RAMW: Summer Restaurant Week Suggestion #4: Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar - August 14-27

The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington will host Summer Restaurant Week, August 14-20, inviting participating restaurants to offer three-course lunches for $22 and three-course dinners for $35, excluding tax and gratuity at each location. This bi-annual event invites diners to experience Washington’s top restaurants at an affordable price point.

Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar, located at 801A 9th Street, NW, 20001, will offer a festive Cuban feast for lunch, dinner and brunch this Restaurant Week. At lunch, one can select one aperitivo, one favorito and dessert from Executive Chef Angel Roque and Chef-Partner Guillermo Pernot’s prix fixe menu. Standouts include Mamá Amelia’s Empanadas; Spinach and Manchego Buñuelos, manchego cheese and spinach puffs, served with a goat cheese-ranch sauce and organic olive oil; Pollo Frito, crispy, fried, boneless chicken with Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, organic grape tomatoes and red onion, served with homemade Persian pickles and a goat cheese ranch dressing, as well as Ropa Vieja, shredded beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and red wine, served with maduros and steamed white rice. Dessert consists of a sample of two different offerings: Mami Totty’s Arroz con Leche, a classic Cuban rice pudding recipe handed down from Chef Pernot’s mother-in-law, and the Chocolate Torte, fallen chocolate soufflé tart layered with dulce de leche, chocolate-orange sauce, and blueberry compote. The lunch menu is priced at $22.

For dinner, Cuba Libre is offering a three-course, prix fixe menu priced at $35. Guests can choose one aperitivo as their first course with options such as Black Bean Soup, traditional Cuban black bean soup with rich authentic flavors; Padrón Peppers, Spanish-style blistered Padrón peppers, flaky salt and lemon-mayonnaise sauce; Chicken Croquettes, Abuela’s creamy roasted chicken croquettes with roasted cachucha pepper aioli, or the Jardín Salad with watercress, baby spinach, romaine, grape tomato, kalamata olives, red onions and red wine vinaigrette, served with boniato chips. For the second course, guests may select from appetizing entrées such as Pargo a La Plancha, olive oil griddled Florida red snapper with coconut basmati rice, candied cashews, mango salsa, and red curry sauce; Citrus Chicken, pan-roasted, marinated semi-boneless chicken breast with yuca mash, grilled broccolini and a mango-passion fruit sweet and sour sauce; Arroz con Pollo, a home-style favorite of white rice and black beans with boneless chicken, green peas, Manzanilla olives, hardboiled egg, asparagus and Palacio chorizo, served with a roasted piquillo pepper salad, as well as Grilled Vegetable Paella with grilled vegetables, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, leeks, eggplant, wild mushrooms, artichokes, roasted peppers, saffron-long grain rice paella and asparagus, served with a roasted piquillo pepper salad. For dessert guests can enjoy Mami Totty’s Arroz con Leche, a classic Cuban rice pudding recipe handed down from Chef Pernot’s mother-in-law with coconut macaroon.

Brunch begins with a Homemade Latin Pastries for the table filled with assorted homemade Latin breakfast breads including banana bread, guava cream cheese hojaldre (puff pastry), crispy churro, a coconut-berry muffin and chocolate-chocolate chip muffin served alongside mango butter, guava marmalade and coconut-lime preserve. Then, guests are asked to select three items from the regular brunch menu. 

The brunch menu is priced at $22. Cuba Libre will be extending their Restaurant Week offering from August 14-27. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., lunch is served Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner is served Monday through Saturday, from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. and Sunday, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. It is requested that the entire table participate. 

For more information, call (202) 408-1600 or visit www.cubalibrerestaurant.com.