Are Most Cuban Sandwiches Created Equal? Where's your favorite?

Posted by Ed Levine, June 7, 2007 at 12:02 PM

I've taken a lot of flack on both ELE and Serious Eats about my declaring the untraditional Cubano at the Spotted Pig the best Cubano I've ever had. It's all in good fun, of course, but I have decided to test my theory that most other Cubanos are the same by eating as many different conventional Cubanos as I can in the coming weeks.

Yesterday I had the Cubano at the Latin American Restaurant, where the motto is "We Have What You Like." Well, I liked the Cubano. Though it was already assembled when I ordered it, after it spent the requisite ten minutes under the sandwich press it was still pretty delicious. It was comprised of the usual ingredients:

slices of boiled ham
roast pork
swiss cheese
pickles
mustard
mojo (garlic sauce)

The price, a mere $5.00 for a sandwich so big I gave half of it to new Serious Eater Robyn Lee for lunch, can't be beat. What can I say? You can buy three Cubanos to go at the Latin American Restaurant for the same amount of money you would spend to sit down and have a Cubano at Spotted Pig. Is the Spotted Pig's version three times better? I think so, but the Latin American's Cubano is a mighty satisfying cheap lunch.

Latin American Restaurant
29 W. 26th St. (between Broadway and Ave. of the Americas)
Ph: 212-689-2570

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Tags: sandwiches