Ryan Olson's Page

My one previous trip to the state of Florida before moving here recently was through Miami when I went on a cruise about ten years ago. My girlfriend at the time and I ate at a restaurant that I remember as being South American, but in retrospect I assume was probably Cuban. At that place I had a skirt steak served with plantains and some sort of awesome herby-garlic sauce. Then I went on my cruise, flew back to Houston, then moved to the geographic center of our great nation, a place with apparently no Cuban food whatsoever. So when I moved to Florida, I was definitely looking forward to finding some Cuban restaurants.

We took our first foray into Cuban food last Saturday for lunch at Caribbean Grill in Boca Raton. I ordered what sounded like the dish I had had in Miami a decade ago, the Skirt Steak with Chimichurri sauce. Awesome. The beef was tender and flavorfull, the sauce had plenty of herbs and garlic and when mixed with the steak and the plantains on the side was wonderful. They also served with a hot sauce that was pretty spicy, not too vinegary, and had a nice garlic tang to it.

Bex had some sort of braised pork dish that was also very good, but didn't hold a candle to my skirt steak. Red beans and plantains rounded out both of our dishes, and were excellent as well. My only complaint was the price. $15 for a lunch was a bit steep for my skirt steak, but they did have a more reasonable lunch menu, I just needed to try to recreate that meal from my visit to Miami. Looking forward to trying some other places, but I'd definitely visit Caribbean Grill again.