EAST LANSING - The owner of a Cuban restaurant that got its start as a local food truck before transitioning to a brick-and-mortar business in downtown Lansing will open a second location near Michigan State University later this month.
Iliana Tamayo opened La Cocina Cubana in a storefront at 123 S. Washington Square in late 2017, offering up a menu inspired by dishes she grew up eating in Cuba. Eight years later, she's poised to open a second location at 219 E. Grand River Ave. in East Lansing.
The expansion was announced in a news release from Downtown Lansing Inc. on Monday morning. The new restaurant is expected to open on Oct. 18, according to the statement.
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Tamayo couldn't be reached on Oct. 6.
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La Cocina Cubana, Spanish for the Cuban Kitchen, serves sandwiches, empanadas, fried plantains, croquettes, stuffed potatoes and several Cuban dishes, including lechon asado, which is "Cuban style pork roast marinated with Cuban mojo and slow oven roasted, served boneless with rice & beans, and boiled yuca with mojo," according to the restaurant's website.
In 2017, Tamayo, who immigrated from Cuba to the U.S. in 2004, told the State Journal she uses her mother's and grandmother's recipes.
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"I make everything fresh from scratch," she said. "Nothing frozen."
The sign outside the La Cocina Cubana Cuban cuisine restaurant on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in downtown Lansing.
Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Downtown Lansing Cuban restaurant to expand, open new location near MSU
[SRC] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/downtown-lansing-cuban-restaurant-expand-152416873.html
