Carteles

I finally ate at Carteles (443 East 6th Street just off of Avenue A) the Cuban sandwich & coffee shop tucked away inside Cienfuegos.  I’m looking forward to rum-inspired Cienfuegos’ full opening (the downstairs is still under construction), but I’ll admit that I was glad to check out what their kitchen has to offer.

The space is small with a few seats & a long bar area.  We turned up around lunch time on a Wednesday & sat down.  There was another woman in there, but we really couldn’t tell if she was waiting for food or an employee.  After a few minutes we got our own menus & after another 5 minutes we finally had to ask if we should order from her.  It was a very strange situation & honestly left us a little confused.

The only coffee they serve is Cafe Bustelo which is fine with me as it’s my favorite.  The Cafe Cubano has sugar added to the coffee grounds so it is sweetened as it brews which is a nice touch & tastes excellent.

Carteles is known mainly for their sandwiches, but I wasn’t that hungry & ordered the Sancocho ($5.00), a chicken & root vegetable soup.  I’m used to having Sancocho with oxtail, but this was pretty darn good too, particularly the broth.  The soup is served with a ball of rice, some very thinly sliced red onion & avocado.  The rice & onion mixed with the broth was very good.

My lunch partners got the much talked about sandwiches which they seemed to enjoy.  These were $8.50 with a choice of Potato or Plantain Chips;

El Cubano

El Cubano; roast pork, sliced ham, Swiss and Provolone cheese, pickles and garlicky mustard.

Pechuga

Pechuga; bitter orange mojo marinated grilled chicken breast with Swiss cheese, chipotle aioli.

We really enjoyed our meal here, our only gripe was the dodgy initial service, but hopefully this was a one-off.  Also note that this isn’t Subway, so your sandwich will take some time, but you can drink some coffee or a cold one while you wait…