Louisville, KYCuban

Carmen Margarita Coro built her bakery and restaurant over five years on pastelitos and croquetas, and National Geographic describes it as a central hub for the city's Cuban community. Louisville holds one of the larger Cuban populations outside Florida, and this Fern Valley Road counter is where a good share of it eats.

Marcos Lorenzo opened one of Louisville's first Cuban restaurants in 2004, and the group now runs several rooms across the city. The Bardstown Road tapas bar pairs ropa vieja and lechon with nightly live music, which is why the tables stay full past the hour most Highlands kitchens start closing.

A polished Cuban dining room on East Market Street where the live music regularly turns into a conga line. One Cuban American patron in the National Geographic piece says the room reminds him of the Cuba that existed before communism, which is a heavy thing to say about a restaurant, and he meant it.

Nachely Martinez opened this Sweet Havana offshoot on Logan Street in the summer of 2025, built around the colada, the whipped espresso Cubans drink in small cups shared around a table. Pastries fill out the counter, and the cafe format makes it the easiest introduction to Cuban Louisville.

One of the Marcos Lorenzo rooms named in the National Geographic feature, out on Shelbyville Road, with live Cuban music most nights alongside the menu. It is the sit down end of the family, closer to a night out than a counter lunch, and the mojito is not an afterthought.