Ottawa Foodies

Went to La Cabana last night with my family and a couple of friends. The food was excellent. The service is definitely laid back, a little slow for our tastes (2+ hours total and half the tables were empty), but we didn't press them so I'll take some of the blame.

However, the food was soooo good, we will definitely be back.

We had pupusas (pork and cheese), plantains w/ beans and sour cream, chorizo tacos, and yuca with pork. Everythings was excellent. The spicy cabbage was a great topping for the pupsas. The beans were the best I've ever had, and I've travelled quite a bit. Very authentic.

Next time (hopefully soon) I'd like to mix up the pupusas a bit and try them without cheese just to understand the flavours. I also want to sample some of the soups.

For the 4 of us and a 2 year old, the total bill was $71 + tip. This included a few beers, a couple classes of house red, and enough food to make sure everyone was satisfied.

We also popped into the attached latin shop. Wow. So many tasty items, I need to start thinking of recipes to use them.

Ate at La Cabana on Saturday night for the second time. BF and I had a friend visiting so we thought we'd take him somewhere off the beaten path, so to speak.

Anyway, the restaurant was about half full when we arrived (7:00pm) and the service was very attentive and helpful as usual.

We ordered Combo #5 between three of us. It's 10 pupusas, plantains y freoles y crema (sorry if the spelling is off - beans and sour cream) and it also came with either a 2-litre bottle of pop or a 1-litre bottle of fruit juice (mango, guava, pear) and we chose mango.

We weren't sure it would be enough food (don't laugh, my eyes are bigger than my stomach) and so we asked our server what else he recommended and he suggested that we order three chicken tamales.

The food was VERY filling and extremely delicious. After about 1.5 pupusas, I was wishing that I had worn elastic waist pants.
The plantains were so good, I would go back just to eat them and nothing else. The three of us also all loved the coleslaw-type vinegary cabbage and spicy red sauce condiments that they bring to the table. I asked what the red sauce was called and our server (who I believe is the owner), told me there was no name for it but he told me what they put in it and that if we ever order takeout, he would put a jar in with our order...how nice!

Anyway, needless to say we were totally stuffed and delighted with the meal. 10 pupusas, 3 chicken tamales, plantains, beans and sour cream plus a litre of mango juice came to $35 with tax.

I can't wait to go back and try something new!

This place has been on my wishlist for quite a while. We went on Saturday night and there was only one other table of customers. The server told us that it's usually extremely busy but the weather seems to be keeping people at home. They had quite a few takeout orders while we were there. Service was warm, friendly, and very relaxed.

The photo here is of wifey's combination plate featuring steak ($13.50). The steak was pan fried and just okay. The sausages were slightly spicy and quite tasty. The beans with rice were excellent. Wifey tasted my food and agreed that the pupusas totally rock and she will order them next time. (She ordered this combo plate so we'd have a large cross section of menu items to taste.)

Went for lunch today. First visit.... will NOT be my last. My new fav spot.

Started with the Horchata fresco. WOW !! This was absolutely de-lish !!

Had the combo plate, 1 pupusa, 1 tamal, refried beans, fried plantain, and a hunk of cheese for $10.50. It also came with a big jar of what looked like coleslaw but turned out to be more like KimChi with a bit of heat. Hot sauce and a home made tomato based sause were also supplied.

The best thing about the whole plate was the putting together combo tastes on the palate. Mmmm..mmmmm..GOOD !!

My friend had the steak in tomato/onion sauce and rice. I had a taste and it also was quite yummy. It came with a homemade thick corn tortilla.

Bottom line here is some really really good Home Style cooking (a la Salvadore) in a non pretentious atmosphere. Reasonably priced as well.

Another bonus... the Marcaedo Latino attached, next door. I picked up tostado's ,tamales, tortillas, real chocolate to make hot chocolate, a bottle of orange Fanta (for a friend) and some dried chiles for my next Big Horkn' Pot of Chile.

Run, don't walk, to La Cabana !!

My wife and I tried La Cabana tonight. Excellent yucca, chicken and pupusas, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're in a hurry or don't like blaring televisions. It took awhile, but the food made it worth the wait. The fried yucca was perfect - soft and steamy on the inside and brown and crunchy on the outside. The cabbage slaw that came with it seemed a bit fermented, almost like kim chee, but that might have been intentional. I haven't seen it served that way before. Great corn tortillas too.

Didn't get a chance to try a tamale. I hope they're the kind with the soft masa wrapped in banana leaves. Maybe next time.

The attached grocery is good too, although I had a hard time finding someone to take my money.

Mousse, this is one of my fav places... unfortunately, my gf never wants to go. Oh well. The pupusas and the slaw (curtido) are just amazing... they usually have some obscure south american soccer game on... oh, and NEVER DRINK NONALCOHOLIC SANGRIA! It tastes like prune/raisin juice :[

Plus, their tacos are the closest to what I had on the streets in Mexico... even though this place is renowned for el salvadoran pupusas, I love the tacos as well!

Apparently their menudo soup is very good.

Went here for my second visit several weeks ago. I had a combo that consisted of 1 tamale, 1 pupusa and plantains....HAPPINESS on a plate people! Food was good, can't make specific comment on the dishes because once the plate was put in front of me, the next time I looked down it was empty!

