{"id":213580,"date":"2020-02-11T13:55:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=213580"},"modified":"2020-02-11T13:55:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:55:01","slug":"an-abandoned-corner-of-santiago-de-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/columns\/counterbalance\/an-abandoned-corner-of-santiago-de-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"An abandoned corner of Santiago de las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whoever takes Vedado\u2019s Avenida de los Presidentes from Havana\u2019s Malec\u00f3n and keeps heading south for about forty minutes if there\u2019s not much traffic, will come to my town, Santiago de las Vegas. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

If you continue heading south on Boyeros Avenue, you will see just to your left and before starting the climb of Cacahual hill, a restaurant almost in ruins whose name is La Tabernita.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you continue uphill, after passing the military unit (which by the way has lost its traditional stone walls that were part of the undeclared landscape heritage) the traveler will distinguish a thick foliage and within it, a kind of ruins that in its time was another restaurant, El Rinc\u00f3n Criollo, famous not only among the original inhabitants of the town, but also in the province of Havana, [2] since it became a sort of paradigm of the country restaurants of the 1950s and first decade of the 1960s.<\/span><\/p>\n

El Rinc\u00f3n Criollo was also part of the popular and gastronomic culture of my town. [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded by Rudesindo Acosta, whom the residents of the town called Sindito, the place became very popular. Sindito\u2019s roast pork and black beans were like a seal of quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legend has it that long before the restaurant was founded, Sindito was one of those waiters who, by the roadside, took advantage of December 7 to sell \u201cpork sandwiches\u201d to all those who on that date participated in the pilgrimage to the Antonio Maceo Mausoleum, one of those traditions which the children of the town schools joined with our teachers in a kind of solemn party that we enjoyed as the tremendous challenge of reaching the mausoleum and which I now miss not seeing.<\/span><\/p>\n