When a Manhattan restaurant has been around for nearly a half century, the temptation is to say, “They must be doing something right.” Victor’s Café proves that clichés can be true.
Victor’s is doing a lot of things right. Among them are the restaurant “big three”: food, service and atmosphere.
On a Monday night, usually one of the slowest of the week, both the bar room and front dining room were full while the kitchen was churning out a steady stream of Cuban-influenced empanadas, quesadillas, tamales, ropa viejas, frijoles negros, flans and churros.
This Theater District mainstay boasts a warren of distinctive dining rooms, one of which was set aside for a private party on the night I visited. Up front is a charming room of brick walls, white tablecloths, unusual double-stemmed lamps and a vivid Cuban painting. The rear room features a striking, color-filled Cuban mural that covers the entire length of one wall.
Victor’s menu, more than holds its own with both Cuban classics as well as more creative dishes, or Cucina Cubana nueva, like organic chicken breast infused with citrus adobo and crowned by a mélange of watercress, avocado, tomatoes and scallions and grilled Pacific salmon with green pepper and pineapple touched with Asian pear salsa atop creamy corn polenta. The humble and the flamboyant are equally appealing here.
A complimentary serving of warm, crisp, housemade potato chips with a few strips of plantains -- an encouraging preview of things to come -- was understandably gobbled up. They were followed by a show-stopping bowl of rustic black bean soup with deep notes of cumin and oregano. Other boldly flavored appetizers were rich and complex quesadillas (warm yucca tortillas packed with Creole-style shrimp and cheese), and a uniquely Cuban take on sliders -- three mini hamburgers full of ground sirloin and chorizo that’s topped with onions and julienne potato fries.
Comforting and traditional, black beans and white rice accompany all entrees except rice dishes. They are a welcome everyday Cuban food that complements the faithful renditions of conventional Island favorites like the shredded black Angus skirt steak alive with garlic, tomatoes, onions and peppers in a crisp plantain basket. A heftier helping of camarones enchilados featured six meaty jumbo shrimp given a subtle snap by a powerful Creole sauce, while marinated roast suckling pig with a Peking duck-like texture tasted like good pork roast. The most expensive entrée, Paella, was a take-home-sized portion of saffron rice laced with an abundance of lobster, shrimp, mussels, tiny Manila clams, plump sea scallops, organic chicken and chorizo slices.
236 W. 52nd St. (Broadway-Eighth Ave.), 212-586-7714; victorscafe.com
Richard Jay Scholem was a restaurant critic for the New York Times Long Island Section for 14 years. His A La Carte Column appeared from 1990 to 2004. For more “Taste of the Town” reviews, click here.
