Cubano Delicioso

Greeting, Readers!

Throughout my time reviewing sandwiches for this blog, I have been given a number of recommended places to visit. I end up adding these to a word document that I keep at my desk at work and it really has increased substantially over time.

I don’t always get to hit up the list because I do a lot of research myself and tend to sometimes forget the places I’ve added to my list. But this week, looking for a close by eatery, that I haven’t visited yet, I reached for this holy grail of sandwich lists.

Reader Matty has recommended Mambo’s Cafe in Glendale numerous times and I kept forgetting to visit, despite the fact that I live ten minutes from it.

Mambo’s is situated in a quiet neighborhood right on the border of Glendale and Burbank and serves up delicious Cuban food.

I had been tempted to sample the Cubano in order to compare it to my favorite Cubano at Porto’s, but wanting to try something new tonight, I reached for the Pan Con Chorizo.

The sandwich is very simple: thinly sliced chorizo sausage and grilled onions.

For those that have had chorizo (and living in LA, I’ve basically had it with every meal in some form or another) I’ve found that it can sometimes be too overpowering with it’s flavor. I’ve had a number of chorizo tacos where I’m still tasting chorizo three weeks later, but with this sandwich, that is not the case.

The chorizo flavor was still there, still delicious, but it was much more subtle, and the sandwich was better of for it.

The onions provided a nice crunch texture along with the delicious and flaky, pressed french roll.

Simple, stripped down, and delicious.

One part of the meal that I must pay special attention to has nothing to do with the sandwich at all. The service at Mambo’s was incredible. Everyone who worked their stopped and asked us if we needed anything, and our server was very nice and always there for us as well.

I guess I haven’t thought much about service because a bunch of my last reviews were grab-and-go

So if you’re looking for good Cuban food in the Valley, and maybe you want to take in some Latin Jazz (Tuesday nights apparently), definitely check out Mambo’s. It’ll be worth the visit.

Until next week…

Pan Con Chorizo
**** Stars (out of 5)
1701 Victory Blvd. (at Western)
Glendale, CA 91201
mambosla.com