Spent the weekend hawking books at the Anaheim Historical Society's biannual home tour. There, many folks told me the bad news: Cafe Contigo, located just down the street from Anaheim City Hall, is no more.
I reviewed it late last year, just a couple of weeks after it opened, and made it my place to meet Anaheim sources. They drank coffee, Cuban-approved by Weekly editor Ted Kissell (who spent years in south Florida and therefore knows his media noches from ropa viejas), while I munched on delicious sandwiches and pastries shipped in from the famous Porto's Bakery in Glendale. WiFi, indoor fountain, gorgeous pictures of pre-Castro Cuba–Cafe Contigo was too beautiful for our Cuban-bereft county.
The closing of Cafe Contigo shows again that OC's Cuban cuisine scene is lacking. Raffi's in Tustin closed years ago, and Habana Cabana in Huntington Beach pales to the Cuban restaurant that preceded it (haven't tried the Cuban place in Brea, though). Worst of all, the legendary Felix's Continental Cafe on the Orange Circle is now good only for the view, pastel de tres leches, and their weird, relishy salsa–everything else has sunken in quality since the founder passed away a couple of years ago. So sad…
