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Sabor Cubano Restaurant Ditches the 'Burbs to Open in Lakeview This Month

By Serena Dai | June 2, 2013 8:27am
 
	Pedro Suarez ditched the suburbs to open a location of his Cuban restaurant Sabor Cubano in Lakeview in June 2013.
Pedro Suarez ditched the suburbs to open a location of his Cuban restaurant Sabor Cubano in Lakeview in June 2013.
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DNAinfo/Serena Dai

LAKEVIEW — Pedro Suarez is done with the suburbs.

He shut down the suburban Addison location of his Cuban restaurant Sabor Cubano two weeks ago, and now he’s focused on opening the new location in Lakeview at 3132 N. Broadway, near Belmont.

With just a kitchen inspection and furniture delivery left, he’s aiming to open in two weeks, he said.

People in the suburbs never wanted to “try something different,” he said — they were stuck in a rut of Mexican, Chinese and Italian. Sure, he had a dedicated clientele for 16 years, but he was ready for a neighborhood with a little more pizzazz.

Lakeview residents are far more willing to switch up their palettes, he said.

“Here, there’s a wide variety of people,” he said. “People are excited. I got a good vibe.”

Suarez, 46, left Cuba when he was a baby and ended up on the North Side by age 7, helping his parents with a food delivery businesses “as a little shortie,” he said. He opened the suburban Addison location about 16 years ago.

That Sabor Cubano was more of a café, he said, but the Lakeview location will be a full sit-down restaurant seating 50 people inside and 15 people on the sidewalk. 

Food will be filling, “authentic Cuban,” including his signature “ropa vieja,” a dish of shredded flank steak in a tomato-based sauce, Suarez said.

“I want people to come out and say ‘wow’,” he said.