Ask where the Cuban sandwich was born and you will start an argument. Tampa claims it, forged in the cigar factories of Ybor City by Cuban, Spanish and Italian workers who each left their mark on the layers.
The Tampa difference
The Tampa Cuban is defined by one contested ingredient: Genoa salami, a nod to the neighbourhood's Italian immigrants that Miami purists reject outright. Layered with roast pork, ham, Swiss, pickle and mustard on Cuban bread, then pressed until the crust shatters, it is a sandwich shaped by a whole immigrant history.
Where to eat it
The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, Florida's oldest restaurant, is the ceremonial home. But the everyday best often comes from unheralded cafeterias and cigar-shop counters where the bread arrives fresh from La Segunda bakery each morning.
The bread is everything
A true Cuban sandwich lives or dies on its bread — a long, soft loaf with a palm-leaf baked into the top for the split. Without the right bread, it is just a pressed ham sandwich, and the locals will let you know.
