Critic’s Choice: Best Cuban sandwiches in Palm Beach County
A great Cuban sandwich is more than the sum of its ingredients. Tucked into the layers of sweet-smoky ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and yellow mustard are dashes of tradition and lingering questions about the sandwich’s exact origin.
But what we do know is that the most authentic renditions involve fresh Cuban bread that’s made, loaf by loaf, by a wee-hour baker. Then there’s the mojo-scented pork sliced after a slow roast. Next is a layer of ham that’s never too thick, a layer of Swiss cheese that swoons into the ham, and pickles and mustard for zing.
If you prefer a Tampa-style Cuban sandwich (one of my favorite versions), you’d add thin slices of flavorful Genoa salami for tangy notes that contrast the earthy pork.
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The main ingredient
For me, the best Cuban sandwiches start with genuine Cuban bread, baked early that morning. Airy and crusty, Cuban bread toasts up beautifully on the sandwich press. It flattens to let the meat and cheese layers shine, but it is sturdy enough to contain them.
In a non-sandwich context, this is bread that’s soft enough to pull chunks from and sweep through garlic oil. Even as morning toast, it’s airy enough for dipping into café con leche, each buttered chunk soaking up the sweet coffee and hot milk. The bread is tasty but mild, so it never overwhelms a good guava jelly and cream cheese spread.
And when it comes to holding together the most hefty of sandwich fillings, from pulled roast pork to fried palomilla steak to a proper Sandwich Cubano, Cuban bread does its most.
A Cuban sandwich can get fancy with the pork, the ham and the other components, but not so much the bread. There is no true Cuban sandwich without Cuban bread.
Here are my picks for the best versions in Palm Beach County:
Where to find a good Cuban sandwich
Tropical Bakery
Nowhere in Palm Beach County have I found the Cuban bread to be more authentic and fresh as it is at the family-owned Tropical Bakery. The loaves and buns are baked onsite overnight at the 34-year-old Cuban café located in the county’s most Latino municipality, Palm Springs.
The loaves are the vehicle for Tropical Bakery’s Sandwich Cubano, the café’s top-selling sandwich, says café manager Monique Cabrera, whose grandfather Armando Cabrera founded Tropical Bakery.
This is a sandwich that boasts a balanced layering of slow-roasted pork, thinly sliced ham and Swiss and pickles.
“There’s a good portion of each of the fillings. We don’t want to overwhelm people with too much of any of the ingredients,” Cabrera says.
The sandwich is warmed in the oven before it goes into the sandwich press for proper toasting, she says.
The usual smear of yellow mustard? It’s replaced by a touch of mojo that’s applied to the bread, she says. But her sandwich-makers are happy to make your Cuban sandwich with mustard, if that’s what you prefer.
Tropical’s Sandwich Cubano sells for $10.95. In cash, por favor. Although the business is now managed by the founder’s granddaughters, they follow his cash-only — and sandwich-making — traditions.
Tropical Bakery and Restaurant: 4068-1 Forest Hill Blvd., Palm Springs, 561-439-2100, TropicalBakeryRestaurant.com
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Other local favorites:
Havana
The grand dame of the local Cuban restaurants, Havana serves a hot-pressed Cuban ($11.99) that’s classic in every way except for two of the regular toppings — the mustard and pickles are added on request.
You can order one anytime at the 24-hour, walk-up window of this iconic West Palm Beach restaurant or in the dining room, which is open for dinner from Thursday through Sunday.
Havana: 6801 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, 561-547-9799, HavanaCubanFood.com
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Padrino’s
This traditional Cuban mainstay in western Boca Raton is part of a Broward-founded family of Padrino’s restaurants.
The Cubano sandwich here is classic: filled with layers of sliced roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles ($10 at lunch, $12 at dinner). The sandwich goes well with Padrino's crispy green plantain chips (mariquitas, $8).
Padrino’s: 20455 State Road 7, Boca Raton, 561-451-1070, Padrinos.com
Don Ramon Restaurante Cubano
The original Don Ramon’s location on South Dixie Highway makes an overstuffed Sandwich Cubano ($11.00) that’s served with potato sticks.
Don Ramon Dixie: 7101 S. Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, 561-547-8704, DonRamonRestaurant.com
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Buccan Sandwich Shop
No, this isn’t a Cuban restaurant. It doesn’t have a Cuban chef or Cuban bread. But the Cubano sandwich ($15.50) at the Sandwich Shop takeout window at chef Clay Conley’s Buccan and Grato restaurants is too good to omit from this list. It captures the spirit of a great Cuban sandwich because the chef dotes on the details. The bread is baked in-house. The pork, too, is roasted onsite.
Sure, the Cubano has a few cheffy touches, like the layer of cornichons instead of pickles and the mustard aioli instead of straight-up yellow French’s. But the pit ham, pork and Swiss slices and the toasty bread (OK, baguette) come together for a worthy Cuban homage.
Buccan Sandwich Shop: at Grato in West Palm Beach at 1901 S. Dixie Hwy, at Buccan in Palm Beach at 350 S. County Road; BuccanSandwichShop.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Best Cuban sandwich near West Palm: Havana, Tropical Bakery, Buccan
