OBRA Handbakery used to be known as Cesar's Bistro, located inside a mini-mall off of PCH, south of Loynes Dr. (same complex as the venerable Enrique's Mexican restaurant). They're a Colombian bakery specializing in empanadas but they also do sandwiches and burritos. This is close to where I work and I needed a quick lunch stop so a friend and I just went there today for lunch.
We each got a Cuban sandwich and then shared a curry chicken empanada and a beef ball.
Cuban sandwich: While this isn't quite a classic/traditional Cubano, it has all the core ingredients: ham, roasted pork, pickles, mustard, and in this case, mozzarella cheese (though I feel like a classic Cubano uses Swiss?). As you can see, it's not panini-pressed either but I did enjoy the toasted roll they used. Overall…this was ok but it was kind of one-note/bland. Provided, the last time I had a true Cubano was in Miami and I found that sandwich way too salty but this was at the other end of the spectrum.
The roasted pork was nice, especially with some of the char on it but I could barely taste the ham or mustard. The pickles provided the only real bit of acid. I feel like this needed to be seasoned more and/or adding some kind of sauce to boost the acid and add more flavor. As it is now, it's like a decent roasted pork sandwich but it's not above average. 6.5/10
Curry chicken empanada: I was expecting the crust to be really light and flaky but this was more dense and it gave off the impression that it had been sitting out for a while and gotten just a touch stale. The filling was fine but this was thoroughly underwhelming. 5/10
Beef Ball: This is a potato fritter stuffed with minced beef and mozzarella. Like the sandwich, I thought it was underseasoned and it really benefitted from the remoulade they give you on the side. I'm not sure what the cheese adds here because a potato fritter is already on the melty/creamy side already so adding cheese to that doesn't do much extra. Still enjoyable overall. 7.5/10
Overall: Having had some great empanadas in recent weeks, I was disappointed that the version here wasn't equally awesome. I suppose I might go back a second time to try a different sandwich or one of their burritos and I'd order the beef ball again and I suppose I'd give their empanada another shot but as you can tell, I thought the meal was relatively average.
by soulsides
Dining and Cooking