Best Boston 50 Restaurants: Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

A colorful wall of arthouse film posters, a soundtrack of Cuban music, and a mojito—perhaps pineapple or mango—set the scene for a festive dive into Cuban cuisine at this four-year-old Cambridge sequel to the Waltham original. Entrées like ropa vieja and puerco asado offer faithful takes on Cuban classics, while small plates like guava-glazed baby-back ribs and corn fritters with goat-cheese mousse deviate from tradition a bit—in-the-know diners try a little of each. And churros, of course: Don’t forget the churros. .

✻✻✻✻

The James Beard Foundation Awards

Established in 1990 with the first awards given in 1991, the James Beard Awards are among the nation’s most prestigious honors recognizing leaders in the culinary and food media industries, and those in the broader food systems. The Awards are overseen by the Awards Committee. Each Awards program (Book, Broadcast Media, Journalism, Leadership, and Restaurant and Chef) has its own subcommittee members who volunteer their time to oversee the policies, procedures, and selection of judges for their respective program. All James Beard Award winners receive a certificate and a medallion engraved with the James Beard Foundation Awards insignia.

✻✻✻✻

James Beard Foundation’s 2023 Taste America® culinary series

In this iteration, some of the nation’s finest chefs and changemakers will come together in 20 markets across the United States to represent a shared mission of “Good Food for Good”. This cohort, known as the TasteTwenty, will collaborate throughout the year at chef dinners and walk-around tastings, spotlighting the breadth and unity of culinary creativity across the nation. Each market with its featured chefs will showcase the centrality of American food culture and celebrate diverse communities, leading the way to a future culinary industry where all can thrive

By Devra First

In Cambridge and Waltham, the two restaurants serve delicious cuisine with warmth and style.

Jet black mussel shells in saffron-hued broth. Twining green fairy crowns of cilantro and cress. Hot pink radish slices beside edible orange blossoms. Rafts of pineapple afloat in rum potions; buttery slabs of avocado beneath crisp plantains. A meal at Gustazo, a modern Cuban restaurant with branches in Cambridge and Waltham, warms and charms from the very first glance. Each dish is lush, bright, and beautiful. Underscore the gustatory pleasures with sweet hospitality, add a little rum, and here is the perfect antidote to New England winter…

By Boston Magazine

Gustazo wins again Best Brunch

If there’s anything more refreshing than a guava mojito at noon on a Sunday, we certainly haven’t tried it. The weekend brunch at this breezy Havana-by-way-of-Waltham favorite is a party everyone is invited to, a place where people linger over cocktails and Cuban coffee all afternoon. It’s not just the drinks that make a midday meal here stand out, though; it’s the extensive menu of sweet and savory treats, from the smoky Cuban-style shrimp and grits to the indulgent dulce de leche crêpes.…

✻✻✻✻

Best of Boston Takeout Program

Break free from your pizza rut with help from this teensy Cuban jewel in Waltham, which combines the warm service of an old-world café with decidedly modern touches—namely, an efficient takeout oper- ation offering dishes that pack a flavorful punch: husky Cubanos, savory empanadas (hot or frozen for later), and plantain chips with an herbaceous cilantro sauce that tastes like summer in a thimble. Beer and wine are available to take home, too, so you can wash it all down with a crisp bottle of Muscat...

Best sequel: Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

Patricia Estorino opened the first Gustazo in 2011, moving it from Belmont to Waltham a few years later. This year they opened a second branch of the Cuban restaurant near Porter Square in Cambridge. The food and the mood are warm and festive. Enjoy tapas such as ceviche, empanadas, and oxtail tacos and classic main dishes (ropa vieja, the seafood stew mariscada) while sipping daiquiris and mango mojitos. The drinks are as good as the food, the staff is friendly, and the space is stylish. It’s the kind of place that just makes you feel good.

From contemporary Cuban cuisine to inventive iterations of Italian dining, our very subjective list of the year's best newcomers.

1. Gustazo

Before she became a chef, Patricia Estorino was a professional dancer in Cuba. Maybe that explains her gift for melody, one that pays as many rewards on the plate as it would on a stage. At the Cambridge location of Gustazo, Estorino offers a bigger, broader, more robust expression of the contemporary Cuban cuisine she’s been serving at the Waltham original, and every note sings—from the sweet citrus of pepper- and pineapple-trimmed swordfish ceviche, to the silky richness of mariscada stew that bathes mussels...

