This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

La Cubana is Mireya and Lester Ruiz’s Cuban restaurant at 5402 Winner Rd in the Historic Northeast — one of the first dedicated Cuban restaurants in Kansas City. Lester emigrated from Cuba at age 11 with his family and grew up in the Historic Northeast; when he and his wife Mireya noticed there was no Cuban food in KC, they launched a food truck (~2019). After approximately three years on the truck, they converted to a brick-and-mortar on Winner Road. The Pitch reviewed it; the restaurant recently appeared in Flatland KC’s FIFA/World Cup coverage (May–June 2026).

Description

La Cubana is Mireya and Lester Ruiz’s Cuban restaurant in the Historic Northeast — one of Kansas City’s first dedicated Cuban concepts. Lester Ruiz emigrated from Cuba as a child, arriving in Kansas City at age 11 with his family and growing up in the Historic Northeast neighborhood. When he and Mireya noticed the complete absence of Cuban food in KC, they launched a food truck around 2019. After roughly three years of operating the truck, they converted to a brick-and-mortar on Winner Road. The menu draws from Lester’s Cuban heritage — ropa vieja, Cuban sandwiches, tostones — alongside Mexican street tacos reflecting Mireya’s background. The Pitch reviewed it, and Flatland KC featured La Cubana in May–June 2026 coverage on how Kansas City restaurant owners are navigating FIFA World Cup marketing restrictions.

Last verified: 2026-08-13 · Source: La Cubana’s own menu boards, published as five images on lacubanakc.com and transcribed in full · URL(s): https://lacubanakc.com/ · Confidence: High (first-party; bilingual descriptions and prices are the restaurant’s own)

Source correction, 2026-08-13 — the aggregator prices previously on this page were inflated across the board. The itemized menu here had been taken from the res-discover.com aggregator because the official site publishes its menu only as images. Those images have now been read directly, and the restaurant’s own boards give materially lower prices on nearly every item — the aggregator ran roughly 7–25% high. Examples: El Típico $15.99 → $14.99, El Malecón $15.99 → $13.99, El Criollo $14.99 → $13.99, Sándwich Cubano $14.99 → $12.99, Pan con Bistec $13.99 → $12.99, every side $4.50 → $3.99, empanadas/croquetas/papas rellenas $6.50 → $5.99, cortadito $3.50 → $2.50, flan de queso $3.99 → $3.25. All prices below are now the restaurant’s own.1

Two further corrections from the boards. (1) El Malecón is a pork chop (chuleta de puerco), not a pork steak — the aggregator listing described the wrong cut. (2) El Vegetariano, a full menu dish, was missing from this page entirely, along with Colada Entera and Café Americano. The dishes are numbered 1–11 on the restaurant’s own boards and that numbering is preserved below.

Items retained from the aggregator. The boards do not cover bottled drinks, beer, or a handful of chicharrón items that the aggregator lists. Those are kept below under a clearly separated heading with their aggregator prices marked provisional — they are the weakest data on this page and should be replaced from the in-store board or a phone call.2

La Cubana pairs Lester Ruiz’s Cuban home cooking — lechón asado, ropa vieja, congrís, Cuban sandwiches — with fried sides, Cuban coffee drinks, and guava pastries. The restaurant writes its menu bilingually; both languages are reproduced as published.1

Platillos / Dishes

  • 1. El Tropical — ropa vieja, arroz blanco, frijoles negros y tostones / shredded beef, white rice, black beans and fried plantains ($14.99)1
  • 2. La Habana — bistec de res, congrís, yuca con mojo y ensalada / beef steak, congrís rice, cassava with mojo and salad ($14.99)1
  • 3. El Criollo — fricasé de pollo, arroz blanco y tostones / chicken fricassee, white rice, and fried plantains ($13.99)1
  • 4. El Malecón — chuleta de puerco, congrís, yuca con mojo y ensalada / pork chop, congrís rice, cassava with mojo and salad ($13.99)1
  • 5. El Típico — lechón asado, congrís, yuca con mojo y ensalada / roast pork, congrís rice, cassava with mojo and salad ($14.99)1
  • 6. La Villita — picadillo de res, arroz blanco, maduros / beef hash, white rice, and sweet fried plantain ($13.99)1
  • 7. El Valle — masita de puerco frita, congrís, yuca con mojo y ensalada / fried pork chunks, congrís rice, cassava with mojo and salad ($13.99)1
  • 8. El Caribe — pargo frito, congrís, tostones y ensalada / red snapper, congrís rice, fried plantains and salad ($18.99)1
  • 9. La Mojarra — mojarra frita, arroz blanco, tostones y ensalada / fried tilapia, white rice, fried plantains and salad ($18.99)1
  • 10. Tacos Cubanos — tres tacos (puerco, res o camarón) / three tacos (pork, beef or shrimp) ($9.99)1
  • 11. El Vegetariano — tamal, congrís, yuca con mojo, maduros y ensalada / tamal, congrís rice, cassava with mojo, fried plantain and salad ($14.99)1

