Cuban Plates — Masitas & Pollo al Horno in Wheaton, MD

Wheaton has its own deep Latin food bench along Georgia Avenue, which is exactly why its diners are hard to impress — and why the ones who make the 13-minute run down to Flower Avenue for the Super Golfo fajitas or a whole pan-fried mojarra count for double. After Brookside Gardens or Wheaton Regional Park, it's the closest full-bar Latin dinner south.

From Wheaton we're 13 min · 5.4 mi, which makes Cuban plates a short trip rather than a whole day's errand.

Cuban Plates — Masitas & Pollo al Horno done properly

Masitas de Puerco are Cuban-style oven-baked pork morsels marinated in Sevilla bitter orange and mojo criollo, served with sweet plantain ($26) — another of the dishes their own story page says customers rave about. Pollo al Horno is half an oven-roasted chicken in the same mojo criollo treatment topped with sweet Spanish onions ($26), and the kids' Moros y Cristianos plate ($10) keeps the Cuban corner honest.

What's included

• Masitas de Puerco with sweet plantain — $26 (GF)
• Pollo al Horno — half roast chicken in mojo criollo — $26 (GF)
• Moros y Cristianos kids' plate — $10
• Plátanos with crema fresca and beans — $6