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Health & Fitness

Eddie's Restaurant Guide: A Cuban Delight

Towson's Havana Road Cuban Cafe: Cuban food the way you never had it.

I will admit my biggest problem when eating out is that I usually order the same things. It might be spaghetti, a veggie burger, chinese, chicken parmesan, salmon or a crabcake.

My friends tell me all the time I need to expand my diet.  Okay, I did.

I went to a Cuban restaurant, the Havana Road Cuban Cafe to be exact, 8 West Pennsylvania Avenue in Towson. And while I did have a salmon dish, it was prepared in a way I never had it.

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It was actually called a Puerto Rican Mofongo with Spanish chorizo, garlic and lime served with an eight ounce salmon filet over sauteed spinach with a pear chutney. I probably ate it in five minutes. It was prepared by the owner/chef Marta Quintana, a native of Cuba.

Marta worked at other jobs for about 30 years and when she lost her last one, she decided to pursue the one love she had all her life, cooking. So opening a restaurant, though she says it was almost by accident, was a natural thing to do. She opened it in September 2010.

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She serves a daily tapas menu that changes seasonally. If you are reading this during National Hispanic Heritage Month you'll find four weekends of foods from different counties being offered (Puerto Rico, Argentina, Peru, Guatemala). If you're reading this after that month, not to worry, many menu selections are available. 

The restaurant is Zagat rated, open seven days, it's BYOB, casual, reservations strongly suggested for weekends, carry-out and catering, menu items range from $9.50 to $18.00, seating for 48 inside with a few tables outside, plenty of street parking and some of her food items are for sale at Whole Foods.

On each table there's a mystery box. Open it and you'll find information about Marta, recipes ( most likely prepared by Marta's mom) and photos of Cuba.  If Marta looks familiar, she has appeared many times on channel 11. 

I should mention all items have zero trans fats, or saturated fats and all entrees are gluten free. Their meats and poultry are grass fed and hormone free.

So for a Cuban Delight, visit the Havana Road Cuban Cafe. For more information call 410-494-8222 or go to havanaroad.com.   

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