Casuelita’s Caribbean Cafe
81 Vine St, #101, 770-0155
Lunch Mon-Fri 11 am-2 pm; dinner Tues-Sat 5-10 pm; bar menu available until 1 am Fri-Sat.a
Whenever I’m in New York, one of my favorite restaurants is a place called Delicia. It’s a cozy little Brazilian spot tucked below sidewalk level in Greenwich Village. Their rich stews supply generous portions of fresh fish swimming in bowls of rice and coconut milk. Until recently, I never realized there was a place in Seattle that could match Delicia’s warm charm and excellent ethnic seafood offerings. That is until I checked out Casuelita’s Caribbean Cafe.
Located among endless blocks of sterile Belltown lofts, Casuelita offers the surrounding area some much-needed personality. With a menu piecing together recipes from Jamaica, Peru, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico, among other faraway locales, the restaurant is also a colorful melting pot of interesting culinary influences.
The night we visited and tasted their Brazilian Vatapa ($17), I was sold. After diving into a martini glass packed with the Cheviche la Paz ($10)–a handful of cold shrimp marinated in citrus and saffron oil and served with pico de gallo on a bed of greens–the Vapata was a fresh-off-the-stove seafood complement. The entrée mixes steamed red pepper and yucca in a coconut milk sauce; a hearty meal especially since it’s served with basmati rice, but the combination is appropriately filling without being overly heavy. The coconut also offered just a hint of sweetness, which allowed the taste of fresh herbs to come through unsmothered.
Washed down with one of their refreshing rum cocktails (I recommend the Hurricane, which blends two kinds of rum with passion fruit and lime juice for $6), and eaten with one of their many tapas dishes, two people can leave Casuelita’s with satisfying dinner and drinks for just around $50. Which is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket back to New York.
We’ve eaten here several times and are going back this Saturday. The tastes are sharp and the variety is outstanding. It’s fun choosing from a menu that isn’t standard, whether American or international.