HAVANA -- Diners trek up a curving staircase of white cracked marble, past a decapitated statue of a robed woman, and along a broad landing crisscrossed with lines of drying laundry to reach the weathered wooden door opening into one of the most memorable dining experiences in communist Cuba.

Inside is La Guarida, Havana's best known paladar, or private restaurant, and its exquisite Nuevo Latino offerings available nowhere else in the city. There's a tuna steak grilled with sugar cane, a grouper fillet cooked with orange sauce, rabbit lasagna, pork medallions with a mango glaze and spinach crepes stuffed with chicken and drowned in a creamy mushroom sauce.

Three rooms on the third floor of a weathered mansion in rundown Centro Habana, the apartment was the setting for "Fresa y Chocolate" ("Strawberry and Chocolate"), a 1994 Cuban film about a frie-ip that blossoms between two men -- one gay and one straight -- despite their different lifestyles and politics. In the movie, the older gay man Diego refers to his apartment as "la guarida," or "the den."

"I especially like La Guarida," says Beverly Cox, an American cookbook author who traveled to Havana twice in recent years to visit the paladars and other Havana eateries for her luscious cookbook, "Eating Cuban." "When you ring that bell, you step into another world."

Hundreds of the private home restaurants opened up after they were legalized by Fidel Castro's government in the mid-1990s amid severe economic crisis. Significantly fewer have survived the strict rules they operate under now, including high taxes and a prohibition on beef and premium seafood such as lobster and shrimp, which are reserved for export and state-run restaurants catering to foreigners.

But with new President Raul Castro lifting consumer and economic restrictions in recent weeks, rumors are rampant that he will soon allow more Cubans to become self-employed and operate private businesses.

"The tourist industry needs better services. The paladars are almost gone. The government shut them down," said Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Cuba economics expert and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh. "What Cuban economists and I are expecting is that there will be some return to the situation before 2003," when Fidel clamped down on self-employment.

Government inspectors currently check the paladars occasionally to ensure that the owner's license is current, that they are paying their taxes, and they are not violating any health codes or other regulations. Paladar employees are required to be family members.

The restrictions on certain foods, along with regular shortages of other ones, often force paladar chefs into minimalist rethinking of their menu. If there is no cream for the pumpkin soup, they'll create a less rich version with milk. If there is no spinach for the salad, they'll substitute Swiss chard.

Run inside the homes of their owners, paladars typically serve filleted fish, pork or chicken, and occasionally sheep and rabbit, with most entrees costing $12 to $15. With drinks and sides, a meal for two runs about $60.

La Guarida's owner, the 39-year-old Enrique Nunez del Valle, estimates there are about 80 paladars of varying quality and type still operating in Havana.

Nunez and his wife, Odeysis, sat one recent afternoon at a table surrounded by the old movie posters, timeworn candelabras and the other shabby bohemian items she collected to decorate the premises.

Nunez grew up in the large apartment in a crowded, economically depressed neighborhood of once-fashionable homes now stripped of paint and crumbling from decades of disrepair.

In 1993, at the height of the economic crisis caused by the Soviet Union's collapse, Cuba's cinema institute asked to rent the Nunez family apartment as the setting for the movie. The institute didn't offer much -- 40 pesos a day, or about $4 at the time. But the deal came with free breakfast, lunch and dinner daily during a time of severe shortages.

After the film was released, foreigners occasionally found their way to the Nunez apartment and asked to look inside. Some suggested he open a private restaurant there under a new government initiative to create new kinds of income during financial hardship.

Nunez got a license and opened the restaurant in 1996. But popularity came slowly.

"We spent afternoons playing dominoes on the balcony for months, waiting for people to come," Nunez recalled. But when he hosted an exhibit by Cuban photographer Korda, famed for taking an iconic image of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, La Guardia suddenly became a sensation.

Since then, Queen Sofia of Spain and American actor Jack Nicholson have dined there. It now even has its own Web page.

Traveling here twice with food photographer Martin Jacobs, Cox visited La Guarida and numerous other paladars for her cookbook, which includes 120 recipes from kitchens around Havana. They also visited state-run restaurants and private homes, sampling dishes, collecting recipes, talking with cooks.

Because the decades-old embargo and travel restrictions bar most Americans from traveling here, they came with a U.S. license as consultants for an American food company. "We just immersed ourselves in the food," she said.

Cox said she was impressed by Cuban chefs' resourcefulness in a country plagued by frequent shortages, making "the best of what they have, using pure, clean flavors and practicing simplicity in number of ingredients."

