TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

For a good Cuban, give me a call

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE OTTO Steve Otto

sotto@tampatrib.com sotto@tampatrib.com

Published: June 26, 2009

It's lunchtime and you've got a hankering for a Cuban sandwich. Not just any Cuban sandwich, mind you. As a resident of the birthplace of this marvelous creation of the culinary food gods, you feel you have a right to the finest Cuban sandwich on the planet.

So how do you know which way to go? You can get Cubans from one end of town to the other. There are even Cubans available out in the fens and bogs of the county. There is a small knot of Cuban sandwich eaters who say some of the best are as far away as Pinellas County.

One of the problems is that every sandwich shop and deli feels obligated to offer its customers what it calls a "Cuban," even if it is little more than a glorified ham sandwich.

There even are those despicable dives that will attempt to pass off so-called Cubans on French bread or - and I saw this once and immediately left the place - a bagel.

Now along comes Playboy magazine, which claims to know where to get the best Cuban in Tampa. In an article on sandwiches across America, it states the best Cuban is to be found at Hugo's Restaurant on Howard Avenue in SoHo.

Tweeter nation

Everyone has a right to his or her opinion. In this nation of bloggers and tweeters you can get instant opinions on just about anything from politics to, well, Cuban sandwiches.

You do have to wonder, though, where these opinions come from. Specialty magazines are pretty good places to start. I've been going through photography magazines looking at reviews of cameras. I'm in the market for one of those high-end digital jobs I can't afford and probably won't understand how to work even if I get one. The best pictures I ever took were from an old Brownie Hawkeye back when the world was in black and white.

I happen to be familiar with Playboy - another specialty magazine - having read many of its excellent articles through the years. I don't remember seeing any stories about Cuban sandwiches, but then I might have missed them.

Stripper haven

Apparently this particular article also mentions Tampa as the magazine's "favorite Gulf Coast stripper haven," which might offer some solace to the city's boosters still unhappy we weren't designated an "All-America City" last week.

As for the magazine's pick, it might be blind luck but Hugo's does make a decent Cuban.

It's not my favorite. That goes to Michelle Faedo out on 15th Street. Her perfect Cuban starts with bread from La Segunda and, let me put it to you this way ... get one of her regular Cubans pressed, add a deviled crab and you might never eat anything else.

I know a lot of Tampa folk love Brocato's on 50th Street. It's a great Cuban. La Ideal in West Tampa makes a super Cuban at a great price. The West Tampa Sandwich Shop has the right atmosphere to go with a solid Cuban. And, of course, the granddaddy of them all, the Columbia Restaurant, makes Cubans the way its great matriarch, Adela Gonzmart, used to make them.

Anyhow, my suggestion is you might learn something from Playboy's centerfolds, but when you want a good Cuban, give me a call, maybe about an hour before lunch.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, for more of Steve Otto's musings.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT