Had lunch recently at Media Noche, a recently opened Cuban restaurant in the Mission near 19th and Valencia. Counter service - you order and get a number flag, and they bring your order out to you.
I had the Cubano ($12.50), which is a classic Cuban sandwich with roasted marinated pork, pickles, ham, Swiss cheese, and mustard within two slices of Cuban bread, pressed and grilled. Haven’t been to Tampa or Miami to try them there, so can’t speak for authenticity, but this was a good sandwich. Roast pork was tender and flavorful, and it was well grilled, the bread was compressed and crispy. I applied a little of their greenish hot sauce which was quite potent.
Also had a guava pastelito, which is a puff pastry with a guava filling. They had two types on a plate on display at the counter - one with cheese and one without. I just got the regular one without cheese ($4.50), which was pretty good. Guava filling was maybe a little too sweet for my taste. The pastry was good and flaky.
I got 2 things: Ensalada Verde $6 small or $10 large - it has cabbage, young kale, avocado, manchego, spiced pepitas, mojo vinaigrette. It was tasty enough for a salad. I liked it.
El Cubano $12.50 - roasted mojo pork shoulder, smoked ham, swiss cheese, house pickles, mustard. It’s served super hot so be careful holding it, pork shoulder they give you a lot, but not very tasty and kinda dry, ham didn’t taste any smoke, pickles were fine. I dipped my sandwich into the green Salsa Picante, which made it taste a lot better. Sandwich is HUGE - it’s cut in half and 1 person can eat half with a salad to be full for lunch.
Help yourself to water after you pay it’s in a container at the end of the counter.
I want to try the ice cream bars next time they call Moon Bars:
Mi Abuela Favorita - guava cheesecake ice cream, crushed maria cookies, dark chocolate $5
Cafe Con Leche - cuban coffee ice cream, cocoa nibs, dark chocolate $5
No Cuban coffee yet sign said Coming Soon - is this available yet?
You can charge your order.
One unisex bathroom - very nice inside with banana wallpaper.
Following the lead on another thread, I got the media noche today. Compact and easy to eat. I was skeptical of the brioche bun, but the compression gave all the flavor without the excess puffiness. Good sandwich, for my taste I’ll request less mustard next time.
currently they don’t accept orders over the phone.
This reminds me that I should head to Cuban Kitchen in San Mateo to do a comparison at some point on the cuban sandwiches around. I’ve had the one from La Bodeguita Del Medio in Palo Alto (I recall it was decent, but it was a long while ago). I haven’t been to Media Noche. Cubamex in San Jose is run by Cubans so perhaps their cubano is less like the cubano that people are used to from Miami and Tampa…
