Everybody, we're on the Upper West Side.
78th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
To my right, is a sign that says
La Uniqua Caridad Restaurant.
Cuban-Chinese.
It's a combination that you've probably
not thought to put together in your head
as far as food, or anything else.
But Cuban-Chinese restaurants, there are a lot of them,
or were a lot of them in Manhattan.
They will have traditional Cuban food
like rice and beans, ropa vieja.
They'll also have kung pao chicken and wonton soup.
And they'll have things that are traditionally Chinese
or Chinese American and sometimes they'll mix the two
to create something that you've never ever had before.
You don't see a lot of it in New York anymore
and it's one of the things that makes the city,
which is so known for its diversity exactly what it is.
So we're going to head over there now.
We're going to try some of this food.
I can't wait.
Let's go.
(speak Chinese)
This is just so, this is so fascinating.
Yes.
We are at a Cuban-Chinese restaurant.
That's right.
Clement has has worked here for over 30 years.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I, full uncle from Cuba.
They come here after Cuba communist take over
and they come over to United States.
When Castro took over in Cuba, they came here.
Right, right, yes.
Okay.
They don't want communist, that's why.
They didn't want communism.
Right.
Because a lot of the Chinese laborers
fleeing communism in China, went to Cuba to work.
Castro took over in Cuba and so they fled Cuba as well
because of the restrictions and because of the communism.
And some of them opened restaurants.
Yes, they opened at 140th Street.
So they had one in Bronx before.
Had one in the Bronx.
And they closed down and then they get old
and they don't want to do anything.
They get old.
Now how did you end up in this restaurant?
Did you hear about it from your uncle?
Yeah, they know each other.
After I go to school, my family over here working.
Okay, Clement, thank you.
You're welcome, anytime.
So, Clement, I'm going to try some of the food now.
What should I get?
You should get roast chicken.
The roast chicken?
Yeah.
It come with the rice and bean.
Looks good, okay.
But you need white meat or dark meat?
You like dark meat?
Chinese people like dark meat.
(laughter)
Is that... I mean, that's true.
Yeah.
Okay.
And you want the fried yuca?
I'll have some fried yuca.
Can I try some wonton soup?
Okay, wonton's very popular.
I'll try wonton soup.
Wonton soup, yeah.
But then I was looking, maybe,
at the General Tso porkchop.
Okay, no problem.
(upbeat music)
And here we have, what is decidedly,
Chinese-influenced wonton soup.
With also some slices of roast pork.
You can see this red-flecked roast pork here on the outside.
And then we've got these nice wonton dumplings.
Homey, filling broth.
I'm just going to bite into it.
This wonton, filled with pork.
The dough on this wonton is incredibly thick.
That is a choice that you can make.
And that's all I'll say.
It's like a thick noodle.
Fried plantains, want to eat these before these die.
These are going to be not quite as sweet
and a bit starchier, a bit firmer than their banana cousins.
Plantains are not bananas.
They are distinct.
And what is so good about fried plantains
is that they get those caramelized edges around them.
You can get that bit, you can really see it.
It's nice, deep dark brown.
And they just taste like sweet, crunchy, caramel.
Their fried plantains are great.
I could eat these all the time.
What I am very excited about, yuca, a tuber.
Something you're going to find in the ground.
This is yuca, Y-U-C-A, not Y-U-C-C-A.
Different thing.
This is yuca, aka cassava.
This is a potato-like tuber, root vegetable plant, okay?
And what this comes with is a fantastic
little dish of minced garlic.
Love garlic.
If I were getting married, on my wedding day,
if my fiancée was like, you know, I gotta tell you something.
I don't like garlic.
I don't eat it.
Wedding's off.
Runaway bride, this guy.
The garlic is just powerful, biting, sort of sweet.
There's a little, some oil in here too.
It goes well with the fried yuca,
which, it's like a french fry.
It has like almost a vaguely stringy quality, too.
Not in a bad way.
But you can even see that.
It's like a little bit stringy.
The fibers of the yuca.
It's interesting.
It's good.
I think it's like probably a better,
healthier alternative to french fry.
Roast chicken, rice, beans.
Quartered chicken.
Looks like we have a leg and a thigh.
Looks very good.
Just sort of swimming in its own gravy there.
That's nice.
It's sort of like a light, sweet citrus-y taste.
Just gonna peel this drumstick right off here.
And you can just see, like, the coloration
from, you know, the chicken that has
just been sitting in this marinade.
Roast chicken, a specialty in Latin America,
South America.
This is a little more distinctly Cuban.
Very good.
Chicken is nice and tender.
Like Clement said, Chinese people like dark meat
so that is what I had to eat.
It's sort of true.
If we ever get my grandma on one of these shows,
and I hope we do, she will tell you the same thing.
She loves dark meat.
She's from Hong Kong.
You get her a head, she will just like sit there
and, like, gnaw on the head for a while.
She just likes it.
Yeah, this roast chicken, very good,
traditional, Cuban-influenced dish.
Goes well with this plate of rice and beans.
The beans, I was wondering if we were going to get
the black beans or these fatter, reddish beans.
I like these.
These are nice.
They're plump, they kind of pop in your mouth.
They taste strongly of bay leaf,
if that is something that you are familiar with.
It's a little like eucalyptuses,
probably is how I'd describe the taste of bay leaf.
And then, this phenomenally radioactive yellow rice.
I mean, beans and rice, this is just such a staple.
But I was very interested by this General Tso's pork chop.
General Tso's chicken, invented by Mr. Peng,
how do you describe it.
Tomato-based, chili-based, tastes
vaguely Worcestershire-y, citrus-y.
Like orange chicken but a little bit darker.
Very peppery, very garlic-y.
And, they've done this to pork chops.
So, I'm just going to eat a chunk of this
with my fingers because I want to.
Because I want you all to be mad.
I'm using nature's fork, my fingers.
It's delicious.
I love the sauce.
The food is good.
The food is cheap.
The food is plentiful.
But I think more important than
the food is what it represents.
What it represents to the diversity of the city,
towards New York, which is, in a lot
of ways, the crossroads of the world.
So having places like this and being able to
keep them here is very important.
It's important to the city.
It's important to patronize and to support places like this.
We had our first date here.
Oh!
At that table over there in 1986.
No way.
Way.
(laughter)
"So you want to meet me at the Caridad?"
I said, absolutely.
And I lived, like, on 72nd Street, so.
And you said, it's a date.
It's a date.
And what is it about this place
that keeps you coming back?
The food is great.
Food is great, and it's a fun atmosphere.
Inexpensive.
Two people can eat one meal.
And lunch special's like ten bucks?
They were gonna close, did they tell you?
Kind of.
They were going to close, and now they got another lease.
That's so great.
44, because we were like, oh no.
Yeah, that would be terrible.
And they actually expanded,
but I think it was too big for the rent.
Rents were astronomical.
Right.
And for their prices.
You know a big criticism of Manhattan,
for Manhattanites and people who don't live here too,
is just it's too expensive.
It's a victory when places like
La Caridad don't have to leave.
Because they can't afford to be here,
because they charge, with tax, ten dollars
for lunch special, which is nothing.
Dining on a Dime.
Those of you who give me a hard time about prices:
Ten dollars, lunch special with tax.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode of Dining on a Dime.
Form La Caridad on 78th Street on Upper West Side.
If you'd like to watch more, please click here.