Cuban Kitchen cooks modern Cuban food in San Mateo, and its catering menu on Zerocater runs to bowls, entree salads, stir fries, mini empanadas and flan. On that menu, the kitchen calls one protein spicy. The rest are seasoned with garlic, citrus, cumin and onion, and the chiles sit in the salsas and sauces.
That layout gives a planner a simple tool. You choose the proteins for flavor, then order the heat on a separate line, and each guest decides how much to add. This guide shows which protein carries the heat, where the rest of it sits, what the kitchen’s house sauces are, and how to order for a Bay Area office.
In this guide
- The one protein the menu calls spicy
- Where the rest of the heat sits
- The kitchen’s eleven house sauces
- How to order the heat for a mixed room
- The three catering packages, and how to place an order
A San Mateo kitchen with a food truck behind it
The business began as qba, a Cuban food truck in New Jersey and New York City. The name is pronounced like the island, and it stands for quick but authentic. The truck became a restaurant on El Camino Real in San Mateo, and the kitchen started serving the Bay Area in 2015.
The kitchen describes itself as woman- and Latina-owned. Lynna Martinez runs it with her daughter, Lilah. Its site calls the cooking a Cuban evolution: classic island dishes and spices, prepared for the way people eat at work. The meats are trimmed and marinated in house, and the kitchen makes its own mojos, rubs, sauces and dressings.
The menu calls one protein spicy
The Cuban Kitchen menu on Zerocater lists 31 entree lines, and five of them carry a heat word. All five are Pollo Pimenton: chicken thighs in a smoked-paprika rub, which the menu describes as spicy. The same protein appears as an entree salad, a stir fry, a burrito bowl, a classic bowl and on its own, and the word spicy follows it into every one.
| Protein | How the menu describes it | Heat word |
|---|---|---|
| Mojito Chicken | Garlic and lemon marinated chicken with grilled onions | No |
| Pollo Pimenton | Spicy chicken thighs in a smokey-paprika rub | Yes |
| Bistec | Garlic and citrus-marinated steak with grilled onions | No |
| Ropa Vieja | Shredded flank steak in tomato sauce, bell peppers, and onions | No |
| Lechon | Braised pork-shoulder chunks seasoned with cuban kitchen’s pork adobo rub (garlic, cumin, citrus) | No |
| Yerba Frita | Garlic-lime marinated beyond-beef pan-fried with red onions | No |
| Veg Y Sofrito | Mixed bell peppers & red onions with smoked paprika seasoning | No |
Mojito Chicken and Bistec use garlic and citrus. Lechon uses the kitchen’s pork adobo rub of garlic, cumin and citrus. Ropa Vieja is flank steak in tomato sauce with peppers and onions, and the peppers are bell peppers. Yerba Frita is a garlic-lime plant-based beef, the kitchen’s take on vaca frita. Only Pollo Pimenton adds a word that warns of heat.
Where the rest of the heat sits
Outside those Pollo Pimenton lines, every other heat word on the menu sits on six lines that are not entrees: two toppings, two sides and two condiments.
| Section | Line |
|---|---|
| Sides | Guacamole & Chips Side |
| Sides | Side Box Lil’ Havana Salad With Cienfuegos |
| Toppings | Guacamole |
| Toppings | Pico De Gallo |
| Condiments | Cienfuegos Guava Vinaigrette |
| Condiments | Aji Salsa |
The pico de gallo is the one that travels. The menu makes it with tomato, onion, jalapeno and citrus, and it comes on twelve entree lines: every entree salad and every burrito bowl except one Bistec bowl the menu offers without it. The Classic Bowls and the stir fries carry no pico. A Classic Bowl comes with garlic-citrus Cuban white rice, black beans and sweet plantain, and a stir fry comes with a double portion of Veg Y Sofrito.
The two condiments are where the kitchen puts its heat on purpose. The Aji Salsa is a jalapeno salsa with onion, citrus and vinegar. The Cienfuegos vinaigrette mixes guava and habanero, and the menu pairs it with the Lil’ Havana side salad. Each one is its own line on the order, so you can add as much or as little as the room wants.
The kitchen’s eleven house sauces
Cuban Kitchen’s website gives its sauces their own page, and it lists eleven of them. Several carry Cuban place names, such as Guantanamo, and the descriptions are the kitchen’s own. Four of the eleven descriptions use the word heat or hot, and a fifth, the Mambo Sauce, is made with chipotle.
| Sauce | How the kitchen describes it |
|---|---|
| Guabanero BBQ | Sweet & tangy, with a hint of heat, our signature barbecue sauce |
| Tula’s Candela | Our hottest salsa, liquified habanero peppers. Hot like a house on fire! |
| Guantanamo Aioli | A mayo-based aioli with a little jalapeño heat |
| Mambo Sauce | A guava-chipotle aioli |
| Cha-cha-churri | Our take on a chimichurri sauce; we swapped the parsley for cilantro! |
| Jalapeño Ají | Our jalapeño salsa; it looks like a relish, this packs a lot of heat |
| Limonette | A lemon-garlic drizzle |
| Mint Mojito Dressing | Our garlic-mint salad dressing |
| Mojo Tradicional | A more traditional Cuban mojo |
| Mojo Onions | Our pickled onion mojo |
| Guava Coulis | A sweet guava purée we use to garnish our Timba Cheesecake |
The sauce page sells these at the restaurant, and the Zerocater menu lists the Aji Salsa and the Cienfuegos vinaigrette as condiments. The Mambo Sauce also shows up inside one bowl, the Veg Y Sofrito Burrito Bowl. If the team wants Tula’s Candela, the hottest sauce on the page, ask the kitchen about it when you order.
