Cuba

Cuba lives up to its namesake with exuberant salsa, charming waiters and a guy rolling cigars in the window on weekends. David Martinez, former chef at Havana’s celebrated Hotel Nacional, has created a menu that’s full-on tropical: snapper en guayabera de platano (“a Cuban shirt of crusty plantains”) and halibut al estilo Hemingway. On a warm summer evening, with people and music spilling out through the sidewalk greenery, the place is transporting.