Friday, March 25, 2016

A Piece of Havana on Harbor Boulevard - CLOSED


Moros Cuban Restaurant
1299 South Harbor Blvd. 
La Habra, CA 90631

Yes, it's been a long time since we made it to OC's most northwestern city—the Seattle of the OC if you will. When most people think of La Habra, they almost always question me that this city is not actually in Orange County. Yes, this city contracts with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for fire protection, but trust me, La Habra is in OC.

We had not come this way in over four years when we made our maiden voyage here to visit one of the best burger spots anywhere, G Burger. On this trip, we visited my parents, who live in Yorba Linda, and we all craved Cuban food. A quick search of Yelp brought us to Moros Cuban Restaurant.

Moros is celebrating their 5th anniversary of being in business this year. That's a significant milestone in the challenging restaurant business. Located in a nondescript strip mall, the big draws appear to be a Pizza Hut and Cask and Hammer, an interesting-looking dive bar; this fifth anniversary is even more impressive here, where if you blink driving up Harbor, you might miss this place.

Their website describes their restaurant as a modern take on Cuban cuisine influenced by Spanish and Latin cooking. The kitchen and this restaurant are helmed by Sean Saafan, an Egyptian who moved to New York at 19, attended the French Culinary Institute, and graduated top of his class. This is a pretty impressive resume, and it made us very excited to try the food at Moros.

We arrived at Moros just before 6pm on a recent Saturday. It was not a big place, and I was worried that we would have a long wait, but we just had to wait for one of the 12 tables to be cleared, and we were seated. There's no hostess stand here, and when you walk in, you see the steam tables used for their Sunday buffet. You think you ordered at the counter, but it's waiter service here. Lots of bright colors adorn the space, and the smells from the kitchen really got our mouths watering. We hurriedly made our selections and waited for our food to come out.




Before our food hit the table, we were presented with these Rolls and Black Bean Dip. The rolls had a subtle sweetness, adding flavor to this excellent bean dip. The bean dip appears runny in the picture but has some texture. I ate my fair share of this.



Whenever I think empanadas, I always think of Argentina, but other countries also feature these portable meat-filled pies. Moros offers Beef or Chicken Empanadas ($5 for an order of three), so we had to try both. The better of the two was the beef version, but both suffered from a bland and almost dry outer shell. The chimichurri served with these helped a little bit, but more was needed. These were not filled with enough meat to overcome the outer shell. We'd skip these next time.




You must not skip these Papas Rellena ($5), though. These little balls of deliciousness were filled with ground beef and onions, then encased in mashed potatoes and fried—kind of like a bite-sized version of Sheppard's pie. They were served with a thin white sauce, which coated them well and added some extra flavor. It was a delicious appetizer.



Entrees are up next, and I was a little surprised with my sister's selection, the Churrasco ($19). I can't remember the last time I saw her order steak in a restaurant, so this was something rare, no pun intended. This skirt steak was done to her requested medium and was still pretty juicy and delicious. It came with grilled onions and chimichurri sauce. Skirt steak can sometimes be hit or miss, but this was a winner this evening. It also came with a mound of rice and some delicious plantains. My sister did not eat much of this but took the rest home and enjoyed it the next day.




I wanted to try one of their rice dishes here, but the menu states that they take 30 to 40 minutes, and I did not want everyone to wait for my food, so I went with this Lechon Asado ($14). This marinated pork came topped with onions and a mojo sauce. Some pieces were a little dry, but this was remedied by asking for extra mojo sauce. This was a good-sized portion and very good the next day. The rice here was good, but the plantains were better. Fried nicely and not overly sweet. Just the way I like them.


Both Katie and my mom got sandwiches, so we'll start with Katie's first, the Chicken Sandwich de Moros ($11). This sandwich also includes beef or pork, but Katie's always partial to chicken. The chicken was joined on the toasted bread with plenty of greens, tomato, and their secret sauce. Katie felt the chicken here was a little on the dry side, but she enjoyed the flakiness of the bread. She thought this was a decent chicken sandwich but did not think it was very Cuban. She'd get something else on her next visit here.




My mom is a sucker for Cubano Sandwiches ($11), so I was not shocked to see her order this. The Cuban sandwich is one of the most balanced and delicious sandwiches ever created. You have saltiness from the ham and pork, the tang from the mustard and pickles, the creaminess of the Swiss cheese, and a touch of sweetness from the bread they use. All these components make a pretty awesome sandwich, and this one at Moros was right up there. They use a lot of meat in this, a lot more than we are used to seeing in a Cuban sandwich. It could have been pressed together with a little more, but the abundance of meat probably prevented that. This was served with some long, steak-sized fries, which had a nice crispness to the outside. My mom is more partial to smaller fries but found these to be acceptable. A lot of food here, and half of it got packed away for my dad's lunch the next day.


Speaking of my dad, his entree was the last one to hit the table. It's always a crapshoot about what he will order, but he settled on this Camarones Al Ajillo Con Rum ($16). This shrimp dish with peppers and rum made my dad very happy. The waitress talked him into a lower spice level than he would have liked, but the flavors were still pretty stellar. The shrimp were cooked well, but the sauce made this dish for me. When it was mixed with the rice, it resembled a jambalaya. Very tasty and deceivingly filling.

Moros is different from any Cuban restaurant we have been to before. They definitely nailed what they are going for here, and that's a modern take on Cuban food. The flavors were bold, and some of the meats had some issues, but everything was excellent for the most part. The next time we are here, I'll invest the time and try one of their rice dishes, which looked and smelled terrific when brought out to nearby tables. The prices were more than fair for the amount of food you get here. Service was superb, with Diana taking care of our every need, even on this busy Saturday evening. Glad we made it up here to La Habra again, and it will definitely not be four years before we're back.

Out of five horses (because the La Habra Stakes is run at Santa Anita Park almost every year), five being best to zero being worst, Moros Cuban Restaurant gets 3 horses.

For information about Moros Cuban Restaurant, head to their website here: http://www.moroscubanrestaurant.com/#about

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