Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine®
28 East 23rd Street at Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212-260-8884
http://www.sophiescuban.com/28e23rd/index.html [be warned, background music]
I will confess that I was a little skeptical of a fast food-type Cuban restaurant for lunch, but Liz endorsed it, and the reviews on Yelp were very positive. Pushing prejudices aside, I entered the eatery with Liz a little after 1:30 so the employees-on-lunch-breaks crowd was limited. Sophie’s has a counter for pick-ups, but you can elect to sit in the back for table service.
After a morning of shopping, I was famished. I ordered a $2 “homemade lemonade.” It was very refreshing and went down easy. I love lemonade that isn’t too sugary and is full of the lemony sourness. There were two waitresses who did not seem to be loving their jobs. They had dour faces and gave us a shake [milk, not head] intended for the table behind us. I put that aside since this is Sophie’s, not Le Bernardin, but it couldn’t hurt them to smile a little more.
Liz recommended we get beef empanadas ($1.50 each). They came out quickly, and the crust and filling were both satisfactory. I wolfed that little semi-circle down. Maybe it could have been a bit hotter, temperature-wise, but that was not a big deal. There was a bottle of green sauce on the table. Liz told me that the sauce was killer, so I squeezed out a pile and dipped my empanada into it repeatedly. So far, so good.
She was getting the roast pork with a twist sandwich ($6.95) which I decided to get as well even though I was leaning towards my old favorite ropa vieja. Our order of [yellow] rice and beans ($4.49) came out a little before the sandwiches. I proceeded to follow Liz’s lead and utilized the green sauce on my rice and beans. Unfortunately the pleasantries came to an end as my mouth suddenly ignited and burned like hell. I must’ve hit a hot spot in the sauce, or it just built up and the dam burst, but I was dying and my mouth was in agony. Liz can eat hot like nobody’s business but being the wimp that I am, I sipped on my lemonade to recover and winced in pain. No more green sauce for me, thanks.
The roast pork with a twist come with pernil especial roast pork, mayo, plantains, onions, and the infamous green sauce. The sandwich was not miniscule, and there were plenty of fat pork chunks. The pork kept falling out from between the bread. The maduros added a touch of sweetness to the sandwich. A bit of green sauce was added but luckily for me, it was too little to be deadly. Still starving, I devoured the sandwich in no time flat. It was all very delicious. Even though I was a little unsure at first, I’m glad I tried Sophie’s out. There are a couple of locations in Manhattan so you’re likely to come across one. Strangely closed on weekends though.
