La Cocina Cubana targets MSU students with second location

Before he became general manager of the new East Lansing La Cocina Cubana location, Ariel Rodriguez Peña was a regular at the initial eatery in downtown Lansing.

Peña, also senior director of middle years and academies for the Lansing School District, has been friends with co-owner and chef Iliana Almaguer Tamayo for more than two decades. Both were born in Cuba, and Peña said La Cocina Cubana was the only full-menu, authentic Cuban restaurant in town for years after it opened in late 2017.

“Iliana has been sharing with me this dream that she had about expanding her business,” he said. “Because it’s not only about the food, it’s about the way she combines food and traditions and everything that tastes like Cuba, and she loves to share that with the community.”

About six months ago, after finding a suitable location, Tamayo jumped at the opportunity and brought Peña in to help. The eatery opened Nov. 12, offering the same authentic Cuban cuisine, cooked by Tamayo herself, in a more takeout-focused environment that caters to Michigan State University students.

Tamayo has wanted to open a restaurant in East Lansing for several years — many customers at the downtown Lansing location were either MSU faculty or students seeking to broaden their gastronomic horizons.

Despite encouragement from customers, Tamayo only made the jump recently because she likes to have control over the recipes, Peña said.

“She’s the chef, with her husband, and they didn’t want to open a second location until they were completely sure that they had the capability to do so,” he said.

For now, Tamayo is running the kitchen at the East Lansing location while her husband, Tobia Uribe, stays in Lansing. Hours at the Lansing location have been dialed back to make the expansion possible.

In establishing what Peña called the first authentic Cuban restaurant in East Lansing, he and Tamayo have been able to share their cultural food with many who have never tried it. He said students especially have been very open-minded and excited.

“It’s a privilege, to be honest,” Peña said. “They have a lot of questions about the menu, and they want to learn — ‘Hey, what is this dish? What do you put on it?’

“We’re not only sharing what the dish is all about, but everybody’s like, ‘How do you say that in Spanish?’ So we’re teaching words here and there,” he added.

He recommends those new to Cuban cuisine start with the Cuban sandwich, a pressed sandwich filled with ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. He suggests customers order it with rice and beans to create a “very traditional” meal.

“We say in Cuba, ‘If you do not have rice and beans on the table, then you cannot say that you have a full meal,’” he said.

Ropa vieja, a shredded beef dish, is his own favorite. For dessert, he recommends customers try Cuban flan, a custard dish with soft caramel on top.

He noted international students seem to be particularly interested in trying the many global cuisines in East Lansing, including Cuban.

“It’s just a privilege to be a part of that whole experience,” he said.