By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Critic

PROVIDENCE -- Occasional trips to Miami have reinforced my opinion of Cuban food: I love it.

There's a small sandwich shop in downtown Providence helping to make my travel dossier -- always designed around what I'm going to eat when I get there -- a little less busy these days.

It's called Cuban Revolution (and also The City Grille). Chef/owner Mary Morabito and husband Edward Morabito (he was Linc Almond's chief of staff) have transformed this small lunch counter into a funky, hip spot that sports images of revolutionary Che Guevara on the Cuban flag and items on the menu named the "Fidel" and the "JFK."

The City Grille portion of the menu still features -- in an odd juxtaposition -- "all-American" burgers and Philly cheese steaks.

Specials flaunt the Cuban theme. On Saturdays, wearing camouflage clothing will get you 50 cents off any $5 purchase. On Mondays, if you bring in or wear a Che Guevara image (earrings included) you can get a free soda with a sandwich or wrap.

Perched high on the walls above the grill and counter are television sets that blast images of the Cuban Revolution along with old episodes of I Love Lucy.

A cuisine is always a reflection of a place's culture; Cuban food is no different. It is an amalgamation of the Spanish, Latin and Caribbean influences that have dominated the island for centuries.

While Cuban Revolution embraces many typical Cuban dishes -- most notably the Cuban sandwich -- there are many areas of the island's exciting peasant cuisine that are left largely ignored. But the Morabitos plan to continue to phase in Cuban dishes; Mary would eventually like to put arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) and yucca frita (fried yucca) -- two Cuban staples -- on the menu.

However short the list, the offerings are well prepared, and the atmosphere -- part coffee shop, part hole-in-the-wall -- gives off the aura of a secret meeting place.

Our waiter sat, relaxed, on a counter stool as he took our order, popping off the caps to the Coronas we had brought from the liquor store down the street. He left them on the floor.

Most notably there is the restaurant's Cuban sandwich; everyone was ordering them, and for good reason. There are some sandwiches, like revolutionaries, that rise beyond their humble beginnings to higher heights. The Cuban sandwich is one of them.

These lunch-time staples of Little Havana are made with a characteristic sweet, soft bread (similar to Portuguese sweet bread), layered with thin slices of tender pork, slices of ham, salami and Swiss cheese. The kicker comes from the combination of mayonnaise and mustard smeared across the whole thing and the salty, vinegary flavor of dill pickles shingled into the sandwich.

The sandwiches are heated and pressed in a traditional Cuban sandwich press (sort of like a pancake griddle) that compresses them and makes them taste like a cross between a gooey grilled cheese and a smashed Dagwood. (All of which is a good thing.)

If you order the "Fidel," you'll get a Cuban sandwich with another of Cuba's culinary mainstays -- black beans and rice, here seasoned with herbs and lots of garlic. There's little difference between them and the black bean soup -- basically the soup tastes like a watered-down version of the same thing.

The "Bay of Pigs" is a combination of a flaky empanada (a kind of turnover) stuffed with seasoned chicken -- a perfect little meal within itself -- and served with black beans and rice. The small half-pies have a lightly peppered crust, with lines still visible from the tines of the fork that sealed its delightfully uneven edges -- a sure sign that it's prepared daily by Mary. So is the fluffy Cuban bread.

The only sandwich for the evening that wasn't noteworthy was a wrap filled with -- again -- black beans and rice, as well as bits of chicken, cheese and lettuce. The flavor and texture of all the ingredients seemed to disappear into a beans-and-rice oblivion, even when doused with a small sprinkling of house-made habenero hot sauce -- the heat of which could only be squelched with a sip of creamy, sweet guava milkshake (there are also coconut, mango and banana).

There's a guava-filled pastry on the bill for dessert -- the sweet, pink goo of the guava peeking out from a flaky, sugar-coated crust. It's a perfect match for the cafe Cubano -- sort of like espresso but sweetened heavily with a sugar syrup. The flan is a jiggling mass of smooth, velvety egg and cream flavor drizzled with a thick caramel syrup. Mary Morabito makes both.

Cuban Revolution and The City Grille, 149 Washington St., 331-8829. Very casual. No reservations. Smoking outdoors only. Not wheelchair accessible. Open Mon-Tue for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Wed-Sat 11 a.m. to midnight. V, MC, AM. On-street parking or in nearby lots. One highchair. BYOB. Everything on the menu is less than $10.