A Dose of the Caribbean
The food just kept coming. And coming. And coming.
And it was so good I just ate. And ate. And ate.
And then drove back to my office and collapsed into a food coma.
Starting this Friday, this could just as well happen to you.
Cristi Quesada-Costa is the proprietor of the new Dos Alas CubaRican Cafe. She’s a recovering advertising/marketing executive from Long Beach who owned her own firm for 14 years. So she knows a lot about business.
She also has experience in the restaurant business, having worked for the Chart House chain for about ten years during and after college.
As for food preparation, her skills appear both innate and hereditary.
Her restaurant’s venue will certainly be familiar to longtime locals: Sierra Meadows Ranch, which housed Jill and Ron Orozco’s “Sherwin’s Folly” restaurant and music venue in the mid-2000s.
Cristi and her husband Alfredo, who works at Footloose Sports, have done a great job invigorating the place. And it feels … like home.
Cristi said when she hosted Footloose owners Silver Chesak, Zach Yates and their families for a trial-run dinner, Chesak’s daughter innocently asked her father, “Is this their home?”
Seeing as Cristi is now in the restaurant business, it sure may seem like it for the near term.
A little bit of what you can expect:
Dos Alas is accessed off Old Mammoth Road. Left opposite Mammoth Creek park and another left before the road takes you out to the Propane Tanks.
You’ll then walk to the last out-building closest to The Sherwins.
Inside, you’ll be greeted by the Bossa Nova music. There will be a grab-and-go counter on your right. The highlight: authentic Cuban sandwiches.
If you eat in, it’s first come, first served.
It’ll be family style, with the staff doing a little bit of everything. There will be no dedicated table servers – order, grab a number and they’ll run your food out to you.
A teaser as to what I had during my seven-course marathon and the prices:
1. One cup of escabeche (pickled chicken). $6.50.
2. Pincho de Pollo (chicken skewer). $8.
3. Amarillos (Sweet plantain) side. $3.50.
4. Yuca al Mojo (Cassava root and garlic) side. $5.
5. Lechon Asado (Garlic roasted pork) entree with rice and beans. $18.
6. Guava Glazed Ham entree. $18
7. Arroz con Picadillo (Ground beef stew and rice entree). $17.
If you like garlic, you’ll definitely love Dos Alas, which also features many vegetarian and gluten-free options.
While there is no formal dessert menu at this time, Cristi says, “I’ll have something … my Dad insists that I have to make flan.”
Dos Alas will be open for lunch and dinner. And she is still hiring help. Email her at cristi@dreamersdoart.com.
For Dos Alas, call 760.965.0345. Also check out the sample menu in The Sheet’s Eastern Sierra Dining Guide.
Cristi met her husband in 1993 on a film shoot. She is a native of Puerto Rico. Alfredo is a Cuban native who was raised in Puerto Rico.
The name Dos Alas comes from that Puerto Rico-Cuba connection. They’re regarded as sister islands. Or, as Cristi says, “like two wings of a bird with one heart.”
Alfredo ultimately moved to Southern California in 1996 to be with Cristi, who had established a career in L.A.
They married in 2000 on Mammoth Mountain.
