Message: | Me and the S.O. highed ourselves to Xiomara on the outskirts of Pasadena Old Town for some of their mostly Cuban "Nuevo Latino" cusine. Souse that I am, I must admit some of the attraction was their supposedly having the best mojitos in town, known to them as a "Mambo" and conocted with sugar cane water as a sweetener for the rum. Did not disappoint in the slightest. I had to restrain myself from ordering a third which would have put our safe return home on the 134 at risk.
Food too was fine. We shared a Nuevo Latino salad to start, which proved to be delicious with what tasted like heirloom tomatoes, but was not particularly Latino. My wife followed with the zarzuela (fish stew) that was a special for the night. It was very good and put in mind of Spain where I once lived. I had some glazed prawns over mashed potatoes which were also good. Key lime souffle for dessert was tasty. Wait staff was also up to snuff and friendly. But you did have to wait for those mojitos--they're made fresh after all. In all, for NL cuisine, I'd rate it even with Ciudad.
The only problema, you guessed it, el precio. Perhaps that was the reason it was so easy to get a last minute res on Friday night; too easy, I'm sure, for the owner.
(By the way, I spotted Chowhound's own Roberto Pye at another table.) |