{"id":2832,"date":"2026-07-20T13:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2026-07-20T13:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:43:51","slug":"chibanos-a-chinese-cuban-sandwich-shop-built-on-family-recipes-opens-in-washington-square-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2832","title":{"rendered":"Chibanos, a Chinese-Cuban sandwich shop built on family recipes, opens in Washington Square West"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Washington Square West\u2019s latest restaurant brings Chinese flavors to Cuban classics, from pressed sandwiches and fried yuca to flan and croquetas. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2830\">The confessions of a killer | Morning Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Chibanos opened July 1 at 1127 Pine St., formerly Effie\u2019s, with a menu that\u2019s an ode to the food owner Evan Fong Jaroff grew up eating as a third-culture kid in the Philly suburbs. The restaurant\u2019s name is shorthand for what Jaroff\u2019s mother\u2019s  family were called growing up: \u201cChino Cubanos,\u201d or Chinese Cubans.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Jaroff\u2019s mom, Ana, immigrated to the United States from Cuba in the 1960s after the Cuban Revolution. Food helped Jaroff make sense of and learn to appreciate his background as a mixed-race kid, he said.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>At their home in Lansdowne,the Jaroffs used \u201csoy sauce like salt,\u201d he said, and ate traditional Southeast Chinese fish dishes alongside rice and beans, yuca, plantains, and minced beef picadillo. On Nochebuena (aka Christmas Eve), his mom would present a plate of lech\u00f3n, or slow-roasted pork, coated in a secret marinade. Leftovers would be used for sandwiches.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re mixed race, you\u2019re always compared to one or the other. When I lived on the East Coast, I was just Asian. When I lived on the West Coast, I was just white,\u201d Jaroff, 39, said. \u201cBut I\u2019m a whole person.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Reckoning with his racial identity was the catalyst for Chibanos, which Jaroff started as a pop-up in 2022 after leaving his finance career in London and moving back to Philly. Lacking culinary experience, he enlisted the help of chef Aya Iwatani, a Honeysuckle Provisions alum, to reinterpret his childhood memories into a set of sandwiches that felt authentically Chinese and Cuban, such as a Cubano stuffed with his mom\u2019s famous pork and salted Chinese mustard greens, or jackfruit and tofu seasoned with a garlicky mojo.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Successful takeovers at Solar Myth, Jiggy Coffee, and Forin were enough for Jaroff to go all-in on a brick and mortar. He purchased the building \u2014 once home to Effie\u2019s, the beloved Greek BYOB that closed after 27 years \u2014 in August 2024.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Jaroff said he was drawn to the 200-year-old rowhousebecause its history gave it a lived-in feel.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI want people to say, \u2018Oh, Chibanos? That place looks like it\u2019s been there for 10 years,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Nearly two years after the sale, the 1,725-square-foot restaurant is now a casual sandwich shop-meets-cafe<b>,<\/b> with a revamped courtyard, communal seating, and a fresh paint job. The patio\u2019s turquoise walls bear the names of Jaroff, his brother, and mom, spelled in Chinese characters.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2828\">Germantown\u2019s Colored Girls Museum transforms as vanessa german\u2019s power figures take over<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The space flows seamlessly from the counter-service storefront to the courtyard anda rear dining area that looks like a minimalistic tea room \u2014 all dark wood and conversational seating. Jaroff said the indoor-outdoor vibe is a nod to Cuba and Southern China, which have the same latitude and thus similar climates.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Chinese food done the Cuban way<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The centerpiece of Chibanos\u2019 menu is a lineup of six pressed sandwiches on LeBus\u2019 Cuban loaves, which Iwatani \u2014 now Chibanos\u2019 head chef \u2014 and Jaroff chose for its just-dense-enough texture after auditioning an array of ciabattas and hoagie rolls. The eggplant empanizado \u2014 layered with salt-and-pepper eggplant, pickled serrano peppers, and cubanelle scallion slaw \u2014 is a standout. So is the chibano, the restaurant\u2019s namesake riff on a Cubano that uses Jaroff\u2019s mom\u2019s pork recipe.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The key, Iwatani said, is the marinade, which took several tries to get Ana\u2019s stamp of approval. \u201cThe first time, she was like, \u2018It\u2019s pretty good, but not quite there,\u2019\u201d Iwatani said. \u201cYou have to use sherry.\u201d <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The rest of Chibanos\u2019 menu was developed after its pop-up run. Hitsinclude croquetas stuffed with slightly sweet Chinese sausage, fried yuca made for dipping in a sofrito-spiced ranch, and a surprisingly light jasmine tea-infused flan. There\u2019s also the sweet-savory-salty Chino breakfast sandwich: Fluffy eggs and char siu-style sausage are stuffed between a mayo-slicked Dodo Bakery bolo bao. The buns allude to the custard-filled rolls from Chinatown Jaroff grew up eating for breakfast.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Chibanos joins the dying tradition of Chino Latino cuisine, a genre that dominated New York City from the 1970s to 1990s as Chinese immigrants from Latin America settled in the U.S. to escape political instability. Chinese (lo mein, spare ribs, etc.) and Latin American (ropa vieja, pernil, etc.) staples sit column A-column B style on menus optimized for pairings at iconic restaurants like La Dinastia and the now-closed Caridad 78.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Cuba historically hada vibrant Chinese culture. One of Latin America\u2019s oldest Chinatowns was established in Havana in the 1920s by Chinese migrants and former indentured servants who opened restaurants that incorporated Caribbean ingredients into traditional Chinese recipes. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Jaroff doesn\u2019t view Chibanos as fusion but rather a tribute to the unique style of cooking he learned from his mom.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think of us as a Cuban restaurant. I don\u2019t think of us as a Chinese restaurant,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t put us in a box \u2026 We\u2019re our own thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><i>Chibanos, 1127 Pine St., <\/i><i>chibanos.com<\/i><i>. Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2826\">Nursing homes got more Medicaid money out of Pennsylvania\u2019s new budget<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evan Jaroff&#8217;s pop-up turned brick-and-mortar imbues Cuban staples like pressed sandwiches, yucca fries, and croquetas with Chinese flavors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-restaurants"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chibanos, a Chinese-Cuban sandwich shop built on family recipes, opens in Washington Square West - 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