Aperitivos / Appetizers

  • Papas Rellenas — tres papas rellenas de res / three stuffed potatoes with beef ($5.99)1
  • Croquetas — cinco croquetas (jamón o pollo) / five croquettes (ham or chicken) ($5.99)1
  • Empanadas — tres empanadas (pollo o res) / three empanadas (chicken or beef) ($5.99)1

Sandwich

  • Sándwich Cubano — lechón, jamón, queso, mayo, mostaza y pepinillos, servido con papas fritas / pulled pork, ham, cheese, mayo, mustard and pickles, served with french fries ($12.99)1
  • Pan con Bistec — bistec de res, mayo, tomate y cebolla, servido con papas fritas / beef steak, mayo, tomato and onion, served with french fries ($12.99)1
  • Pan con Croquetas — croqueta, queso, mayo, mostaza y pepinillos, servido con papas fritas / croquette, cheese, mayo, mustard and pickles, served with french fries ($12.99)1
  • Tiras de Pollo — chicken tenders ($12.99)1

Agregos / Sides

  • Tostones — fried plantains ($3.99)1
  • Maduros — sweet fried plantains ($3.99)1
  • Yuca Frita — fried cassava ($3.99)1
  • Yuca con Mojo — cassava with mojo ($3.99)1
  • Congrís — congrís rice ($3.99)1
  • Arroz Blanco — white rice ($3.99)1
  • Ensalada Mixta — mixed salad ($3.99)1
  • Potaje de Frijoles Negros — black beans ($3.99)1
  • Tamal Cubano (sin carne) — Cuban tamal, meatless ($3.99)1
  • Papas Fritas — french fries ($3.75)1

Postres / Desserts

  • Flan Queso — cheese flan ($3.25)1
  • Flan Vainilla — vanilla flan ($2.99)1
  • Pastelito de Guayaba con Queso — guava and cheese pastry ($2.99)1
  • Pastelito de Guayaba — guava pastry ($2.75)1
  • Pastelito de Coco — coconut pastry ($2.75)1

Batidos y Jugos / Shakes and Juices

Both shakes and juices are $3.99 for 20 oz and $5.99 for 24 oz.1

  • Batidos / Shakes — 20 oz $3.99 / 24 oz $5.991
  • Jugos / Juices — 20 oz $3.99 / 24 oz $5.991

Flavours offered in both: mamey (mammee tropical fruit), guanábana (soursop — the board prints “sour soup”), mango, guayaba (guava), fresa (strawberry), plátano (banana), trigo (wheat) and tamarindo (tamarind).1

Café / Coffee

  • Coladita — Cuban espresso ($2.00)1
  • Cortadito — espresso coffee with a drop of milk ($2.50)1
  • Café con Leche — Cuban coffee with milk ($3.50)1
  • Café Americano — American coffee ($2.99)1
  • Cubanazo — iced coffee ($5.50)1
  • Colada Entera — large Cuban espresso ($5.99)1

Not on the published boards — aggregator-sourced, prices provisional

These items appear on the res-discover.com listing but not on any of the restaurant’s five published menu boards. Their prices carry the same inflation defect corrected above and have NOT been adjusted, because there is no first-party figure to correct them against. Treat as provisional pending an in-store check.2

  • Tamal Con Chicharrón / Tamal With Cracklings ($6.99, provisional)2
  • Yuca Con Chicharrón / Cassava With Pork Cracklings ($7.99, provisional)2
  • Chicharrones ($7.99, provisional)2
  • Aguacate / Avocado ($1.99, provisional)2
  • Materva ($2.99, provisional)2
  • Malta / Malt ($2.99, provisional)2
  • Jupiña ($2.50, provisional)2
  • Ironbeer ($2.50, provisional)2
  • Coca-Cola ($1.99, provisional)2
  • Coca-Cola Dietética / Diet Coke ($1.99, provisional)2
  • Sprite ($1.99, provisional)2
  • Powerade ($2.99, provisional)2
  • Agua / Water ($1.99, provisional)2
  • Beer — Modelo, Corona Extra, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra ($4.99 each, provisional)2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. La Cubana Cuban Restaurant — the restaurant’s own menu boards, published as images on its official site and transcribed in full 2026-08-13. Five boards: Platillos 1–5 (), Platillos 6–11 (lacubanakc.com), Aperitivos + Sandwich (lacubanakc.com), Agregos + Postres (lacubanakc.com), and Batidos y Jugos + Café (lacubanakc.com), all linked from lacubanakc.com. Confirms: every dish name, the restaurant’s own bilingual Spanish/English descriptions, its 1–11 dish numbering, and all prices above. The boards carry no date. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25 ↩26 ↩27 ↩28 ↩29 ↩30 ↩31 ↩32 ↩33 ↩34 ↩35 ↩36 ↩37 ↩38 ↩39 ↩40 ↩41 ↩42 ↩43 ↩44 ↩45

  2. La Cubana Cuban Restaurant — menu via res-discover.com aggregator (accessed 2026-07-14). Retained only for the bottled-drink, beer and chicharrón items absent from the restaurant’s own boards, and marked provisional. Its prices were shown on 2026-08-13 to run roughly 7–25% above the restaurant’s own published prices and are not used anywhere else on this page. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16

More from the Registry

In Northeast See all →

See also

  • Registry
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/la-cubana-kc · record updated 2026-08-13