Casual Cuban begins at breakfast

Xiomara Ardolina has just opened a casual cafe around the corner from her Pasadena nuevo Cuban restaurant, Xiomara. The cafe is Cuban too, but its menu features more home-style cooking. Unlike Xiomara, this cozy new spot is open all day.

Ardolina named it Cafe Atlantic because she’s lived in three cities on the Atlantic: Havana, Miami and New York. The restaurant is painted a warm yellow, and on the back wall hangs a nostalgic framed black-and-white photo of the Manhattan skyline at night.

To start, servers in snowy white guayabera shirts bring out warm, buttered Cuban bread, and it’s very easy to eat the entire basket. During the recent warm spell, it was swell sitting outside, sipping some tart homemade lemonade or one of the tropical fruit batidos (shakes). For an aperitivo, order a Spanish tortilla: an omelet laced with potatoes, sweet roasted peppers and Cuban chorizo, set on a raft of bread.

A salad of sliced tomatoes dressed in olive oil with a squeeze of lime and freshly ground black pepper took the edge off my appetite. Deep gold fried plantains were irresistible, as always.

There’s also a classic Cuban black bean soup and a garbanzo and pigs’ feet stew that could serve as lunch.

Of course, she has Cuban-style sandwiches. Her version of media noche is elevated with Spanish Manchego cheese and serrano ham. The pork sandwich, made with marinated roasted pork leg, is not to be missed.

And if you’re feeling ravenous, dig into any of the delicious old-fashioned dishes, such as picadillo (savory ground beef accented with capers and olives and served with a mound of fluffy white rice) or ropa vieja (“old clothes” -- incredibly tender shredded beef brisket). Though it is billed as a soup, ajiaco -- a beautifully modulated stew of jerked beef and brisket, tropical root vegetables, corn and plantains -- is really a meal in a bowl.

At dessert time, go for broke with a pudin diplomatico -- tender Cuban bread pudding layered with juicy berries and a vanilla bean custard sauce -- and a strong dark coffee.

What about Xiomara’s renowned mojito cocktails? Cafe Atlantic doesn’t have a hard-liquor license, but in the evening you can zip around the corner and enjoy a mojito at Xiomara’s bar. When your table at Cafe Atlantic is ready, they call. It’s a beautiful compromise.

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Cafe Atlantic

Where: 53 E. Union St., Pasadena

When: Breakfast, lunch and dinner from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Beer and wine. Parking on street or at nearby lot.

Cost: Appetizers, $5 to $8; sandwiches, $7 to $10; entrees, $10 to $15; desserts, $4

Info: (626) 796-7350; fax, (626) 796-5457