They don’t have a liquor license at Mojitos in downtown San Fernando. So, depending on how doctrinaire you are about your cocktails, the wine-based mojitos they make (classic, mango, strawberry, coco-pineapple and passion fruit) are either a clever workaround … or a mildly alcoholic fruit drink.
But then, since the mojito has always been a rum-based fruit drink, made with sugar cane juice, lime juice, sparkling water and mint, making it with wine is no less legitimate than non-alcoholic beer. And anyway, I’ve read that one of the most popular mojitos in Havana these days is made using a rose-flavored spirit. In Mexico, mojitos are made using tequila.
In Peru, they flavor mojitos with grapefruit, passionfruit, pears, raspberries, orange and strawberries. I’ve seen mojitos made with gin and tonic water. One legend is that the mojito was created by Sir Francis Drake, who used brandy. Hemingway drank a lot of them when in Havana. It was recently named the most popular cocktail in both Great Britain and France.
As far as I’m concerned, as long as it tastes good, it’s a fine enough beverage to quaff seated on the patio of the San Fernando Library. Which is where Mojitos the restaurant nestles, hidden from the traffic on Maclay Street, in a peaceful enclave, adjacent to a barbecue shop, across from a Mexican restaurant.
I wasn’t here for the mojitos. I was here for the pollo asado, a richly marinated chicken dish I never grow tired of. The version at Mojitos doesn’t have as much garlic as the famous one at Versailles. But the meat — so sweet! — falls from the bone. It made a mess of my fingers and my shirt. I had no complaints.
It’s both crispy and tender at the same time, doused with lots of sliced onions and sauce, served with surprisingly tasty white rice, black beans that have been cooked down to their essential elements, and plantains that are half starch and half dessert.
But really, it all comes down to the chicken and the sauce. And…
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