An although the rest of the menu, crafted by Dunia's husband and partner, Espartaco Borga, offered plenty of pleasures, we couldn't stop thinking about dessert: A few step inside the stylish but warm room, we spotted the table laden with Dunia's lavish sweets. The gorgeous Venezuelan chocolate truffle cake and the Mexican-styled quatro leches cake, particularly, teased us even as we swooned over appetizers and entrees.
At La Duni, the couple present compelling samples of cuisine from Spain, Cuba and Central and South America, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We enjoyed the sampler plate, called platon campero, headlined by queso fresco, a soft-but-strong white cheese that we scooped with crisp tortilla chips with a fresh tomato salsa. We also like the patacones, flat, round crackers made from pounded green plantain; these make a nice foundation for the bits of tangy, marinated onion slices and any of Espartaco's three fabulous mojos.
Said mojos are spooned onto any and all savory edibles. The orange one, made with roasted red peppers, orange and chile flakes, had a tart finish, while the green ones - made with cilantro and garlic or parsley and oregano, respectively - added astoundingly fresh punch to meats, black beans and tortillas.
Simple but exquisite was the pollo al ajibe, a roasted half-chicken bathed in champagne and juices from green oranges. The lovely garlic rice and black beans were perfection, but almost nothing was needed but the juicy chicken. Easily as impressive was the grilled picanha steak, a somewhat chewy but rustically wonderful cut of beef draped with parsley-oregano-garlic mojo, also known as chimichurri. Sides of moist garlic rice and earthy black beans were flawless.
Sitting on sumptuous leather banquettes, bathed in flickering candlelight warmed further by walls painted butterscotch and glazed in mango, we could have lingered well over three hours, grazing and sipping the minty mojitos. But after dessert and cappuccinos, we could only summon strength to bid La Duni buenas noches and roll ourselves home.