One BIG disappointment....there is non-alcoholic sangria listed on the drink menu, but no regular sangria....for the love of God WHY? IMO this is the only thing that holds me back from saying this is the perfect restaurant.

my husband and i went here for the first time last night. we are always keen to check out interesting cheap-eats places. we were the only non-latino people in the restaurant (which is always a good sign as far as we are concerned). lots of families eating (this was around 7pm), but the time we finished lots of younger people had arrived (8:30pm).

we ordered 2 pupusas with beans & cheese, the sample plate - (1 tamale (chicken & olives), 1 pupusa (cheese), plantains, beans & cheese), 3 soft tacos (chicken), 1 order refried beans, plaintain and cream (plantain with frijoles and crema), and 1 small order of fried yuca. sadly they were out of yuca. my husband had the tamarind juice, which was like a thick apple cider. my husband had to take one of the tacos home, but we ate everything else.

pupusas - wonderful. we covered them in the tomato sauce and spicy cabbage as instructed by the owner. the tacos were piles of chicken, fresh tomatoes and spices on soft corn tortillas with wedges of lime to squeeze on top. the refried beans were not really beans, but more of a sauce. very good with the plantain and very good on top of the tamale. the tamale had black and green olives in it and a few large pieces of chicken. the crema was not really needed. we did use hot sauce on a few things. the cheese on the sample platter seemed to be a feta type cheese. perhaps it changes?

we definitely plan on going back. the menu is very big and very meat based, which is a bit too bad. i really want to try the yucca next time.
now, overall it was good for what you get.

sadly it is not my very favourite. what i really want and miss terribly is cucino latino chilean restaurant which used to be on sunnyside ave (across from fida's pizza). i loved their emanadas, beans and rice and tamales. this place is good, but not as flavourful. i fear there is nowhere in ottawa like cucino anymore. for comfort food, i now go to ahora, but will continue to visit cabana as well to get more familiar with the food.

I woke up late this morning and wasn't feeling very "brunchy" so I hopped on the #85 bus on the chance that Cabana would be open. I got there a little before opening time (noon) so I walked over to Westgate and back to pick up a few things and kill some time.

I ordered combo #3...2 pupusas, plantain with frijoles and crema and a drink.

The mango juice was a little too sweet for me, but it was tasty. The pupusas were SOOOO good ( I ordered the cheese ones) and came with a spicy coleslaw that I liked enough to take seconds of (and I HATE regular coleslaw) and a homemade tomato sauce that was pleasant but a little bland.

The service was most definitely laid-back but very friendly and pleasant. The pupusas were brought out first, then the plaintains which were insanely good. I almost considered getting a second order but there just wasn't room. (If only I'd worn looser pants!) Coffee was not bad but not great either. There is a fairly big patio out front and I very much look forward to coming here in the summer.

My bill for the food + 1 coffee was $13.10 ...definitely a better deal than overpriced eggs garnished with some fruit. Also the TV commercials for spanish language soap operas and "Montel" style talk shows were entertaining.

Pupusas! Food-is-hot...you just made me a happy girl. I've had them before at the Mercado Latino a few years ago, but the lady that cooked them got a job elsewhere, and someone else does the cooking there now.

This is the kind of food I love to go out for...reasonably priced, unfussy, the kind of food you feel like the owners would make you if they invited you over to their home.

Now to find the time to get out there...

Hey FisH,

Looks like I had a 'brain cranp' when I made my original entry.

The olives WERE in the tamale, and not the pupusa.

I gotta go back to La Cabana soon. mmmm pupusa.

I had the same $10.50 sampler platter that everyone else seems to have ordered on their first visit. I thought the tamal was nothing special; it came with some tomatoey sauce in a syrup jug and a bottle of hot sauce to perk things up a little. The little rectangle of cheese was all right (kind of like feta, but with a nicer flavour). The plantains are tasty but very sweet. The refried beans are awesome. And the pupusas totally rock!

I asked the server which pupusa she recommends and she said that if I eat pork she suggests the pork and cheese one. It was super tasty!

Next time here I will have three pork pupusas, a mountain of curtido, and a big bowl of soup -- exactly what the latino guys at the next table were having. They know what's best! :-)

Are you sure you're talking about the Papusa and not the Tamale that had the olives in it? I've been to La Cabana numerous times and have never gotten olives in my papusa (which are stuffed with beans and/or meat and cheese). My tamales HAVE, however had olives in them in addition to chicken...

My Pupusa had green olives stuffed with pimento in it. HUH ??? Still right-some-good though !! I guess these olives are not just for Xmas dinner anymore.

The only pupusa in town! Very good!

On one of my visits here I asked why the plantains there were so good. I thought maybe it had to do with what they were fried in or seasoned with. Nope, the girl there told me very shyly not to cook them til they are black and disgusting looking. So now I keep them on the counter til they look fit for the compost bin and my daughters are thoroughly grossed out....then I cook them!

Might be worth mentioning, but fried plantain, Salvadoran style, is prepared with ripe plantains - very much UNLIKE Caribbean style fried plantain which is typically less sweet and more starchy/dry (ie. unripe, or less ripe plantain)...

Very good here - fried nice and crispy on the outside, left with a little fluffy yucca'ness on the inside. I like mine with salt & pepper and some salsa roja that comes with the pupusas.

I thought the horchata was significantly better than Ahora's. More nutty/tasty, larger, and I think it was cheaper too.

Yup FF, take advantage of the fact that they give you SO MUCH curtido... it's so good, I load it on my pupusas! It's also really dead easy to make. It's kind of like the Salvadoran equivalent to kimchi.

Very good pickled cabbage. My combination plate just came with a small bowl but we saw a couple of guys eating a load of pupusas and they got two huge mason jars of the stuff.

They sell a variety of corn tortillas here, unlike the grocery store. Tortilla gordo and standard thin tortillas are available, and a variety of brands.

In the grocery store adjoining La Cabana, I noticed a Morcilla in the freezer section. It's frozen but at least it exists!

They sell the oregano un a small unmarked bag for about $2. They use this stuff in their curtido - use it if you can, since Greek Oregano doesn't substitute as well.