"1492 Cuban Fusion Cafe has no shortage of personality—from colorful knick knacks to friendly servers giving TED talks about everything in the massive appetizer sample. And while scaling that fried food mountain with friends is great, so is the rest of their Cuban and Latin food. The menu is long and reads like a short novel. Don’t feel like reading small novels? Here are the Sparknotes: go for a guava-cheese pastelito and coffee in the morning, a Cubano for lunch, or ropa vieja for dinner. Plus, you can even bring your favorite bottle of wine or six-pack since they’re BYOB. " - josh barnett, john ringor