Little Havana in Savannah: Casa Guava goes sous vide with pan con bistec
The line out the door at Casa Guava might be the best sign that Joaquin Montesino’s Cuban café and sandwicherie is going to break the recent restaurant curse at 314 Drayton St.
A pocket-sized property that had been at least two iterations of The Diplomat Luncheonette pre-pandemic and then both Leon’s Cafe and Burritos Pantano post seemed destined to be home to delicious albeit ephemeral eateries.
Let us all hope that the redolent aromas of roasted pork and grilled bread that began wafting past Pinkie Masters on Nov. 27 are here to stay.
“It’s been amazing,” Montesino said of the first few weeks of busy business. “I’ve got to say, a lot of support from the community. I couldn’t be happier.”
His menu of authentic Cuban fare features plenty of authentic cafecito bebidas, three breakfast sandwiches, seven ‘small bites’, and a half-dozen classic sandwiches, an ample tally for such a petite place.
While the El Jefe ($13), Montesino’s tasty take on his home country’s namesake sammie, might stack up against the best in and around Savannah, the creative construction of his Pan con Bistec ($14) makes for meaty mouthfuls that are unlike any other version you have had.
Fried and true: Das Box scores with two Asian standards
Off the Menu: Some of Savannah's tastiest dishes aren't listed. Here's where to find them
Best Bistec
What may be the most significant challenge for this chef-owner in his new kitchen is the absence of a fryer. Then again, sci-fi savant Ray Bradbury asserted, “It's lack that gives us inspiration.”
“I had to get creative,” Montesino said with a smile.
His brainwave was to prepare the steak sous vide, quite a departure from the conventional deep-fry.
“All these sandwiches are traditional, as much as possible,” he said referring to the Pa’ Merendar, “but for this one, I went ahead and took it to the next level.”
Standing in for the traditional palomilla steak, usually shaved top sirloin, Montesino is using paper-thin slices of rib eye that heats to temperature in the tepid tub. The meat is seasoned and goes back into the bag-and-bath before being cooled down and then finished to order on the flat top.
The steak is so tender that you do not need to bring your teeth.
The baked-in-house bread, panini-pressed and buttery warm, is just as delicate underneath the perfectly crisp crust. The key to a legit Cuban loaf, according to the chef himself, is pork fat, which is commonly used instead of butter or oil.
“That’s why it’s different,” he said simply. “It’s not a fancy bread. It’s not the best bread in the world. It’s just how we make the bread in Cuba.”
Take one bite and you will taste how much Montesino is underselling what he is baking.
Further differentiating this bistec sandwich is the sofrito aioli: the “base used in almost every Cuban stew” of sautéed onions and garlic, tomato paste, garlic powder, and onion powder is infused into a classic egg-and-oil emulsion. He should sell this in cleaned-out Duke’s jars.
Joining the party are potato sticks, Swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato, and the sandwich is served with a side of plantain slices, one of the only items Montesino is not scratch-making in-house.
Coming home
When we walk into a restaurant and hear diners speaking the language of the cuisine and country, we know that we are in the right place.
Six minutes before closing a few Sundays back, Casa Guava’s entire south wall was taken up by three families. Only remnants remained on their plates, but they were clearly enjoying a reunion over familiar food. On one of his trips downstairs, Montesino struck up with them in Spanish to hear that two of the families had driven down from Rincon to meet their Savannah relatives here.
For general manager Emely Ebersole, the joy has come from “watching people come in and feel like they’re home, like they’re experiencing a piece of home.”
“These flavors bring back childhood memories and memories of home,” she added. “That sense is missing for the Latin community.”
After more than 15 years cooking in professional kitchens, largely producing other countries’ cuisines, this is a coming home for Montesino, too.
“It was my goal,” he shared. “Yeah, I can cook a five-course meal, but that’s not what I want to be remembered for or known for. I want to bring my roots to Savannah, the food that I grew up with.”
Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Montesino forsook collegiate computer science studies and attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Miami, which closed in 2017. He rose the brigade ranks and served as the executive chef at Four Points (Miami) until 2018, when he relocated to Savannah seeking a “more comfortable lifestyle.”
He cheffed at Savannah Quarters and consulted around town before an executive chef stint at The Collins Quarter that lasted a little more than a year.
Casa Guava is the first restaurant Montesino has owned, and he admitted that this venture has posed new challenges.
“It’s all on me. All the pressure,” he said. “The hardest thing is overcoming the fear. I keep telling myself, ‘It’s going to be okay. You’ve done this for a living. Just keep pushing, keep pushing.’”
With his extensive experience and his flair with Cuban cuisine, the worry is everything but the food.
“I’m the plumber, I’m the dishwasher, I’m the chef, I’m the electrician,” he said with a knowing smile. “The pressure of all that together.”
Cuban cozy
The bistro-tight seating, the palm-fronded wallpaper, and the prevalence of diners speaking Spanish make Casa Guava feel more like a family’s dining room than a restaurant.
Downstairs, tucked underneath the kitchen balcony, Ebersole takes orders, serves drinks and meals, greets and rings up guests, and buses tables. That Sunday afternoon, Montesino’s daughter, Jasleen, swept up and ran this and that up to the kitchen where Yolanda Navarro was wrapping up a lengthy lunch service.
Montesino estimated that the resto’s interior retains about 90 percent of what was Burritos Pantano, including the ingenious dumbwaiter that ferries food down to diners. The “only additions” he made were bringing in a flat top and a panini press.
Behind Ebersole’s barista bar are a warmer for empanadas and a convection oven where Montesino bakes all of the cafe’s breads and pastries to “divide production” and to “alleviate the flow.”
Though the square footage is small, going up and down all day, he still puts in over 10,000 steps each day ― and those are StairMaster steps.
Incredibly, a team of three churns out every sip and bite, and so much of it can be credited to Montesino’s mother.
“When I used to go to interviews, everybody would ask me, ‘Who’s your favorite chef?’ and I would always say, ‘My mom.’”
When he was little, he would run behind her with a piece of bread to dip into whatever she was cooking, like the sofrito that she made for almost every dish and which he has morphed into a cold sauce now in Casa Guava’s menu.
“My mom’s cooking, that’s the best food in the world,” he added, “and that’s what I want to share.”
Montesino’s mami can be so proud.
Casa Guava Cuban Cafe (314 Drayton Street) is open Wednesday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Casa Guava brings authentic flavors of Cuban cooking to Savannah
