Dining in Havana "Jetset Dining" with Joel Chusid On a recent (legal) trip to Cuba, I discovered that there are actually some very decent restaurants in Havana, and the quality, atmosphere, and menu selection had improved dramatically since my last visit 10 years ago. With the current media interest, it would be good to know of a couple of top spots. There are plenty of tourists in Cuba, although mainly from Canada, Europe, and Latin America. Americans can travel legally on "special interest" (humanitarian) tours. When dining out or buying anything, Americans must pay in cash, since U.S. credit cards are not accepted anywhere in Cuba. El Ajibe – Avenida 7 between Calles 24 and 26, Miramar. This open air place is large and very popular among tourists and locals alike, although prices put it out of range for most Cubans. While the menu offers a wide variety, the specialty is roast chicken, which comes with salad, rice and beans, plantains, malanga chips, and vegetables. It’s excellent. We washed this down with a couple of Crystals, Cuba’s national beer, and had some famous Cuban Coppelia ice cream for dessert. Dinner ran about $20 a person. Paladar El Hurón Azul – Humboldt 153, near the Nacional Hotel, Vedado. This one of Cuba’s privately-run restaurants that have been permitted for the past ten years or so, as long as they have no more than 12 seats, employ only family members, and are not permitted to serve lobster or beef. Still, there are plenty of pork, chicken, and vegetable dishes on the menu and a decent wine list, and service by elegantly dressed (family) waiters is excellent. The restaurant manages to serve far more than 12 people at a time, as customers kept wandering in and somehow found a place to sit in other rooms. For dinner, we opted for "La Guajira," a delicious thin pork steak, served with tamale and plantains, and were not disappointed. A nice bottle of Casillero del Morro Cuban red wine ($15; $8 in a liquor store) went well with this. Dinner came out to be about $25 per person when all was said and done. Café del Oriente – Oficios and Amargura, Old Havana. A cool, elegant place on one of Habana Vieja’s old squares. Polished floors, a corner piano (which guests got up and played), and a large center bar characterizes this bistro which had surprisingly good service for being government owned. The menu offered several sandwiches and salads and as it was lunchtime on a hot day, we asked for something light and the staff gladly customized our sandwich order as we wanted it. High by Cuban standards, lunch cost us about $10 a piece, including fresh fruit and ice cream.  Get more "Jetset Dining with Joel Chusid" here. Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? Email: jwdineline@aol.com Copyright © 1998 Inter Active Media Solutions. All Rights Reserved. The interactive components of this site require that you use a current browser version of Explorer; be sure to maximize your window out so you can see the entire page. This page was created by Inter Active Media Solutions.