| EAST BAY EXPRESS September 10, 2008 A Night on the Pueblo |
in 2004 , I knew we couldn’t keep him. His savory tapas and hot Latin Jazz were too big to contain in a small neighborhood restaurant. He needed a whole house. Today, he’s bringing the house down with a Cuban café and club that’s so popular it’s often packed to the rafters. Of course, there’s the ever-changing weekly menu, from small plates with various combinations of grilled chops, plantains and spicy sauces to such platos grandes as garlic-studded slow- roasted pork and snapper almandine. Then there’s the dancing. Take a Saturday night this past summer, for example, when a room full of patrons paid $8 each to learn how to salsa. The instructors were the sexy dance duo of Garry Johnson (longtime dance teacher at Allegro Ballroom in Emeryville) and his partner, Viola Gonzales. As the lesson progressed, the warm yellow house at 3909 Grand Ave. (formerly the site of Autumn Moon restaurant) started to come alive. Women in sleek, sexy outfits and guys in cool cotton cabana shirts were pouring into the bar, the back room, the outside patio and two rooms upstairs. The champagne mojitos started to flow and bodies pressed seductively against one another as the primal beat pumped through the halls. I could sense that something was about to explode—like spontaneous combustion from too much heat. And then it began; couples twirling in tandem to the intoxicating rhythm, as if they were dancing under a star-studded Havana sky. It’s human nature to want what you cannot have. Cuba is off limits to most Americans, yet we have an insatiable urge to taste—to experience—if only for one passion-filled night. La Taza de Café answers the call. La Taza de Café, 3909 Grand Ave., (510) 658-2373, is open Tue.–Sun. for tapas, dinner and dancing, and serves brunch 10 p.m.–2 p.m. Sun. For a schedule of dance lessons and entertainment see www.latazadecafe.com. -Ginny Prior |
San Francisco Chronicle:
Link to Original Article Website
Latin touch may bring luck to location
Friday, May 27, 2005
Link to Original Article Website
Latin touch may bring luck to location
Friday, May 27, 2005
Contra Costa Times:
Latin music at the heart of Oakland's La Taza
Published: Fri, April 1, 2005
Latin music at the heart of Oakland's La Taza
Published: Fri, April 1, 2005
Sunset Magazine: Link to Original Article Website
Five great Cuban sandwiches
issue: May 2005
Five great Cuban sandwiches
issue: May 2005
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Oakland Magazine:
La Taza de Cafe; Burning Down the House
November 2007 issue
La Taza de Cafe; Burning Down the House
November 2007 issue
La Taza de Café is a pleasant place to eat, drink, and dance. By Matthew Stafford Wal-Mart and its monolithic brethren have given one-stop shopping a bad name, but every now and again the pleasures of satisfying all of one's needs in one easily navigable setting are undeniable. Take La Taza de Café, a multifaceted nightspot near the Oakland-Piedmont border. Part salsa club, part cafe cantante, part al fresco brunch venue. and part tapas bar, the place offers a wide range of pan-Hispanic attractions under one timber-and-adobe roof. Here the questing fun-lover can sip a Havana cooler, enjoy a set of flamenco dancing, nosh on ceviche and empanadas, and conclude the evening with a bit of the cha-cha. The Tinga is bite-size canapés of moist, chipotle-edged organic chicken topped with avocado and crème fraîche. La Taza de Café 3909 Grand Ave., Oakland. 510-658-2373. latazadecafe.com. Cash, American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday from 5-10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m.-midnight. Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. -3 p.m. Reservations accepted. It's an attractive setting for a self-contained night on the town. Just off the canopied entrance is a cozy bar overlooking Grand Avenue. Toward the back, past the wrought-iron chandeliers and velvet curtains, is an equally cozy dining room and candlelit outdoor patio. And up a narrow flight of stairs is the intimate, low-ceilinged music room where a troupe of talented flamenco dancers pound the parquet most Friday nights. Cuban son is performed Saturday nights; a deejay takes over in between. The food, however, is an occasionally delectable constant. La Taza's multicultural bent is reflected in its menu, a compendium of Cuban, Spanish, Colombian, Mexican, and Venezuelan influences filtered through a farm-fresh California perspective. One delicious example was Tinga, bite-size canapés of moist, chipotle-edged organic chicken topped with slivers of