Top-Grade Cuban Dishes Shine at New Porter Square Restaurant

A local critic reviews Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

Colin Kingsbury reviews Gustazo’s new Cambridge location for Boston Magazine, declaring that owners Patricia Estorino and Adolfo de la Vega have brought their A-game to the new restaurant, an expansion of a Waltham restaurant that was originally located in Belmont.

Dining Out: Gustazo Cuban in Cambridge

A suburban Cuban restaurant exports a bigger, boozier location to Cambridge—but can it survive in the concrete jungle?. Once upon a time, the regional pecking order of dining was clear: The city excelled at restaurants offering high-quality food with a sense of authenticity. The suburbs, meanwhile, specialized in bland chain restaurants—but hey, at least there was ample parking...

Gustazo Cuban Café in North Cambridge, for an array of dazzling tapas

Where to: Gustazo Cuban Café in North Cambridge.

Why: Because it’s the larger, livelier sibling of the cozy little Waltham location — in a prime spot in the old, two-level Elephant Walk space near Porter Square.

The Back Story: Patricia Estorino and Adolfo De La Vega lived in this neighborhood for seven years after relocating from Cuba, so it’s a personal triumph for them to open a restaurant here.

Best Restaurants in Boston 2019

A local critic reviews Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

We were regularly braving westbound traffic to reach Gustazo’s Waltham restaurant when word came that a second, larger location was headed to Cambridge. Mercy! Now we have easy access to chef Patricia Estorino’s contemporary Cuban fare and fun, family-table vibe.

Best of all, these new digs let us wash down her tapas-style plates—such as grilled lamb chops brightened with mint salsa and nutty romesco—with rum-forward libations dreamed up by local bar genius Sam Treadway. Cambridge, gustazo-cubancafe.com.

Eater Awards 2019: Here Are the Boston Finalists

Narrowing down the playing field for best restaurant, design, and empire builder of the year

Featuring an attractive remodel of the old Elephant Walk space, Gustazo hits it out of the park with Cuban small plates such as bacon-wrapped maduros (sweet plantains), grilled lamb chops, and an ever-changing selection of empanadas. Don’t miss the cocktail list, designed by Sam Treadway of the acclaimed Backbar in Somerville.

First Look at Gustazo Cuban Restaurant & Café in Cambridge

After nearly a decade of serving up vibrant Cuban food in the Boston suburbs, Gustazo Restaurant owner Patricia Estorino is opening a second location in Cambridge—and they could use a drink.

Gustazo Cuban Restaurant & Café is now open in Porter Square with menu favorites from the Waltham location, plus an all-new cocktail program created by acclaimed local drinksmith Sam Treadway. Gustazo quietly debuted in Cambridge over the weekend, Eater Boston reports, and it officially kicks off dinner service tonight...

A Cuban Favorite From Waltham Expands to Cambridge With Finely Tuned Cocktails

Backbar’s Sam Treadway advised on the beverage menu

Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar (2067 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square) is now open in Cambridge, and it features a more substantial focus on beverages than its big sibling in Waltham: The Cambridge cocktails were developed in collaboration with Sam Treadway, owner of award-winning cocktail gem Backbar in Somerville’s Union Square.

Gustazo first opened in Waltham in 2014, and word came a year ago that owners Patricia Estorino and Adolfo De La Vega would take over the former Elephant Walk space on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. While working towards opening, the partners consulted with Treadway to develop the restaurant’s new beverage menu, which highlights rum — both in cocktails and on its own, for sipping — Treadway told Eater.

Best Brunch, West 2018

Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

Just off the north side of Moody Street, Waltham’s restaurant row, sits this slice of Havana heaven. During the Cuban eatery’s bustling brunch, crêpes stuffed with slow-roasted pork are washed down with guava-mint mimosas and other hairs of particularly delightful dogs. The Spanish Colonial–inspired digs sport artsy Cuban movie posters, overhead mambo beats lend as much pep as the fresh-brewed Umbria coffee, and warm servers make this hacienda a home. ...