Most paladars have menus far less sophisticated than La Guarida's -- with the most common dishes being basic chicken, pork or fish dishes. But all have an overabundance of ambiance.

"The paladars are magical places, stylish and eclectic," Cox said.

At La Esperanza paladar in Havana's leafy Miramar neighborhood, guests sip minty mojito cocktails waiting for their table in an overstuffed sofa and chairs in the living room of the restaurant owner's family home, decorated with weathered statues of popular Catholic saints, old white-and-black family photographs and other eclectic bric-a-brac.

La Esperanza's tables are set with mismatched porcelain china and silverware. The house specialty is a 1950s-era dish of tender pork stewed in a popular malt soft drink. Also on the menu is a spicy Thai-style chicken dish and a simple grilled fish filet.

Visitors to the Cocina de Liliam paladar, where former U.S. President Jimmy Carter ate during his May 2002 Cuba trip, sit on a patio surrounded by lush ferns and a trio of burbling fountains as they munch crunchy fritters of a root vegetable called malanga.

And at Cactus de 33, Fernando Barral, retired psychologist and former comrade of "Che" Guevara, displays Cold War-era mementos including a Communist Party newspaper clipping of him interviewing U.S. POW John McCain, now the presumptive Republican U.S. presidential candidate, during a 1970 trip to Vietnam for research on the North Vietnamese.

At Cactus de 33, guests dine on juicy grilled chicken breasts accompanied by white rice and black beans as they sit on the front porch of the huge white mansion, surrounded by towering cactus plants.

"There is a lot of creativity," Cox said. "I don't think it is a mistake that a place that has created such great artists and dancers and musicians has also created such great cooks."

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH MANGOES

Start to finish: 45 minutes

Servings: Four to six

2 large, ripe, firm mangoes

4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 1 clove)

1 to 2 fresh "ajis cachucha" or other sweet, piquant red peppers, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, plus more minced parsley for garnish

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup chicken broth

1-1/2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

1-1/2 to 2 pounds pork tenderloin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Peel, pit and dice one mango.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high. Add the onion, garlic and chilies, and saute until slightly softened, about two to three minutes.

Stir in the diced mango, cilantro, wine, broth and 1/2-tablespoon of the lime juice. Cook, stirring often, over medium-low heat until the mango cooks down and the sauce smooths out, 15 to 20 minutes. Mix in the butter, if using.

Meanwhile, cut the tenderloin into 1- to 1-1/2-inch-thick slices. Place each slice between sheets of plastic wrap, and pound with a meat mallet until about 1/2-inch thick.

Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil to rub each slice, then season them with salt and pepper.

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.

Halve, pit and peel the remaining mango, then cut the fruit into 10 to 12 slices. Drizzle the remaining lime juice and about 2 teaspoons of the oil over the mango. Set aside.

Grill the pork for three to five minutes on each side, or until browned and cooked through. A couple minutes before the pork is done, add the mango to the grill.

If using a grill, place the mango slices in a grill basket or on a sheet of heavy-duty foil poked with holes. If using a grill pan, place the slices directly on the pan. Grill the mango pieces until they are hot but still hold their shape.

To serve, place a pool of the butter on each serving plate top with two or three pieces of pork and two or three slices of mango, then sprinkle with parsley.

One of the most popular Nuevo Latino offerings at the glamorous La Guarida paladar, this delectable pork dish sweetened with grilled, ripe mangoes and spiked with sweet peppers goes well with simple sides of creamy black beans and plain white rice.

(Recipe from Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs' "Eating Cuban," Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2006.)

CREAMY PUMPKIN SOUP

Start to finish: One hour (20 minutes active)

Servings: Four to six

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Six 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick slices day-old Cuban or French bread

1-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (about 1 medium)

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 pounds West Indian pumpkin (also can use sugar pumpkin or butternut squash), peeled, seeded and diced

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup light cream or half-and-half

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Minced fresh parsley, to garnish

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium high. Add the bread, in batches, if necessary, and fry on both sides until golden brown, one to two minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, and set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the remaining oil over medium-low. Add the onion, garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg, and saute until the onion is translucent, four to five minutes.

Add the pumpkin and broth, and increase heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the pumpkin is very tender, about 40 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor, in batches if necessary, and puree until smooth.

Return the soup to the saucepan, and stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper, and heat the soup over low, stirring often, until hot.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls, and top each with a crouton and sprinkle with parsley.

This creamy soup, made with the West Indian pumpkins grown in the Caribbean, is a signature dish at La Esperanza, a fashionable paladar in Havana's once wealthy Miramar neighborhood.

