Xing Kuba
By Phyllis C. Richman
Washington Post Restaurant Critic
From The Washington Post Dining Guide, November 1996
Xing Kuba, an exotic-looking little restaurant that fuses the flavors and techniques of Asia, New Mexico and Havana, is one of those rare places where the entrees tend to be better than the appetizers. Not all of the menu's first courses come up short: Potato-leek chowder studded with roasted corn and bacon, swirled with red pepper coulis, is so thick and fragrant, so full of satisfaction, that I'd gladly order a bowl and consider that dinner .
Search through your menu for a sheet of specials: That's the ticket to dining well here. One night it included an appetizer of tiny scallops in the shell, baby clams and small, free-spirited, non-farmed mussels, all steamed together with Asian-Cajun seasonings. Grilled swordfish, an entree among the specials that night, was crusted with pumpkin seeds and coriander - swordfish with remarkable flavor, tangy on its seared surface and steamy inside.
Entrees on the regular menu also can play in this league. Sesame-herbed sautéed shrimp is coated with flavors that tingle and bloom and fill your senses, riding on a spicy Thai peanut sauce. Salmon with a pine nut-plantain crust doesn't taste exotic; it just tastes nutty, crunchy and wonderful. Chilean sea bass, seared in a wok and served with papaya-mango salsa, slithery transparent noodles and succulent Asian greens, is perfectly cooked and happily married. Yet meat dishes don't have the flair of the fish here. The dessert tray features one particularly outrageous and glorious confection. It's a flat wedge of crushed chocolate cookies sandwiching coconut that tastes real and fresh, and finished off with a buttery chocolate glaze. If Oreos had been invented by some brilliant 10-year-old tropical chef, this is what they'd be. And I'd demand one every night after I'd licked my soup bowl clean.
