eating through little havana

reflections on miami's food scene

empanada, my love

Over the last six months, I’ve travelled to nine European countries, Turkey, South Africa and Dubai. I have eaten well. As I left the other side of the world to travel back to North America, I felt a little sad.

As much as American destinations like nyc appealed to me (a Canadian), I didn’t have the highest expectations for the food game in the USA. But honestly, I’ve been really impressed so far. And the best part about American cuisine? Well, (ironically) how not quintessential American it seems.

It’s no secret that the population here is diverse, with decades of immigrants entering the country, and plenty more coming in each day. The impact of this is evident in their food scene. Look at the Italian restaurants and popular food (pizza by the slice, anyone?) in New York City for example.

What makes it particularly unique, is the fusion that inevitably takes place. The Italian food in nyc certaintly looks different than Italian food in Italy. And look at restaurants like Golden Diner! It’s got that American diner vibe, and serves classics like breakfast sandwiches- but with an east Asian twist, incorporating ingredients like chili crunch, milk buns, and gochujang. The results? divine.

This lead me to grow fairly excited for Miami- which was so unique to any place I’ve been. The sheer influence of Cuban immigrants was so much more than I imagined. I don’t know if it was in part due to the presence of palm trees and little lizards, but with all the Spanish speaking, there were pockets in the city that felt like I had left the United States entirely. There’s nothing quite like it in Canada. And the food… oh the food! I am not at all familiar with Cuban cuisine so I was excited.

Coffee shops didn’t sell cortados, but instead, cortaditos (which essentially is a cortado, but can be made sweet), and instead of french patisserie, the baked goods displayed were gloriously crispy empanadas and guava/cream cheese pastries. I was very intrigued, and faced a problem. I was staying on Miami beach, aka tourist trap central. I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money for mediocre food, so I planned a food crawl day in Miami’s Little Havana.

To be clear, the Little Havana strip most tourists find themselves on is… trappy. It’s cute, and so worth visiting… but with all the “welcome to little Havana” murals, tobacco shops, gifts shops and restaurants with large printed menus out front, it certainly doesn’t feel… authentic per say. But, with a bit of research, and a willingness to stray off this main drag, you can find good, down to earth food where you’ll see the local community eating well.

Cuban Pastries

I’m not expert on Cuban pastelitos, and I won’t pretend to be. From my observations though, pastelerias sell gloriously golden puff pastries stuffed with sweet and savoury filling, with the most common being guava jam with cream cheese. Fried empanadas also seem plentiful, with fillings like chicken or beef. It all sounded glorious, and left me with a strong desire to start our food crawl with a breakfast of Cuban pastries.

Now, it was a bit frustrating researching a good pasteleria, as I kept getting advertised coffee shops that seemed to serve pricier eh looking goods, or a place called Party Cake. Call me picky; I own it- I’m such a pastry snob, but it just didn’t look excellent. And if I’m sampling a new genre of baked goods, I want the best!

Then, I found a place about a twenty minute walk from the main strip: Pastelmania. The prices were the most affordable I’d seen, the reviews glowing, and it was not a viral type spot: promising.

The bakery was small with a few tables, and it was buzzing. Not with tourists, but with regulars ordering pastries in the plenty in Spanish, and sitting down with a Cuban coffee. Their options were plentiful. Puff pastries were stuffed with guava and cream cheese, coconut, spinach, chicken, apples and being sold for a little over $2. They had full cakes, humble breakfast options, fried cheese sticks called taquenos, Cuban sandwiches and, of course, empanadas.

look at those LAYERS

In the end, we kept things classic with a guava and cream cheese pastry and got two empanadas: chicken and beef. The empanadas were huge, and gloriously golden and crisp, as though they were fresh from the fryer. They were generously packed full of tender, flavourful meat and served as a delicious, hearty breakfast. The puff pastry was immaculate: flaky layers, a delicate crisp, and the perfect ratio of not too sweet filling. This was probably the best breakfast we’ve had since leaving South Africa in early December, and we would have returned had it not been so far from our accommodation.

golden, crisp & densely packed

Cuban Sandwiches

After powering through breakfast and taking a long walk admiring the vibrant colours of murals along Little Havana towards Brickell (worth a visit), we were prepared for lunch. What we had on the agenda had been on my bucket list for a long time: the Cubano sandwich.

Cuban bread loaded with roasted pork, ham, cheese, pickles and mustard then toasted to golden, melty perfection? Sign me up.

Now, as far I’m aware, this is a classic example of the sort of fusion that takes place in the States. While the Cubano’s origins trace back to the Cuban street food, sandwich mixto, it has certainly taken on its own flare as its grown in popularity in Florida. While Tampa seems to be one of the more iconic places for this sando, Miami has one famed place to get them, with a location right in the heart of Little Havana: Sanguich.

sanguich sandwiches

We went on a Sunday at lunch, and the small restaurant was busy. We got lucky and snagged a table as group just happened to leave- and I’m thankful we did. We ordered quick, but it was a bit of wait to secure the goods. Not the fault of Sanguich; I was watching them pump out sandwich after sandwich and don’t think they could move any faster. Like I said, popular place.

While we, of course, got a classic Cubano and also tried one of their many other sandwich offerings: pan con bistec. This was loaded with thinly sliced steak, swiss, a slightly spicy red sauce and crispy shoestring potatoes.

Watching them make the sandwiches was kind of mesmerizing. A long assembly line where the sandos were put together, then put on a large panini press looking thing. Sandos with more fresh ingredients were then opened up exposing the melty cheese goodness and loaded with lettuce, or, in our sandwiches case, shoe string fries.

We were served two golden, oozing with cheese sandwiches, generously filled. Let’s talk bread for a second. Cuban bread isn’t necessarily crazy distinct, but it had a certain density to it that is unique and worked PERFECT for this kind of sandwich. It held up well, and had that glorious toasty quality.

look at that JUICE factor (could not resist a bite)

The Cubano was our favourite. Again, the concept is simple, but the meat was so juicy, the mustard pretty good (nothing on German mustard, we’ve been spoiled) and overall was just a hearty, tasty bite of food. A pretty damn solid ham and cheese sandwich, I must say.

We didn’t like the pan con bistec as much, but thats no dunk on the steak, and just shows how much we loved the Cubano, because this sandwich also slapped. The thin sliced steak maintained that delicious tender medium rare steak quality, and those fries!! Crispy and salted beautifully, I must say. I also enjoyed the mojo rojo sauce. Overall, Sanguich is worth the hype! As are Cuban sandwiches.

Dessert

For dessert we opted not to get more Cuban sweets, and instead go to a funky ice cream shop advertising distinctly Miami flavour combos- which of course have a heavy Cuban influence.

Some of Azucar’s popular flavours include the abuela maria (Guava) and cafe con leche. I ended up getting the seasonal eggnog, with Dan getting the cafe con leche. I also sampled a few other flavours, and was into the caramel flan and the bourbon.

Here’s the deal. This is a fun place to visit for the more unique combos and we were served fairly big scoops, but I found it overpriced. Good, but not amazing ice cream- which is fine, but given the fact that the single scoop was $6.50 I wasn’t totally sold on it being super worth it.

Maybe I’m just spoiled by Calgary, which has a shockingly good ice cream scene given the cold climate- where I’d get a split scoop for less money and have the joy of trying two flavours for the price of one, but yeah. I’d say go, sample a few flavours and maybe share a scoop as it is a dense ice cream.

Bonus

We didn’t end up eating here because we got full rather quickly, but another option for food in Little Havana is El Rey De Las Fritas. This spot is perfect to sample another iconic dish: the Frita Cubana aka a Cuban burger.

The Frita Cubana is burger topped with crisp shoestring fries. After having those same fries in the pan con bistec, I can imagine this is good. This restaurant also has a variety of fritas, including one with sweet plantains or an egg on top. Honestly, as I write this, I’m experiencing intense regret over not getting one.

Get one for me and let me know how it tastes, hey?

Anyways, Americans, I have enjoyed my eating between Miami and New York City so far. I’m excited to discuss all Nashville has to offer next!