Eugenio Martinez launched Cubarican’s Cocina to bring the bold, comforting flavors of authentic Cuban and Puerto Rican home cooking to the Madison area.
“I just really like to prepare some delicious home-cooked meals. If you grew up Puerto Rican or Cuban, it’s what your mom or grandma made for you,” Martinez tells Madison365. “My menu is actually kind of big for a food truck, but I’m making it work. I’m going to have a lot of things that I grew up eating and I want people to be able to experience as much as they can.”
(Photo by David Dahmer)
Some of the favorite foods that have started to get Cubarican’s Cocina a local following include a Cuban sandwich with plantain chips, carne guisada (Puerto Rican beef stew) over white rice, ropa vieja (Cuban shredded beef) over white rice with maduros (sweet fried plantains), pollo guisado (chicken stew) over white rice, pernil with arroz con gandules (Puerto Rican roast pork with rice with pigeon peas) and maduros, lechon, and pork chops with habichuelas (beans) over white rice.
“I do pretty much all the classics, like carne guisada, ropa vieja, and Cuban sandwiches. Obviously, my pork is Cuban pork. I feel like Cuban pork tastes better than Puerto Rican pork,” Martinez says. “My lechon dinner is Cuban pork with Puerto Rican rice, with arroz con gandules. I have plantains and avocados, too.”
What started as a desire to feed friends and family grew into a food truck you may have seen around town and a catering company that serves the greater Madison area. Martinez got his first taste of success and a bit of a following while serving food on Mondays at the Green Room (formerly One Barrell Brewery and The Wedge) on Atwood Ave. last summer.
“I was on top of the world. I had an article written about me in the Cap Times. I’m just a normal person who loves to cook and I thought I had made it,” Martinez says. “I’ve been in the service industry since I was 16. I always wanted to have my own spot, but I was never in a position to do it. But just being there that first time and having people love my food, it really built some momentum for me.”
Cubarican’s Cocina has been a mainstay at Boneyard Dog Park and Sports Bar on Madison’s East Side on Thursdays, 5-9 p.m., and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m.
“I initially got hooked up with the FEED kitchen and I started doing little things there like catering. I’ve run into a lot of bumps in the road trying to get to where I am right now,” Martinez says. “I’ve been adding things piece by piece as I go. As I make a little money, I spend it on the business.”
Martinez’s heritage is both Cuban and Puerto Rican, but he says he was raised more on his Puerto Rican side. “I think it shows in my menu a little bit because that is the food I was taught mostly how to cook,” he says. “My grandma (on his Puerto Rican side) is the person I learned the most from about cooking … she was my main inspiration, but my dad’s cousin on my Cuban side was a great cook, too, and I was very close with her, and I learned a lot from her.”
What’s the difference between Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine?
“There’s much that is the same, but a lot of the differences are in the seasoning and some ingredients here and there,” he says.
There is a desire for Puerto Rican and Cuban food in Madison. Historically, there have not been many restaurants in the city and people have had to drive to Chicago or Milwaukee to go to their favorite Cuban/Puerto Rican restaurants.
“Right now is a great time. We just had the Super Bowl, and [Puerto Rican rapper] Bad Bunny just kind of lit that Puerto Rican fire under America’s curiosity,” Martinez says. “So everybody’s kind of like looking into it, like, what’s this? What’s this even about? They have an interest. I came into a good spot. I want to deliver on the food.”
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
As a start-up, Martinez is just looking for more opportunities around Madison for people to try his food, whether it be at restaurants, bars, festivals, events or catering. To order food from Cubanrican’s Cocina, which can be picked up at the FEED Kitchen (1219 Sherman Ave.), click here. Martinez believes that once people try the food, they will be hooked.
“My short-term goal is to have a really good summer and to get as many Madisonians as I can trying my food,” Martinez says. “If I can get into one or two of these Madison festivals and events, that would be great. But a lot of those things are who you know and I’m not there yet. But we’ll see on that.
“But I’m not going to let anything stop me at this point. Long term, I would love to have a little place downtown where people can get a delicious home-cooked meal instead of a cheeseburger or a sub,” Martinez adds. “My dream setup is a restaurant with a bar and a dance floor, and a nightclub at nighttime, and it still offers food at that time.
“When people come to my restaurant, I want them to feel like they just visited Cuba or Puerto Rico. I will have it set up so people can play dominoes and drink some Cuban coffee. I want it to feel like a courtyard in those downtown Caribbean areas. That’s my dream.”
