Cuban

Portland, Sept. 15—

WE ATE IN Cuba today, more or less, at a place out at Glisan and 28th, Pambiche, where the food is savory and generous, the prices low, the ambiance colorful. It threatened rain for the first time in days, but though we ate outside at a wooden table-and-benches, on the sidewalk, we were under cover; this improbable building extends out over the sidewalk as if you were in Torino or Bologna.

But the food is completely Cuban. I started with croquetas de bacalao — salt cod croquettes shaped like frankfurters, with a spoonful of cabbage salad — and went on to ropa vieja, shredded beef braised with onions and peppers, garnished with pimientos and green peas, with black beans and rice on the side. I've had it here before, years ago; nothing has changed; it's absolutely delicious. A squeeze of lime, of course.

Red house wine