Tampa, Florida – The beloved Cuban sandwich is a scrumptious all-American culinary creation first served in Tampa, Florida, greater than a century in the past, in keeping with proud native lore.
It is a savory, mouthwatering combine — typically known as a “mixto” — of three sorts of pork, paired with cheese, pickles and mustard, on fresh-baked native bread. No marvel there is a full day devoted to it (August 23 is Nationwide Cuban Sandwich Day).
It is flavored by an array of cultures that helped construct Tampa right into a jewel of the Gulf of Mexico.
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The sandwiches reportedly fueled the hard-working, and sometimes Cuban-born, cigar manufacturing facility employees in Tampa’s historic neighborhood of Ybor Metropolis in a long time previous. Cuban sandwiches are actually served in takeout retailers, delis, pubs and eating places from coast to coast.
“There’s a debate over who invented it first, Tampa or Miami,” Tampa meals Instagram influencer Kiera Andrews (@thisbabeeats) instructed Fox Information Digital.
The founding father of a Tampa, Florida, restaurant is credited with inventing the Cuban sandwich because it’s recognized at this time. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Others declare it originated in Havana or Key West.
Cubans historically ate “mixto” sandwiches, however the model recognized at this time is a Tampa creation, in keeping with consultants.
“I’ll let you know this,” Andrews stated. “I’ve had Cuban sandwiches in different cities. And there is nothing that compares to a Cuban sandwich in Tampa.”
“There’s nothing that compares to a Cuban sandwich in Tampa.”
One of many secrets and techniques, she stated, is the standard Cuban bread baked at La Segunda Central Bakery, which opened in Ybor Metropolis in 1915.
It provides eating places and retailers all through the area.
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Bakeries, eating places — even the museum of longtime Ybor Metropolis cigar-maker J.C. Newman — sport murals and billboards highlighting the worldwide inspirations that make Tampa’s Cuban sandwiches a scrumptious instance of America’s distinctive culinary melting pot.
An indication at La Segunda Central Bakery in Ybor Metropolis, Tampa, touts the multicultural flavors discovered within the unique Cuban sandwich, with influences from Cuba, Spain, Italy and Germany. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
They boast Cuban pork, Spanish ham, Italian salami, German pickles and mustard and Swiss cheese — all cultures which have a historic presence collectively in Tampa — served on smooth, ethereal Cuban bread.
“It represents all of the completely different cultures that make Ybor Metropolis such a terrific place,” Casey Gonzmart Jr., the fifth-generation proprietor of Tampa eating landmark Columbia Restaurant, instructed Fox Information Digital.
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The eatery was based by his Spanish-Cuban immigrant great-great-grandfather Casimiro Hernandez Sr. in 1905.
Ybor Metropolis is finest recognized for its Cuban-Spanish tradition and cigar-making historical past.
Nevertheless it’s additionally the standard house of Tampa’s Italian neighborhood.
“The Cuban sandwich represents all of the completely different cultures that make Ybor Metropolis such a terrific place.”
The L’Unione Italiana, the Italian Membership of Tampa, traces its roots to 1894 and sits simply three blocks from Columbia Restaurant.
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“We will not inform the true historical past of the Ybor Metropolis with out paying homage to the Italians,” Gonzmart stated.
Casey Gonzmart Jr. is a part of the fifth era of householders of Tampa eating landmark Columbia Restaurant. His great-great-grandfather Casimiro Hernandez Sr. based the restaurant in 1905 — and is credited by many because the creator of the unique Tampa Cuban sandwich. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Columbia Restaurant options colourful murals of the crusing ships of Christopher Columbus — the Italian mariner who ventured to the New World on behalf of the Spanish crown.
Meals & Wine Journal named Columbia Restaurant’s unique Cuban the most effective sandwich in Florida. It even credit Columbia Restaurant founder Hernandez Sr. for inventing the multicultural American delicacy.
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“He hoped it could honor the contributions of the various immigrants who breathed life into the Ybor Metropolis neighborhood, the place the restaurant was situated, and town of Tampa usually,” Meals & Wine wrote in its coronation of the Columbia Cuban.
The restaurant nonetheless makes its Cuban sandwich the identical means it has performed a minimum of since 1915, together with utilizing bread from close by La Segunda Central Bakery, an organization spokesman instructed Fox Information Digital.
La Segunda Central Bakery in Ybor Metropolis, Tampa, was based in 1915. Its fresh-baked Cuban bread is taken into account important to the right conventional Cuban sandwich. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Tampa Instagram foodie Andrews cites a number of different can’t-miss Cuban sandwiches in Tampa.
No-frills, cash-only West Sandwich Tampa Store “appears like one of many first locations that may have served the Cuban,” she stated.
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La Segunda, Tampa’s landmark bakery, has a take-out sandwich store at its unique Ybor Metropolis location.
Right here, company can order unique Cubans and varied variations of the unique, together with superb conventional Cuban pastries and sweets.
The Boozy Pig boasts a scrumptious Cuban breakfast sandwich served with eggs, whereas Depraved Oak Barbeque affords a “Que-ban” sandwich made with slow-smoked pulled pork and housemade mustard barbeque.
La Segunda Central Bakery in Ybor Metropolis, Tampa, bakes bread for industrial and retail sale but additionally has a sandwich and pastry store promoting Cuban sandwiches. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
“Miami, for its half, added an innovation: the iron press, which supplies the Cubano a skinny look and crunchy really feel that lots of people now acknowledge it for,” NPR wrote in a 2022 interview with the authors of the ebook, “The Cuban Sandwich: A Historical past In Layers.”
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Cuban sandwiches in Tampa historically come solely on recent bread — unpressed but spectacular in taste and in American culinary lore.
The Tampa Metropolis Council named the Cuban town’s “signature sandwich” in a 2012 proclamation.
