Hugo's Cuban no runner-up this time

The Cuban sandwich at Hugo's Spanish Restaurant on South Howard Avenue is cited for best sandwich honors in Playboy's online issue this month, sharing space with lobster rolls from Nantucket and cheesesteaks from Philadelphia.

The most expensive sandwich on the list, the lobster roll, is available at the Straight Wharf Fish Store on Massachusetts' Nantucket Island. The sandwich tips the scales at $17.95.

The cheapest offering is the St. Paul's sandwich at Wong's Inn in Maplewood, Mo. The egg foo yong, bean sprout and minced white onion concoction costs a mere $2.40.

The brief description of the $5.87 Hugo's Cuban tells how the sandwich is assembled and mentions that it was first made by Tampa Cuban immigrants in the early 1900s.

The unnamed writer mentions the Mons Venus adult club (after all, this is Playboy) and calls Tampa "our favorite Gulf Coast stripper haven."

But back to Hugo's, which is not entirely unknown in town. Last year, the restaurant was picked as the runner-up among family-style eateries in a Tampa Tribune readers survey.

Hugo's always seems to be mentioned as being among the best in Cuban sandwich contests but often isn't the winner.

Creative Loafing, an alternative newspaper serving the Tampa Bay area, last year named La Ideal in West Tampa as having the best Cuban and listed Hugo's as honorable mention.

Hugo's has been dishing out Spanish fare since 1975, when Hugo Sanchez, who came here from Cuba in 1963, first opened the doors.

For years, the family-owned restaurant has been selling Cubans, black beans and rice and other Spanish and Cuban fare, but in 1997, the eatery was briefly shut down after a couple of waiters were arrested on marijuana dealing charges.

The license was restored, all returned to normal and chefs got back to layering ham, pork salami, pickles, mayonnaise, mustard and cheese on fresh Cuban bread and sticking the whole thing under a press.

The mention on Playboy's Web site - it won't appear in the printed magazine - came as a surprise at Hugo's.

"We just found out about it yesterday," kitchen manager Jeff Lebron said Wednesday morning. "Yeah, it was a surprise."

He said the eatery typically sells hundreds of Cubans a day.

Building the proper Cuban sandwich is no secret, so what sets Hugo's apart?

Lebron said he thinks he knows: "We add TLC."