avocado and crème fraîche. Another tapa caliente, chops de cordero, was its polar opposite, two charred French-cut lamb chops draped in an overly sugary mint-rum reduction and accompanied by a hillock of cloyingly sweet, sweet potatoes reminiscent of overly ripe bananas. Happily, the empanadas du jour wrapped slow- roasted eggplant and zucchini in a crisp, flaky crust and were especially tasty dunked in the bright, spicy cilantro salsa served alongside. Best of all was the halibut ceviche, a lush, meaty example of the genre with contrasting hints of lime and coriander. Two large plates — dry, stringy slow-cooked pork and a watery paella lacking character — weren't as impressive as the tapas. The dessert menu features three items. The house flan was as soft and yielding as it should be, with a pool of lush caramel adding a burnt-sugar edge to the pillowy custard, bits of toasted coconut and a drizzle of bright, bracing mango essence aiding and abetting. The housemade guava cheesecake didn't taste much like guava or any fruit in particular, but it was fluffy and fulfilling, with a thick, buttery brown-sugar crust and a pleasantly astringent apricot coulis. Best of all was the Venezuelan chocolate mousse, which was powerful enough in taste and texture to engender a good old-fashioned sense memory of See's dark chocolate. Thick and chewy as a fine gelato, with the slightly bitter taste of purest cocoa, this deep, decadent dessert was pleasantly accented with a minimal hazelnut crust and a pool of blackberry reduction. La Taza's Sunday brunch is best enjoyed out on the back patio during the warm weeks of Indian summer. Reclining in a wicker armchair in this brick-paved, palm-shaded retreat is like taking a too-brief vacation to Port-au-Prince or Havana, without the humidity and mosquitoes. The arepa Benedict is a yummy variation on the New Orleans classic in which thick slices of smoky ham are glazed with sweet, snappy rum butter and the standard English muffin is replaced with two arepas, the delicately flavored Colombian cornmeal patties. (The hollandaise sauce could've used a hint of lemon, though.) El Classico, aka steak and eggs, was nothing special, four fillets of grilled sirloin topped with a surprisingly taste-free garlic-studded chimichurri salsa, with four slices of tomato and two eggs on the side. But the Cuban sandwich was the best thing on the menu and one of the best we'd ever tasted: creamy, hearty, tender, and spicy all at once, it combined peppery pulled pork with slivers of smoked ham, pungent Gruyère, and spiky mustard between a soft, pillowy roll that served to cushion the dynamic flavors. Result: wonderfulness. Make sure to order a side of the fresh-from-the-oven pan de queso, globes of warm, chewy dough studded with queso blanco and dusted with sugar and cinnamon: an oddly addictive treat. There isn't a whole lot on La Taza's menu vegetarians can wrap their lips around most nights of the week; the flesh-free dinner selections begin and end with the mango-manchego-frisée salad, the occasional vegetable empanada, and sides like fried yucca and black beans and rice. Brunch is a better option, offering veggie-friendly specialties like the arepa Benedict prepared with spinach and tomato instead of ham; a spinach-mushroom omelette; huevos rancheros; waffles with bananas and rum butter; Oaxacan quesadillas; and the mango-frisée salad. Or drop by Thursday night between 5 and 9 p.m., when the restaurant serves up a special vegetarian menu rife with portobello-Gouda croquetas, quinoa relleno, black bean and chimichurri crostini, and tofu frito with mojo criolla. La Taza's moderately priced 16-bottle wine list features a token sampling of local vintages, but be adventurous and order one of the Spanish riojas instead. The Conde de Valdemar Tempranillo was smooth, velvety, beautifully balanced, and by association raised the lamb chops to a higher gustatory level. Another option is sangria, available here in three varieties: the Tranquillo (rioja, orange liqueur, and pomegranate); the Sangria Negra, an unexciting brew of red wine and apples (the advertised peaches and nectarines were MIA the night we ordered it); and the Limonada, the clear winner, a sparkly, refreshing blend of aromatic Verdejo white wine, bubbly cava, and housemade limoncello. La Taza also shakes up several tropical cocktails founded on agave wine, non-distilled cane rum, or soju, (the restaurant doesn't have a hard liquor license); one concoction that overcomes these obstacles is a mojito made with champagne, a crisp, minty, invigorating variation on the rum- based classic. |
