FOOD- Kitchen Confidential: Antonio Jorge, Cafe Cubano

By LINDSAY BARNES |
Published online 9:00am Wednesday Mar 5th, 2008
and in print issue #0809 dated Thursday Mar 5th, 2009

Antonio Jorge
PHOTO BY LINDSAY BARNES

The secret to great cooking is... consistency. You always have to use fresh ingredients, you can never cut corners, and in order to do those two things you always have to plan ahead.

The secret to success in the restaurant business is... as basic as can be. Quality, service, and value.

The secret to making Café Cubano's tomatillo sauce is... keeping the jalepeños whole until they go in the food processor. As soon you cut them open, you lose the spice from the seeds.

Café Cubano's tomatillo sauce

2 lbs. tomatillos, peeled

2 whole habañero jalepeño peppers

4 cloves garlic

1/2 Vidalia onion (Spanish or any other sweet onion works as well)

1 bunch cilantro, de-stemmed

2 avocados, peeled, de-seeded, quartered

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Sautée tomatillos, jalepeños, garlic and onion in a pan with olive oil for 15 minutes, constantly turning. Let cool.

Put the sautéed contents in a food processor with cilantro, avocados, salt and pepper to taste.

Blend for no more than 30 seconds.

This sauce is integral to our burritos, as well as our huevos buenos, and makes for a great dip or topper for nachos.