Angle to Key West: The Best Cuban Restaurant in International Falls (6/23)

• Out of Order

International Falls, MN – June 23, 2012

For one night only, I opened the best Cuban restaurant in International Falls. Located in the Pavleck’s kitchen, it featured a limited menu of my abuela’s arroz con pollo, a family style ambiance, and an exclusive guest list.

Emma wandered the grocery store aisles with me in search of the right ingredients, pointing me toward garlic when I couldn’t find it, and saying hello to half the town before we left the produce section. Emma’s mom, Patty, entrusted me with her nicest pot and sharpest knives, then showed me how to work the stove. Emma’s father, Todd, and brother, Logan, looked at maps to figure out how I could get around the rapids at the entrance to Rainy Lake, where I could get out of the water, and where I could get back in. I cooked and restrained myself from playing Los Van Van or Pupy and forcing Cuban dance lessons on all of them.

“It helps flavor the food,” I would have argued.

Then we sat and ate and I felt like part of their family and I hope they felt like part of mine.

There’s a lot of adventure out on the water. There are waves that can topple me, wind that pushes me backwards, storms that roll across the land. There are portages used by French voyageurs, rivers to paddle like Huck Finn, and islands to take over for a night like Robinson Crusoe, but there are also tables with an extra chair for a half-Cuban from Tallahassee, Florida, to sit with four Minnesotans, swap stories, laugh about our accents, and see the world from a different angle.

The last voyageur died 200 years ago. Huck Finn and Robinson Crusoe are just ink and imagination. The Pavleck’s table is real.

Trust me. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it.

7 thoughts on “Angle to Key West: The Best Cuban Restaurant in International Falls (6/23)”

  2. Most Excellent!!! I enjoyed it, too, reading about it!!! I felt like I was there!

  3. Too bad you didn’t play Los Van Van and taught them a little Salsa…I bet they would have loved that, too! Next time!

  4. When you get to the Tampa Bay area we will have some wonderful Cuban food for you at a great little cafe’ in Gulfport!! 😉 (BTW my cousin Otto is married to your abuela’s sister Ana.)

  5. You are an excellent writer! I make a good arroz con pollo too (learned from my first mother in law) and she told me mine was better than hers. I just don’t eat chicken anymore but I suppose I could try it with a free range, humanely raised chicken… or do arroz con frijoles!

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