Downstairs and around the corner from Iván Chefs Justo is the main entrance to Al Carbon. It has a more spacious layout than Iván Chefs Justo and has an open kitchen that features a wood oven, where many of the restaurant’s traditional Cuban dishes are cooked over charcoal. The cooks and waitstaff are fun, friendly, and welcoming. The cooks share a modesty about their skills, which adds to their charm. When I asked cook Luis Molina how he made his Grilled Chicken al Carbon, he said, “Oh it’s easy, you just get a chicken and cook it!” Another chef told me,“Most of our recipes come from our heads or our family, like our grandmothers. They’ve never been written down!” So I pulled out my pens and paper, items that even today are often hard to find in Cuba, and we began writing.
