I made my way in the cold rain to Fort Greene for dinner at Habana Outpost, which is just a block away from The Smoke Joint, the BBQ restaurant I went to earlier this month. I’d made a note then to return because Habana Outpost appeared to be a visual cross between a Havana bar and a music video by The B-52’s. I forgot all about it of course, but then Time Out New York did a mini writeup on it this week, so I figured someone was trying to tell me something and I’d better go.
Orders are placed and beverage collected at the counter inside, then you walk your meal ticket outside to the cooks inside the bright red mail truck parked in the restaurant’s courtyard. The grilled corn-on-the-cob sprinkled with crumbled cotija cheese and spices: so good. The Cuban sandwich, roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and chipotle mayo lovingly smooshed between two big pieces of toasted flatbread, was satisfying though nothing out of the ordinary.
Because of the rain, it wasn’t as hopping out there as it can supposedly get, though there was a D.J. and a few stalwarts huddled under the tables with umbrellas. In nicer weather, they hook up a blender to the stationary bike near the fence and you can pedal-blend your own margarita. There’s a bunch of other hippie crap, too: biodegradable plates and cups and silverware, a recycling station that’s just plain confusing if you’ve been drinking, and some strange restrooms that are like corrugated sheet metal outhouses located out back. On Sundays, they show movies outdoors, projected on the side of the building, but apparently not when it’s raining. I can’t imagine this place stays open in the winter, but if it does, it loses a full half of its charm.
Habana Outpost
- 757 Fulton St. (at South Portland Avenue), Brooklyn
- (718) 858-9500
- Meal 35 of 52: Cuban sandwich ($7.25), corn-on-the-cob ($2) and some beers.