I’m from the North and up there Cuban sandwiches are a rare find on a menu. There is TONS of Italian food, but for Cuban food you’d really have to search it out, so until yesterday, I had never had a Cuban sandwich before. Since I’ve been in Florida I’ve seen these sandwiches everywhere, at the grocery store, restaurants, stands on the side of the road, everywhere! But for some reason I hadn’t tried one yet.

If you are like me and never had a Cuban sandwich before, you are probably wondering what is on one of these sandwiches. There is some debate about what is on a “true” Cuban sandwich, but usually it is Cuban bread, ham, salami, roast pork, and swiss cheese. Sometimes people will add dill pickles, lettuce and tomato, mustard or mayonnaise. According to Wikipedia, the Cuban sandwich was originally created by Cuban workers either in Cuba or immigrants in Florida communities, specifically in Ybor City, Tampa.

Anyways, yesterday someone mentioned the Silver Ring Cafe to me and I had never heard of this place, so naturally I was curious. The Silver Ring Cafe has a small menu, the staple being Cuban sandwiches, so I decided to go there for my first Cuban sandwich. The cafe itself is nothing fancy, just a small dining area and a counter that you order at. The menu is posted on the wall and has special Cuban sandwiches, regular Cuban sandwiches, and then a few other sandwich choices to order. They also have a couple soup choices and chicken yellow rice. For only $5 you can get the lunch special, a sandwich, cup of soup and a drink. I’m not a huge soup fan so I just ordered the regular Cuban sandwich by itself. You can have your sandwich hot or cold, I ordered mine hot, so they pressed it in a sandwich press. For a sandwich bigger than what you would get at Subway, it only cost $4.65 so it’s a great deal.

The Silver Ring Cafe serves the typical Cuban and what they call the special Cuban. The one I ordered was the regular one, with just the ham, roast pork, salami and swiss cheese. I opted for mustard on it as well. The special has all of the general ingredients plus lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. My regular Cuban sandwich was ready about 2 minutes after I ordered it and I took it home to eat.

When I got home I was really excited to try it and almost forgot to take a picture of it (as usual). I took my first bite and I was really pleased. I enjoy ham sandwiches, but this was much better! It was warm, the cheese was melted, and the combination of pork, ham, and salami was delicious. The mustard on it gave it some extra flavor, but it would probably be good plain as well. The bread is really good too, it’s soft but crispy at the same time (weird I know). It was a big sandwich and definitely filled me up without any chips or side dishes.

I really enjoyed my first Cuban sandwich and next time I’m feeling like a sandwich, I’ll skip Subway and head back to the Silver Ring Cafe for another one. I now feel like a true Floridian, and if you have never had a Cuban sandwich, I definitely would recommend it!

The Silver Ring Cafe is located on Tennessee Avenue, right across from Munn Park. They only take cash so if you go be sure to have some cash on you!