How to order the heat for a mixed room
Because the menu keeps its chiles in a few places, the order comes down to three choices. First pick the proteins the room will enjoy. Then pick the base: a Classic Bowl or a stir fry for a plate with no pico, a burrito bowl or an entree salad for a fresher plate. Last, add the heat on a separate line, as Aji Salsa and Cienfuegos vinaigrette, so guests spoon it on at the table.
Say twenty people are coming. Order a mix of Classic Bowls in Mojito Chicken, Lechon and Ropa Vieja, add a few Pollo Pimenton bowls for the guests who like the paprika kick, and put a Yerba Frita or Veg Y Sofrito bowl in for anyone who skips meat. Then add the two condiments, a side of maduros and a tray of mini empanadas. The guests who want heat find it in the salsa. Everyone else eats the same lunch.
Our guide to ordering for mixed dietary needs covers how to collect requests before you order, and the vegetarian office catering guide covers how big the meat-free share should be. Confirm the current detail with the kitchen before you order for anyone with a dietary requirement. Nothing here is dietary or medical advice.
The three catering packages
For an order placed direct, the kitchen’s catering page offers three packages, and each one comes with white rice, black beans and a fresh salad. The Habanero package includes one protein and one appetizer. The Exquisito package includes two proteins and one appetizer. The Robusto package adds a dessert to the two proteins and the appetizer. The Habanero name refers to the package, and it does not mean a hotter menu. Prices change, so the kitchen quotes each order.
The kitchen also lists add-ons for a bigger event: a mojito bar, a live carving station and a cafe Cubano setup. For an office that eats together every week, it runs a recurring catering program, and it offers tastings before an event.
How to order Cuban Kitchen catering for a Bay Area office
Direct, the kitchen has a catering coordinator who takes the order from the first question to the setup, and an online catering order page. Delivery and on-site setup are available on request. Read the catering FAQ on the kitchen’s site for its booking and payment terms before a large order.
Through Zerocater, the Cuban Kitchen page carries the current menu and a live quote, and the order sits alongside every other kitchen your office already uses, on one invoice. How it works covers the mechanics, and our San Francisco office catering cost guide covers budgets across the Bay Area.
Whichever route you take, the ordering advice is short. Pick the proteins for flavor, choose a Classic Bowl where the room wants no pico, and add the Aji Salsa and the Cienfuegos vinaigrette on a separate line. Add the mini empanadas and flan if the meeting runs long.
Cuban Kitchen and Zerocater
A kitchen that keeps most of its heat in the condiments makes a mixed order easy. One spicy protein is easy to spot, the bases tell you where the pico is, and the salsa lets each guest set the heat. That makes Cuban Kitchen a useful kitchen to keep in a Peninsula lunch rotation.
CaterAi builds the rotation, keeps track of what the office has already eaten, and brings a kitchen like this one in when the week needs a Cuban day. The Caribbean catering directory for the Bay Area shows the rest of the lane, and the women-owned and Latino-owned directories list more kitchens like this one. San Mateo catering covers the town. For another Caribbean read, the Pollo Tropical catering guide covers a national chain, and Curryous and El Sur are two more Bay Area kitchens on the blog.
Menus, packages and prices change. This guide describes how the Cuban Kitchen catering menu is built rather than what it costs this week. For the current menu and a live quote, use the Cuban Kitchen page on Zerocater, and confirm the current detail with the kitchen before you order for anyone with a dietary requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of food does Cuban Kitchen cater?
Modern Cuban food from San Mateo: bowls, entree salads and stir fries built on proteins such as ropa vieja, lechon, bistec, mojito chicken and pollo pimenton, with Cuban white rice, black beans, sweet plantains, mini empanadas and flan. The kitchen makes its own sauces, salsas and dressings in house.
Is Cuban Kitchen food spicy?
The menu on Zerocater calls one protein spicy: the Pollo Pimenton, chicken thighs in a smoked-paprika rub. The other proteins are seasoned with garlic, citrus, cumin and onion. Most of the heat on the menu sits in the pico de gallo, the guacamole, the Aji Salsa and the Cienfuegos guava habanero vinaigrette, so you can order it on a separate line.
Does Cuban Kitchen have meat-free options?
Yes. The menu lists Yerba Frita, a garlic-lime plant-based beef, plus Veg Y Sofrito bowls and a sweet plantain bowl. Confirm the current detail with the kitchen before you order for anyone with a dietary requirement. Nothing here is dietary or medical advice.
What is the difference between a Classic Bowl and a Burrito Bowl?
Both come with Cuban white rice and black beans. The Classic Bowl adds sweet plantain. The Burrito Bowl adds pico de gallo and lettuce instead, and the menu makes its pico with jalapeno.
How do you order Cuban Kitchen for a group?
Pick the proteins first, then the base, then add the Aji Salsa and the Cienfuegos vinaigrette as their own condiment lines. Guests who want heat take it at the table, and everyone else eats the same lunch.
How do you order Cuban Kitchen catering?
Two routes. Direct, through the kitchen’s catering coordinator or its online catering order page. Or through Zerocater, where the Cuban Kitchen page carries the current menu and a live quote, and the order sits alongside every other kitchen your office uses.
