Café 28

Description
Cuban food goes upscale at this contemporary and undeniably pleasant spot. Standards are dressed up with fancy touches like saffron cream, garlic polenta and sun-dried tomato pesto, and it's all executed with competence, but with a little less oomph than the dramatic menu descriptions suggest. Two enormous pork chops arrive tender with plenty of honey flavor but only a trace of the advertised jalapeño. The ropa vieja, flanked by crunchy, sugary plantains, is juicy and fork-tender, but you can't help feeling like you could order it at your local Cuban dive for half the price. But with the eclectic crowd and excellent mojitos, those shortcomings are forgotten quickly.