This acclaimed family restaurant in Montgomery County offers a full menu of Cuban staples, like picadillo, ropa vieja, and lechon asado, as well as a kids’ menu. Colorful dining rooms are decorated with artwork honoring the nation’s musical traditions, with live music on weekends rounding out the festive atmosphere.

This small eatery along an unassuming Rockville strip makes some of the best Cuban food in the region. Owner Joaquin Cabrejas, who hails from Oriente Province, ramps up the cumin that’s often downplayed in Cuban restaurants. As a result, specials like Picadillo de Oriente (pictured) make for spicy and thoroughly satisfying meals. Other favorites are lechon asada, ropa vieja and vaca frita. While the Picadillo de Oriente is no longer on the menu, staff still makes it upon request. —Pat Padua

Vaca frita is a decent measure of a Cuban restaurant’s quality, and it’s one of the reliable mainstays at this Silver Spring favorite. At happy hour, also known as Cuban time, sip half-priced mojitos and choose from a selection of tapas, like mini Cuban sandwiches, chorizo asado, and empanaditas. —Pat Padua

This Adams Morgan restaurant recently reopened in the spring after closing for extensive renovations. Hit up its happy hour, where you’ll score chicken croquettes, a trio of empanadas, a sampler platter of yuca, tostones, small pieces of pork or chicken, or maduros (sweet, friend plantains). If you’re looking for something beyond small bites, Cuban sandwiches, ropa vieja, and ceviche with avocado are the most popular items.

With strong coffee and even stronger mojitos, this vibrant spot expanded from its Sterling, Virginia, outpost to a sidewalk cafe off 14th Street NW, where it has quickly become a bustling city staple. Stop by to pick up coffee and flaky pastelitos, grab a hearty sandwich, or sip cocktails on the roof. Fried empanadas here stand out. So do piña coladas, tres leches cake, and croquetas.

Come for the classic rum cocktails (made with 45 types of rum) and stay for the Cuban favorites at this new West End eatery. The classic sandwich comes on Cuban bread trucked in from Florida that’s stuffed with pickles, Swiss cheese, roasted pork, glazed ham, and yellow mustard. But equally good are its small plates, like maduros envueltos en tocino (sweet plantains wrapped in bacon) and camarones al ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce with guindilla peppers and tostones). Don’t forget about the outdoor cigar lounge — in Cuba, it’s tradition to sip rum while puffing on cigars.

This food court counter serves a limited but hearty lineup that includes Cuban sandwiches and a rich “shredded beef”— which is really the Cuban standby ropa vieja. —Pat Padua

Six days a week, this spot devotes itself to cuisine from the South. But on Wednesdays, chef-owner David Guas switches things up to honor his heritage by selling Cubano sandwiches, pastelitos stuffed with guava cream cheese, flán, and red beans and rice with yuca.