If you want to experience some true, down home Cuban culture in Tampa, you can't beat La Ideal Sandwich Shop. This is a place where people come for their daily fix of Cuban coffee and conversation. In the morning, most people buy Cuban café and pastelles, the very traditional Cuban breakfast. You can also get scrambled eggs and toasted and buttered Cuban bread if you are really hungry.

However, the real attraction here is the sandwiches. During the noon hour they keep three large planchas busy turning out nine different Cuban sandwich favorites. And the prices, que barato! They charge just $3.50 for a Cuban sandwich! We were a little surprised to see shaved meats on a Cuban sandwich.

However, we have to admit, the sandwiches are very tasty and the meat is moist and flavorful. At least here they don't follow one Tampa tradition – there is NO Genoa salami on the Cuban sandwiches here!

At La Ideal you can make it a complete lunch with a sandwich and one of several soups. The caldo gallego here is very hearty and filled with delicate white beans.

They also have an assortment of Cuban bocaditos – papa rellenas, empanadas, tamales and croquetas. An ideal lunch at La Ideal? Any one of the sandwiches, two tamales, and a bowl of their delicious garbanzo bean soup...

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La Carreta on Bird Road

When the sun goes down and fresh ocean breezes temper the Miami heat, people flock to La Carreta's outside café window. On a normal night, there is always a lively crowd engaged in the favorite pastime of all Cubans, talking! Discover a microcosm of Miami culture: older people discussing politics, police officers on break, younger men and women on their way to an evening of dancing or returning from the same, middle-aged bikers on Harleys, and the full spectrum of Miami characters: Cuban, Latin American, and Anglo alike. Walk in past La Carreta's coffee window on a busy Saturday night and you enter a cavernous space filled with large tables and the buzz of a hundred conversations, punctuated by the clinking of glassware as huge Cuban country-style meals are delivered by oh-so-polite and flirtatious older waitresses.

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Versailles

When Cubans gather for café, it always comes with conversation, debate, and humor. Pass by Versailles at any time of day and see a small crowd milling around the coffee window, sipping the hot brew from tiny white cups and pontificating on national and world events. So much happens in the parking lot and along the sidewalk in front of Versailles; it is easy to forget about the food available inside. Pass through the front door and a maître d' who has been working here so long he may have helped build the place will greet you. Versailles has always maintained one of the largest Cuban food menus of any restaurant in the United States. The sheer diversity of this large menu keeps the kitchen hopping. If they do not have it on the menu, it is probably not Cuban food! For Cubans who have long since left Miami, a vacation here is unthinkable without at least one meal at Versailles.

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El Rey de las Fritas

Here the frita is truly king and during the rush, the cook keeps the small grill covered with sizzling patties in various states of readiness. Select a stool and eat in or order “para llevar” at the cash register or walk-up window: a roving waitress will take your order. Do not let the preponderance of spoken Spanish intimidate you; ordering is easy from the backlit menu board complete with pictures of every dish. The din of a dozen conversations competes with the calling out of the orders. The scent of the heavenly patties and onions hitting the hot grill top fills the room. Whether you eat yours “straight up” or draped with a slice of decidedly American cheese, the frita seems to disappear magically from your plate. Those in the know make a dessert out of the buñuelos, impossibly light pastries with a hint of anise.

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The Palace of Juices

Many visitors to Miami know little about Cuban cuisine; most frequently believing that Cuban food is not far removed from the Tex-Mex cooking they enjoy back home, and then disappointed to find nary a taco or burrito on the menu. Here at the Palace you can learn everything you need to know about Cuban food in just one place, the heart and soul of Cuban cooking at a simple, neighborhood fruit and vegetable market. At the Palace of Juices, the juices are just-squeezed fresh and delectable, but don't miss the smorgasbord of Cuban culinary delights that abound here. Great sandwiches, chicharrones, masitas, and plate specials: solid, country-style Cuban meals, such as picadillo, with ground beef, tomato, onions, green peppers and spices, or vaca frita, tender beef shredded, fried, and bathed in a rich tomato-based sauce. At “El Segundo” in Westchester, they have their own version of Mr. Clean: a bare-pated gentleman in a white shirt and black vest who does nothing all day but assemble the pantheon of Cuban sandwiches to order from his perch in the middle of the store.

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Islas Canarias Restaurant

You will find traditional Cuban fare at Islas Canarias in a location that is typical of most Miami restaurants: buried in a strip mall. Lose the attitude, relax, and enjoy some great Cuban food. Start you meal with an order of fried yuca with cilantro sauce, then sample specialties such as tortilla española, or lacón con papa, a delectable ham hock and boiled potato dish seldom seen on Miami menus. The rueda de serrucho, fried King fish steak, is not to be missed.

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Las Vegas Restaurant

If you are staying in South Beach, the best Cuban restaurant withing short traveling distance is the Las Vegas. So good, that some spending the week at an area beach hotel eat here daily. With an ever-changing lineup of lunch specials, it is a strategy that is not as dull as it seems. We remember one memorable evening when we ordered the signature appetizer plate and ate so many papa rellenos, empanadas, tamales, croquetas, yuca, and plátanos we skipped the entrée and moved right to dessert. Go easy on the appetizers and save room for a delicious churrasco y camarones, the Las Vegas version of surf and turf. Las Vegas serves big-plated, down-to-earth Cuban that most places south of 30th Street can't seem to deliver without a lot of pomp and inflated prices.

Open: Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.| Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Price: Low to moderate

Dress: Casual

6970 Collins Avenue

Miami, Florida 33141

305-864-1509

You can't experience Cuban culture in Miami without eating Cuban food! We see so many tourists eating Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, Big Macs and Whoppers for lunch, and at dinner they splurge on something really exotic: Outback Steakhouse.

Listen people! You can eat that kind of food at home. When you come to Miami, why not break out of your shell?

Get off of "The Beach" and get a real taste of Miami with these six dining gems.

“Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuban” is our latest book. Here you'll find many classic Miami Cuban recipes, this time with an emphasis on dishes that are great for parties.

“Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban” is our first book. It contains many classic Miami Cuban recipes and favorite dishes.

Two great Miami Cuban cookbooks!

Capture the Cuban Flavor of Miami.

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