Web site: www.masbakersfield.com

Serving up Salvadoran spice

Is your palate looking for something different on the menu? Give the food of El Salvador a try

The owners of Los Cabos Restaurant, Jose and Freddie Alvarado, are proud of their restaurant’s nickname — The Pupusa House.
The Alvarado brothers are Salvadoran. For more than a year, they have been serving up to 600 pupusas a day. Pupusas are El Salvador’s type of tortilla, though they are thicker than the traditional Mexican variety and are often stuffed with cheese, beans or meat. They are cooked on a hot comal like Mexican tortillas.
“We wanted to opened a place that sold authentic Salvadoran food,” said Jose. “It’s like sharing our culture with others and that’s something really special. A lot of people recognize the pupusa as something Salvadoran.”
Los Cabos serves both Mexican and Salvadoran food, but the brothers say people mostly come in for la comida salvadoreña. Perhaps it’s because Mexican food — especially for Californians — is a well-known delicacy, whereas true Salvadoran flavors are a bit harder to come by.
Jose likes pupusas, but his favorite dish is the Sopa de Gallina India (a chicken soup).
He and his brother’s restaurant is located on the corner of Baker Street and East California Avenue. It’s decorated with bright colors, photos, fútbol jerseys and other recuerdos of their home country, El Salvador, a small Central American nation on the Pacific coast between Guatemala and Honduras.
The Alvarados are originally from Laguna de Giulia Metapan, El Salvador. In 1992, they arrived to Los Angeles and for about seven years, Jose worked at LG Rotisserie Restaurant as a cook and learned the restaurant’s motto of “smiling service,” an idea he puts into practice daily at Los Cabos.
“It’s very powerful when you give someone a smile. People need that,” he said with a laugh. “It shows them that you care and you’re happy to be there to serve them.”
Keeping it a family affair, employees at Los Cabos include relatives and relatives of friends. Although the Alvarados are in charge of the business, they are not allowed in the kitchen.
“It is a tradition and a saying in El Salvador that only women should be allowed in the kitchen,” he said. “It’s not said to be disrespectful, but we believe if it’s made by a woman, then it will taste better. If it comes out wrong, it’s usually because a man was there. Just kidding!”
In the kitchen, it’s mujer power with the cooks dressed in stylish talcones, jewelry and wearing vivid color eye shadows and lipstick, while they prepare the corn masa for las pupusas and cook them.
On a typical day at Los Cabos, an aroma of freshly made cornmeal, fried pork and hot chicken soup fills the air in the kitchen. The comal sizzles as the handmade pupusas hit the hot metal.
The brothers work daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to keep their business running. The restaurant serves plenty of those beloved pupusas as well as some other delicious Salvadoran dishes, including Mariscada Salvadoreña (Seafood Mix Soup), Mojarra al Vapor (Steamed Tilapia), Sopa de Gallina India, Yuca Frita o Sancochada Con Chicarrones (Fried Yucca or boiled with pork meat), fried bananas and tamales salvadoreñas.

Salvadoran at Anita’s, too
Local Salvadoran Ana Villatoro is the owner of Anita’s Mexican Grill located on California Avenue and Anita’s Restaurant in El Mercado Latino.

Like the Alvarado brothers, Villatoro has kept her restaurant a combination of Mexican food with some Salvadoran dishes on her menu, too.
In fact, Villatoro simply had to include her all-time favorite homeland meal — the traditional Salvadoran breakfast complete with eggs, frijoles,  plantanos fritos and crema salvadoreña.
“A lot of people identify las pupusas with El Salvador. It’s very beautiful to see people come in asking for the food from your country,” said Villatoro. “People love the pupusas and plantanos fritos.”
Both Villatoro and Alvarado would like to have a 100 percent Salvadoran restaurant.
“It would be nice to have a restaurant with nothing but Salvadoran food,” he said. “But now is not the time.”
“I would like to be like Los Angeles. Down there, you can go in a place that just one type of food,” added Villatoro. “You will go to a Salvadoran restaurant and see nothing but Salvadoran food, like you see here with a Mexican restaurant.”
— If you also have a restaurant that makes Salvadoran food — or maybe you whip up some Salvadoran dishes in your own kitchen at tu casa — please share it with our MÁS readers online. Post a comment, or even a recipe or two, at our Web site: www.masbakersfield.com