62 OCTOBER 2017
new spots to belly up, Union
Beer Store on Calle Ocho and
the Tank Brewing Co. near the
airport, are the work of Cuban
descendants. At Union, owners
David and Cici Rodriguez invite
you to BYO food (El Rey is
a neighbor, and we’re never
mad at burgers and beer) while
working through their 21 taps.
Their beers are all either fresh and
local (try J. Wakefield Slammin
Bones) or out-of-town and mind-
blowing (see Founders KBS
2015). Over at the Tank, a
Freedom Tower Amber Ale nods
to the downtown Miami landmark
where the U.S. government
processed many Castro-era
refugees. You’ll want a second
round to get through chef Richard
Plasencia’s elevated take
on a pan con lechón sandwich.
...AND SPEAKING
OF SANDWICHES
Cuban food in Miami lives and
dies by these three classics:
Cubano Sandwich
Sliced ham, roast pork, Swiss,
pickles, and mustard, pressed
between lard-enhanced Cuban
bread. No one does it better—
with soul-hugging results—than
Enriqueta’s Sandwich Shop.
Pan con Lechón
Mojo-marinated, slow-roasted
pork with sautéed onions on
Cuban bread. Tuck some crumbled
pork rinds into the meat for
crunch and salt, as it’s done at
La Esquina del Lechón.
Croqueta Preparada
Two staples of Cuban cuisine, the
Cubano sandwich and croquetas,
get an unexpected upgrade in this
better-than-the-sum-of-its-parts
ham-stuffed creation. Get into it at
South Beach’s Las Olas Café.
A FASTCASUAL
PHENOM
Nedal Ahmad and his two
cousins emptied their savings
accounts to open their first Pincho
Factory in 2010. Good thing the
fast-casual Latin street-food
concept immediately caught on:
Soon Ahmad was taking his show
on the road, feeding Kathie Lee
and Hoda his toston burger,
a beef patty between twice-fried
green plantains. Don’t sleep on
the monthly specials, either;
a recent vaca frita grilled cheese
(fried, shredded beef pressed with
Gouda and avocado on thick
challah) was one such revelation.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Cuban cuisine is in the genes
for these second- and third-
generation restaurateurs:
Palomilla Grill
At Alejandro Rodriguez’s update
of his late father’s establishment,
old-timers rely on the plate-filling,
thin-pounded palomilla steaks
and meltingly tender ropa vieja.
Rodriguez’s chef-y touches—
he grows herbs in the parking
lot and coats his goat-cheese
croquetas in panko—are bringing
in a new crowd.
Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine
Thirty-three years after the
Vilariño family opened the first
Las Vegas restaurant in
Hollywood, FL, it now operates
15 between Miami and Fort
Lauderdale. Think of these as theFrom left: Azucar’s guava-laden
Abuela Maria ice cream cone;
a classic Cubano from Enriqueta ’s
Sandwich ShopGreek diners of Cuban food:
There are expansive, spillproof
menus, prices that end in .95, and
fast, solid cooking. Basics are
best, so go with a flattened chicken
breast; its salt, pepper, and garlic
flavors get seared in, then it’s
topped with onions sautéed until
they’re a pleasing golden-yellow.
Sansara
Watch chefs Andres Vega and
Sachi Statz—whose families
both own local bakeries—cook
at their pop-up, and you’ll be
shocked by how tidy they are in
the kitchen. Taste their food, and
you’ll fall for their use of acid
in all the right places: There’s fish
sauce in the papaya salad with
a sous vide pork belly, and
coffee-spiked caramel with café
con leche–soaked pain perdu.
Believe it, these two have Cuban
food in their blood.
NOT YOUR ABUELA’S
ICE CREAM
What is Cuban-style ice cream?
For Azucar Ice Cream Company
founder Suzy Batlle, it’s the
creamy, tropical treat her
grandmother churned using local
passion fruit, avocado, and more.
Batlle sources all that goes into
her 70-plus flavors from farmers—
even the guava that stars in
Azucar’s Abuela Maria, a blend
of vanilla and cream cheese with
pieces of cookie and tangy bits of
fruit. There’s a lot of ice cream in
Miami, but none delivers a sense
of place like Azucar. Where else
in America could you score a
scoop of “Burn in Hell, Fidel”?
(That’s chocolate ice cream spiked
with cayenne, for the record.)CITY GUIDES
miami
The Strange
Story of
a Ubiquitous
Sandwich
First, it’s Elena Ruz.
Not Ruiz. Not Ruth. Ruz.
“It annoys me when people
spell it incorrectly,” says
Sef Gonzalez, whose Burger
Beast blog has tracked
Miami street foods like this
sandwich since 2008.
Second, it’s...not great.
Sliced turkey, strawberry jam,
and cream cheese on
eggy-yellow bread, the dish
is named after its creator,
a Cuban socialite who would
special-order it in the 1930s
at a Havana restaurant.
The result—sticky and sweet,
like an after-school snack—
landed on the menu and,
like its namesake, eventually
settled in Miami. The real
Elena Ruz died in 2011, but
you can still order one at
many Cuban spots in town.
Gonzalez bets you’ll do so
exactly once: “When folks
ask me what it is, I tell them
it’s a failed Monte Cristo.”
From top: Pincho Factory’s toston
burger; ropa vieja and its fixings
at Las Vegas Cuban CuisinePHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZABETH JAIME (PALM TREE).FOR RESTAURANT DETAILS, SEE SOURCEBOOK.