This night-time food truck is a nice addition to the Red River Cultural District, and is located at the food truck park on the corner of Red River and 7th Street, surrounded by the clubs on Red River and a block away from the famous (or infamous) 6th Street bars.
This bare-boned food truck, painted in pastel blue, is easily identifiable by the Cuban flag that hangs on one of its small windows (and if you can see in the dark, it also says Sabor Cubano on top - but you'd need good eyes to see the letters). There's two bench tables in front of it, and sometimes with umbrellas. The kitchen is staffed by two ladies, both very friendly and with a great personality.
So how would I review this? Considering that this is the only place for Cuban in Austin that is open late at night, it is easy for them to get high marks. Is it the best Cuban in town? No. But even the other ones wouldn't be as good as a mediocre Cuban cafeteria in Hialeah. Despite this, this food truck is bound to have something that you'll like. The ropa vieja with congri/moros rice with black beans garnered rave reviews from two diners. The sweet fried plantains and fried yuca were also well liked by three people. Even the Cuban tamales had a nod of approval (and I'm not one for the Cuban-style tamales usually). I tried the Cuban coffee and the medianoche sandwich, which is basically a Cuban sandwich in a sweeter-tasting bread.
MEDIANOCHE: The sandwich bread wasn't exactly the traditional yellowish medianoche bread, that I'm used to seeing in Florida, but it was still tasty. It was properly toasted in the plancha press. The only thing I'd change is the thin pork chop "steak" (I know, I'm not even sure why they had this) for the lechón or shredded roast pork that's also typical of the sandwich cubano (the Cuban sandwich has roasted pork instead of pork chop so I'm not sure why they made this one different). The pork chop was a bit on the dry end and the juicier roasted pork would just be a better ingredient. The sandwich itself was well stuffed and prepared, and I'd have a hard time imagining anyone not walking way from this place full.
CAFE CUBANO: Where else are you going to get Cuban coffee late at night in the heart of Texas? Probably nowhere else. But I felt that this Cuban coffee was a bit too watery, and while sweet, it didn't have that crema that comes from having enough sugar. I'm not sure if this was a faux pas, considering I'm certain the ladies do know how to make a good cafe cubano. I'd try it again to be sure - or try a cortadito (cafe cubano + steamed milk) to see if it's something they do better with.
I'd come back to try other things. But as it stands, I may still stick with Puerto Rican offerings in this town if I'm wanting something remotely Cuban. But late at night, this might be as good as it gets.
*NOTE: Review is bumped up from 3 to 4 to account for other people's perception of the different dishes - so I may recommend that others try the other things in the menu and not what I had. read more