My friends were craving oxtail, so we came to El Rincon Criollo, the other Cuban restaurant on the westside that’s rival to the more well known Versailles. I heard that they have pretty good oxtail here.
The interior is lovely! It is small, bright and merry~
The bread taste so Cuban, it is not sticky, yet not dry either. Yuca In Garlic Sauce. The garlic smell overwhelmed the entire table.
Rabo Encendido – Sauteed Oxtail oxtail sauteed in tomato sauce $11.95. The oxtail are very tender and flavorful. The well fried plantains are good for resetting the palete.
Arroz Frito – Cuban version of the Chinese Fried Rice. I used to love eating this at Cafe Atlantic (closed) during my school days. It’s quite salty but I still enjoyed it (thankfully there’re plantains). They didn’t have avocado like the ones I had before, which would have help lighten the dish.
Grilled Halibut in Garlic Sauce $11.95. The fish was a bit dry, but good flavor.
The staff are very friendly. From my brief impression, the menu here has more varieties and the food are better than Versailles. I gotta come back to try more.
El Rincon Criollo
4361 Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230-4715
Tags: Cuban
I like Versailles. I must try this place to compare.
I LOVE El Rincon, they have the best arroz con pollo, I have to say that its even better than Versailles because the rice is so flavorful and the chicken is tender and falls off the bone. You can ask for white meat or dark.
Thank stuffycheaks for the rec, I gotta try the Chicken rice next time! Yeah seems like in general, their meat are better cooked, and everything is more flavorful than Versailles (their meat tend to be so dry), even the plantains are better.
Hi Freda,
I run a website about Santa Monica which is a mixture of aggregated news, interviews and feature stories. I like your blog and was wondering if you would be interested in exchanging links to the sites.
Thanks
Natasha