Wednesday, July 18, 2001 | 8:48 a.m.
The Cuban sandwich, long a terrific south Florida taste treat available in small ethnic markets and Cuban restaurants in that area, has successfully invaded Las Vegas. There are several places to eat this sandwich, although a few of them do their own take on this classic. Basically a Cuban sandwich is a ham, roast pork and cheese sandwich on toasted, often buttered Cuban bread that is pressed flat. In order to be authentic, the sandwich must be pressed.
A popular variant called the media noche, literally "middle of the night" in Spanish, is the same sandwich on a heavier, sweeter Cuban egg bread similar to a Jewish challah. Most of the time you find Cuban sandwiches with mustard and dill-pickle slices as well, although these are optional. Some chefs even substitute mayo for mustard.
You can make this sandwich at home, using a griddle, as long as you have something to press the sandwich, or a waffle iron, inverting the plates. One of those new grill presses work beautifully as well. The key to a great Cuban sandwich, however, may be the roast pork. A good Cuban restaurant uses bitter orange peel and garlic to roast pork, and these flavors definitely enhance the sandwich.
Although it is off the menu for the summer, Chef Michael Jordan of Rosemary's Restaurant makes a mean Cuban sandwich. His version, which will be back when the weather cools, is made with slow-roasted pork shoulder that he dry rubs with a Cajun spice mixture, homemade bread and butter pickles, prosciutto, white cheddar cheese and his trademark potato bread. It's a wonderful, if inauthentic, take on this sandwich.
Meanwhile there are a few other places to get a Cuban sandwich in town. Each one tastes a bit different, and at times, the authenticity is definitely in question.
Florida Cafe
1401 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Florida Cafe is a place where you hear the lilting sounds of Cuban Spanish spoken at nearly every table because the food served here attracts local Cubans. This is a three-meal restaurant on a section of the Strip above the Stratosphere, inside the Howard Johnson hotel.
The decor doesn't indicate that the food is going to be terrific, but it is. The main design element in the place is a burbling blue-tile, Moorish-style fountain, similar to one you'd see at shopping malls in Cordoba, Spain, or possibly San Diego.
The restaurant serves some of the best Cuban food outside south Florida. This Cuban sandwich is a sweet toasted roll, pressed flat and stuffed with roast pork, thinly sliced ham, a yellow cheese and sour pickles. It's easily the best in town.
What makes this sandwich so good? No doubt, it is the main ingredient, a thick slice of pierna de puerco, melt-in-the-mouth-tender roasted pork leg shot through with the flavors of orange and garlic. This meat can also be ordered as a main dish, which turns out to be at least 12 ounces, plus a choice of black beans or rice. The cost is $5.
El Rincon Criollo
1145 Las Vegas Blvd. South
A little farther north on the boulevard is a modest, slightly down-at-the-heels Cuban restaurant, which is also blisteringly authentic. You'll sit at tables (covered in red-and-white checked oilcloths) among a predominance of Spanish speakers. One wall is papered with a giant world map, the other has mirrors cut into the shapes of mermaids and palm trees.
This sandwich is a plate filler, pressed even flatter than the one at Florida Cafe, but not quite as flavorsome. The bread is crisp, the cheese melted and the two large pickle slices properly sour, but this thinly sliced roast pork doesn't have the zip of the one down the street. Nonetheless, at $4 it is the least-expensive Cuban sandwich in town, and a bargain in its own right.
Bahama Breeze
375 Paradise Road
This breezy new concept restaurant, operated by Darden Restaurants of Olive Garden and Red Lobster fame, has 21 locations mostly in Florida and the southeast. This is the first one in our state. It's kind of fun. The restaurant is a big beach shack where you can get fare such as conch chowder, meaty kabobs and paella, as well as a variety of tropical drinks made from various Caribbean rums
The Cuban sandwich, as stated earlier, is practically a staple in south Florida, so it's not a major surprise to find it included. This sandwich is quite large, so much so that a half sandwich served with black bean soup (for $7.75) seemed like a big meal.
The bread is like an Italian bread, in fact, and is nicely fresh. But it isn't really pressed and the meats don't have much taste at all. It's more like supermarket-quality roast pork, in very thin slices, combined with a flavorless type of ham. No one can say that this monster isn't a tummy stuffer, anyway.
Coyote Cafe
MGM Grand
Leave it to Chef Mark Miller to re-create a classic using his own ideas. Coyote Cafe is an earth-toned, color-splashed place with many excellent Southwestern- and Latin-inspired dishes. This sandwich, unfortunately, isn't one of them.
For one thing, the bread, an industrial-style French roll, is cottony and uninspiring. It isn't pressed, either, because one guesses that would be hard with a roll like this one. The roll is smeared with a black-bean puree on one side, and a light spread of guacamole on the other. It's an oddball combination.
That said, the quality of the meats inside the sandwich is excellent. There is a thick slab of grilled, honey-baked ham, and pieces of succulent roast pork, both just the standard you would expect from a top chef such as Miller. The cheese isn't melted onto the bread, but rather into the ham. The side dish, a jalapeno-laced potato salad, is excellent as well.
There are a variety of reasons to lunch here, including the delicious cajeta pine nut sundae served for dessert. But if you want a real live Cuban sandwich, your best bet is to head north on the Strip.
archive
