Havana Hideout
Lake Worth, Florida

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Boca Magazine December 2007 "If you can name a cooler restaurant than Havana Hideout, I won't believe you.  It's not that I'm trying to be difficult; it's just that I'm totally enamored of this restaurant, neighborhood bar, music venue, movie emporium, and outdoor cafe rolled into one.  Not to mention a swell place to hang out and drink the best sangria to ever fill a glass, chat with your friends, nosh on Pan Latin tapas & maybe even smoke a cigar.  I mean how cool is that! Chrissy Benoit, the former opening chef at The Cottage a few blocks away, imagined this cool little spot, with it's funky tiny bar & chaise lounge lined deck, brick paved stage, and twin tiki huts outfitted with low tables, white sand floors and glittering chandeliers.  Oh and the kitchen? It's a dilapidated old truck, parked out back.  Benoit's menu, her personal take on street food, is nothing fancy-just 5 items, plus tortillas & orange butter & chips and salsa.  It's pleanty cheap too; everything is six bucks, except the tortillas & chips, which wll set you back all of $4.  But whether you get a basket of chips still warm from the fryer with freshly made mild & smokey-hot salsas or fat chunks of adobo marinated chicken, served with other chunks of garlicky yucca and a sweet spicy chili sauce, you'll be getting something good"n"tasty. You also can get a pair of sprightly fish tacos that stuff a pair of corn tortillas with grilled yellowtail, dusky chipotle infused slaw & a dice of sweet pineapple.  And don't miss the killer carnitas quesadilla, crammed with savory molten-textured pork & garnished with sour cream & more of that fresh salsa.  As we were about to leave, we found out the kitchen was making churros for dessert, but it was getting late and we had to pass.  But I wouldn't take a pass on Havana Hideout.  It's way too cool. Boca Magazine Best of Boca and Beyond 2008 Best "Hole in the Wall, Dining." Havana Hideout isn't in Havana (though downtown Lake Worth, does have a certian raffish, Havana-esque charm), But it is a hideout, an extremely tiny bar (as funky as it is cramped) and a small courtyard with a pair of tiki huts sheilding it from the sidewalk.  The kitchen is in an old truck parked in back, but the half dozen snaky appetizers are great, and the sangria is the best this side of the border...Any border July Issue	Best of Boca Award
www.homatrix.com    "great new ambiance, in fact now it has ambiance." New Times Magazine   (click link for full article) http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2007-03-15/news/loco-motion/ (Portion from article) "A modest but decent wine selection was one of the changes Benoit had made to the bar. In keeping with Lake Worth gentrification, which some might say was signaled by my arrival four years ago, under new ownership the place had gotten prettier and more yuppie-friendly. In addition to a fresh coat of paint and some redecorating in the bar's tiny interior that seated maybe a dozen, she'd invested considerable expense in the garden, where a new patio, palm trees, and blooming succulents spiffed up the place. Even Bob, who owned the place when it was the ramshackle dive Roundin' Third, agreed: "The place looks the best it ever looked." " Imagine flying into Cuba during the 1950s. The lights shining, the gangsters dressed up and a little cafe like Havana Hideout right in the middle of town. The Hideout features cuisine inspired by not only the Cuban culture, but that of Mexico and South America as well. Patrons love the shredded pork quesadilla with homemade salsa. This article can also be accessed at this location:  http://southflorida.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/bar/havana-hideout-lake-worth/125066/content	Palm Beach Post  "Go Guide." Entertainment Section November 2007 Superhero Hot Spots Sangria & Tacos and Flair, oh my! There are some nights when all you want to do is hang out on the couch.  But an evening in the beautiffuly decorated & and comfy outdoor living room setting of Lake Worth's year old Havana Hideout & Cigar Garden, which occupies the old Lizards Den space, splits the difference.  And when's the last time there was live music, and incredibly well stocked juke box and a cute chef cooking up arepas, ceviche, & fish tacos at your place?
Watchin B-Liminal and Blackadmks!	T.G.I.F. Palm Beach Post  November 2007 Portion of article by Leslie Streeter ...But what a difference a year makes!  The Lizard Den is now Havana Hideout an unpretentious, yet comfortably sophisticated place, to have a drink, smoke a cigar, and get some inexpensive Latin-inspired eats, hear a band or listen to one of the best juke boxes this side of "Happy Days."  It's still got enough of the good parts of divedom-down-to-earthiness, to keep some of the old crowd happy.  The Hideout tucked toward the east end of Lake Avenues main strip in downtown Lake Worth, is the brain child of Chrissy Benoit, who used to be the chef over at The Cottage, one of my usual haunts.  Like The Cottage, Havana Hideout has a charming outdoor livingroom feel.  The spacious patio, which was previously...let's call it sparse...has been reimagined as Gilligan's Island Nightspot-thatched straw roofs cover comfortable seats & tables, facing a colorful mural based on an actual one in Cuba.   On the other side of the patio is the Hideout's kitchen, from which springs a yummy bounty of shareable treats, like succulent fish tacos, a ridiculously fish-full ceviche and some crispy soft churros...