The Best Cuban Sandwiches in Miami

The surest way to get on someone’s bad side in Miami is to serve them a Cuban sandwich with salami.

Bon Appetit magazine asked me why that is.

For their upcoming issue, I wrote about the “three Floridas” that claim the sandwich and why our identity is strangely (pathologically?) mixed up in the way we make our version across the state.

My opinion: This sandwich represents a lifeboat of a lost Cuban culture, one that exists entirely outside the sequestered island country of our parents. Memory is imperfect. But in this sandwich, we’ve all tried to preserve our past.

There’s one thing Miami, Tampa and Key West can all agree on: Please don’t call it a cubano unless speaking Spanish. Just call it a Cuban sandwich.

This is less a list than an homage to the Cuban sandwich. Still, they asked me for my eight favorite and I picked some (even though they insisted on using the word "best.") Sharing those with you at the link, which should be free.

Would love to read below who makes your favorites — in Miami, but sure, Tampa and the Keys and wherever else!