Pumpkin soup is a traditional dish in Cuba, but few families can afford the real cream that gives this version its rich, buttery taste.

(Recipe from Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs' "Eating Cuban," Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2006.)

COCONUT FLAN

Start to finish: Three hours (45 minutes active)

Servings: Six

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 cup half-and-half

5 large eggs

1-3/4 cups thick fresh coconut milk (or 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk)

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Arrange six individual 6-ounce flan molds or ramekins in a large baking pan (the molds should not be touching).

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium, heat 3/4-cup of the sugar, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and has an amber tinge, about eight to 10 minutes.

Quickly pour a portion of the caramelized sugar into each mold, tilting the mold to evenly coat the bottom.

Bring a large kettle of water to a boil. If it boils before it is needed, lower the heat to keep the water hot.

While the water heats, wash and dry the saucepan. In the saucepan, combine the remaining sugar and the half-and-half. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Slowly fold in the half-and-half mixture, coconut milk and vanilla. Pour the mixture through a mesh sieve into a new bowl, discarding any solids.

Ladle the mixture into the molds, then place the pan on the oven's middle rack. Pour enough water from the kettle into the baking pan to come about two-thirds up the sides of the molds.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the flans are barely set at the center.

Remove the pan from the oven, and let the custards cool slowly in the water bath. When cool to the touch, remove the molds from the water, and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

To serve, run a thin knife around the edge of each flan, penetrating about 1/2 inch below the surface, then turn the molds over onto serving plates. One at a time, grasp the plate and the mold firmly, and shake until the flan drops onto the plate. Carefully remove molds, and allow caramel to drizzle over the flans.

This coconut flan, served at the funky La Guarida paladar, makes a luscious end to a Nuevo Latino feast.

(Recipe from Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs' "Eating Cuban," Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2006.)

CUBAN PALADARS: IF YOU GO ...

GETTING TO CUBA

Most Americans are effectively prohibited from traveling to Cuba under U.S. Treasury rules that make it illegal for them to spend money on the island. But many go anyway, usually aboard charter flights from Miami or commercial flights through other countries, usually the Bahamas, Jamaica, Canada and Mexico.

FINDING THE PALADARS

There is no official list of paladars, but some are mentioned in travel books such as Lonely Planet or can be found by doing Web searches. Once in Cuba, hotel concierges, taxi drivers and even locals will often recommend private restaurants, especially if they are operated by a relative or a friend.

Some of the better known ones in Havana include:

* La Guarida, Calle Concordia 418, between Gervasio and Escobar in Centro Habana, Tel. 863-7351

* La Esperanza, Calle 16 No. 105, between 1st and 3rd in Miramar, Tel. 202-4361

* Cocina de Liliam, Calle 48 No. 1311, between 13 and 15 in Miramar, Tel. 209-6514

* Cactus de 33, Avenida 33 No. 3405, between 34 and 36 in Playa, Tel. 203-5139

* La Casa, Calle 30 No. 865, between 26 and 41 in Nuevo Vedado, Tel. 881-7000

DON'T FORGET TO MAKE A RESERVATION

Reservations are a must at most paladars, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights when demand can be especially high.

A short glossary of common Cuban culinary terms:

* Bijol (bee-HOHL): A yellow powder containing ground annatto seeds commonly used to color rice as an inexpensive substitute for saffron.

* Boniato: Cuban sweet potato. Can be fried, mashed, baked or boiled as any other potato, or made into a sugary dessert called boniatillo.

* Calabaza: West Indian pumpkin. Used creamed or cut into chunks in soups or stews, steamed or boiled as a vegetable dish with onions, as well as in sweet desserts.

* Quimbombo: Okra. Used in stews or "guisados" with tomatoes, onions and meat.

* Malanga: A bland root crop that often is mashed or boiled without seasoning for babies and sick people. Often cut up for use in thick soups or fried as chips or fritters.

* Mojo (MOH-hoh): A sauce made with sour orange juice, garlic, a little salt and sometimes olive oil. Can be applied to cooked vegetables such as yuca or used as a marinade for meat, fish and poultry.

* Sofrito (so-FREE-toh): A "fried" sauce that serves as the base for many Cuban and other Spanish Caribbean dishes. Commonly includes fresh vegetables and spices, such as onions, garlic, sweet peppers, tomatoes and a spice called culantro, which has a flavor similar to cilantro.

* Tostones: A popular side dish of green plaintains, flattened and fried twice with a bit of salt.

* Yuca (YU-kah): Stringy white tuber also known as cassava or maniac. Often prepared by steaming and topping with traditional garlicky mojo sauce.

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