In the Know: Havana Blue Cuban restaurant opens in North Naples
The new local restaurant and lounge has separate menus for breakfast, lunch specials and dinner with an expanded variety of authentic Cuban cuisine.
In the Know: Havana Blue Cuban restaurant opens in North Naples The new local restaurant and lounge has separate menus for breakfast, lunch specials and dinner with an expanded variety of authentic Cuban cuisine. Check out this story on naplesnews.com: https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/columnists/tim-aten-in-the-know/2019/01/16/know-havana-blue-cuban-restaurant-lounge-opens-north-naples/2590629002/
Tim Aten, Naples Daily News Published 7:00 a.m. ET Jan. 16, 2019 | Updated 7:57 a.m. ET Jan. 16, 2019
Two restaurants launched within the last week at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt on the northwestern corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads in North Naples.
Havana Blue Cuban Cuisine & Lounge, which promotes itself as "a piece of Cuba under the Naples sky," opened Thursday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
After a soft opening last Thursday, the restaurant's grand opening was Monday. The restaurant has separate menus for breakfast, lunch specials and dinner with an expanded variety of authentic Cuban cuisine.
Havana Blue Cuban Cuisine & Lounge opened in January 2019 at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)
Havana Blue is owner Yanet Casanova's third local restaurant. She also owns and operates the Floridita Cuban restaurants in Golden Gate and East Naples. Her new restaurant is in a large end space that most recently was Salsa Cuban Restaurant & Lounge at Shoppes at Vanderbilt, but it previously was home to Absinthe, The Basin and French Folies restaurants.
Although she has lived in Naples for 25 years, Casanova was born and raised in Cuba and claims to serve the most authentic Cuban cuisine in the Naples area. She wants Havana Blue to continue to raise the bar.
Yanet Casanova is the owner of Havana Blue Cuban Cuisine & Lounge, which opened in January 2019 at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)
Dinner entrees include Cuban classics, ranging from picadillo (seasoned ground beef with tomato sauce, onions and red peppers) served with white rice and sweet plantains for $10 to churrasco (grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce) served with white rice and black beans for $25. In between are other authentic dishes such as ropa vieja shredded beef, palomilla steak marinated in garlic and lemon, and lechon asado grilled pork with mojo sauce.
Dinner choices also include deep-fried snapper, grilled grouper or salmon, sautéed lobster and shrimp, grilled or breaded chicken breasts, marinated deep-fried pork and other entrees. Soups and salads also are available.
Appetizers range from fried yuca ($6) to a chicken wings party ($17). Other options include Cuban sliders, croquetas, beef empanadas, cod fritters, nachos Cubanos, pork tamales, fried calamari, pork chicharron and tostones or fried green plantains.
The pastry cases at Havana Blue Cuban Cuisine & Lounge, which opened in January 2019 at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)
Lunch specials ($9-$12) include the popular Cuban and media noche sandwiches classically made with slow-roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and mayo. Lunch portions of some of the dinner items are available as well as other sandwiches, wraps, Cuban tacos and the Havana Blue Burger with lettuce, onions, tomato, Swiss cheese, ketchup and potato sticks. The Havana Blue Sandwich de Pollo features a grilled chicken breast with lettuce, tomato, fried plantains, avocado and mayo on Cuban bread.
Desserts ($5-$7) include caramel flan, rice pudding, chocolate cake, tres leches cake, coconut cake and tiramisu. Don't forget a Café Cubano, a sweet Cuban espresso; or café con leche, steamed milk with a double shot of Cuban espresso.
Breakfast items range from a fruit salad ($7) to the Havana Blue Special ($15) of scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, onions, peppers, bacon and Spanish sauce served with Cuban bread toast and fruit. Omelets, fried eggs with chorizo sausage or bacon, and croissant sandwiches also are on the early menu. Many of the lunch sandwiches and wraps are available for breakfast too.
Available to eat in or to go are house-made pastries and other sweets displayed in lighted cases at the end of Havana Blue's bar. Based on the success of the Floridita locations, popular bakery items include Cuban flan, rice pudding and coconut and guava tartelettes.
Live entertainment also will be part of the Havana Blue experience. During the week, the venue will host singers, comedians and other performing artists.
The restaurant becomes a Latin nightclub Friday and Saturday nights. A disc jockey operates from an elevated booth at the side of the dining area and music videos are projected on the entire large back wall of the restaurant. The nightlife launches this Friday, but a kickoff party is planned Feb. 1.
Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m. daily. The full bar in that longtime restaurant space was moved from the center of the dining room to its western edge for Havana Blue and draft beer taps were added.
The restaurant offers seating at its extended bar and at tables, booths and banquettes. With seating inside and at umbrella tables on an outdoor patio, the restaurant has more than 150 seats.
Havana Blue, 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 200, is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information call 239-591-5149 or find Havana Blue restaurant on Facebook.
Trattoria Abruzzo
► Trattoria Abruzzo 2 also opened nearby
More local restaurant news
► Lemongrass Vietnamese Bistro is targeted to open in February in the former space of Asian Go!Go! in North Naples. Specific information about the new restaurant is not available yet.
Lemongrass Vietnamese Bistro is targeted to open in February 2019 in the former space of Asian Go!Go! in the Galleria Shoppes off Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)
► Asian Go!Go!, a quick-service eatery which specialized in grab-and-go Asian fusion food and drinks, recently closed in the Galleria Shoppes on Fontana Del Sol Way off Vanderbilt Beach Road. It opened in early February 2018 in the former space of the longtime Lucarelli's Italian restaurant.
► Sauce Lady Buffetto closed in early December after operating since March 2017 in Berkshire Commons on the northwest corner of Radio Road and Santa Barbara Boulevard in East Naples.
"We did the best we could. I had excellent food there, but it was not for that area," said Ela Vivonetto, best known as The Sauce Lady.
Vivonetto's popular house-made Italian sauces, soups and prepared meals are still available at the original location of The Sauce Lady, 9331 U.S. 41 N., in the Naples Park area of North Naples. For more information call 239-592-5557 or go to SauceLady.com.
Sauce Lady Buffetto closed last month in Berkshire Commons on the northwest corner of Radio Road and Santa Barbara Boulevard in East Naples. (Photo: Tim Aten/Naples Daily News)
► Brahma Sushi Lounge closed Dec. 31 in Gulf Coast Town Center. Brahma debuted in January 2017 as a rebranding of Blue Sushi, which had operated for 10 years.
► Burgerim opened its second Lee County location on Jan. 9 at Daniels Marketplace on Daniels Parkway in south Fort Myers. It opened near Uhmazebowls and Zoës Kitchen in the retail center anchored by Whole Foods Market.
The Israeli-born fast-casual chain is known for miniature burgers that can be customized with a variety of patties and toppings. Its first area location opened last summer at Coconut Point in Estero. For more information call 239-313-5923 or go to Burgerim.com.
► 16 restaurants coming in January and February to Naples area
► Many more local restaurants coming in 2019
► Recap of local restaurants that opened in 2018
► Remembering local restaurants that closed in 2018
► Updates of most popular In the Know columns for 2018
For the latest in local restaurants coming and going, see Tim Aten's "In the Know" columns archived at naplesnews.com/intheknow, and on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.
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