Gigis Café Cubano

"Many draw comparisons between Gigi’s and Porto’s, but this Historic Filipinotown bakery can confidently stand on its own merit. The display case can be overwhelming and is filled with Cuban pastries including potato balls, pastelitos, a tres leches or pina colada cake, flan, or pan dulce from El Salvador and Mexico. Order a horchata latte and bring the sweet or savory haul home." - Eater Staff

"Gigi’s is one of the last remnants of the days when this area went by the name of Little Havana, and was less of a scene for young people who look like they own tasteful collections of local ceramics. When you first walk into this Cuban cafe, your eyes will immediately gravitate towards the glowing cases of decadent cakes and pastries, but put your annual Headspace subscription to use and channel all of your willpower, because you’re going to want to head straight to the cashier to order one of their perfectly pressed Cubanos, or plates of ropa vieja, which are a MasterClass™ in the balance of sweet and salty. Also, if you come early enough, they might still have a few pastelitos de guayaba queso (guava cheese strudels) and papas rellenas, an excellent, fluffy potato ball filled with spiced meat that rivals the ones at Porto’s." - kat hong

"Located in Historic Filipinotown, Gigi’s Cafe Cubano is a great lunch spot and bakery where you can find everything from Cubanos to golden pastries and that last-minute cake you forgot to buy for your roommate’s birthday. The options here are truly limitless, but the delicious guava cheese pastelito is the one thing that frequently crawls into our subconscious. Savory options include a great medianoche sandwich, which is a close relative to the meaty Cubano but on a sweeter, fluffier roll, or their papa rellenas - fried potato balls stuffed with shredded beef. These soft yet crispy potato croquettes are enough of a reason to stop by Gigi’s, but you’ll most likely spend a few minutes mindlessly browsing through their pastry displays too." - sylvio martins

"Located in Historic Filipinotown, Gigi’s Cafe Cubano is a great lunch spot and bakery where you can find everything from Cubanos to golden pastries and that last-minute cake you forgot to buy for your roommate’s birthday. The options here are truly limitless, but the delicious guava cheese pastelito is the one thing that frequently crawls into our subconscious. Savory options include a great medianoche sandwich, which is a close relative to the meaty Cubano but on a sweeter, fluffier roll, or their papa rellenas, which are fried potato balls stuffed with shredded beef. These soft yet crispy potato croquettes are enough of a reason to stop by Gigi’s, but you’ll most likely spend a few minutes mindlessly browsing through their pastry displays too." - Sylvio Martins

"Movie Pairing:The Devil Wears Prada (Prime) “Maybe it’s the excessively appetizing frying sounds the foley artist scrounged up, or the ‘$8 worth of Jarlsberg’ he claims it contains, but when Andy’s ‘chef’ boyfriend (I use quotations here because he has an awful lot of free time at night for someone who claims to be in the restaurant industry) whips up a grilled cheese for her in their New York apartment, two things become abundantly clear: I’ve never made a grilled cheese like that in my entire life, and I need to be eating one, like, right now. But Gigi’s can actually do you one better - not only does this Cuban bakery sell one of the most perfectly pressed Cubanos known to man, but they also serve a variety of pastries like pastelitos de guayaba queso (guava cheese strudels) and their famous potato ball - all of which are still available to-go. Find more info on their website.” - KH" - Brant Cox, Kat Hong, Brett Keating, James Montgomery