Is Food Still Trendy?: Miami Edition: The Cubano

I went to Miami in search of fresh food and hand-made cocktails, what did I come back with? I forgot what I went in search for! I did make sure to find a signature of Miami, the "Cubano" sandwich. I had one at Mango's Cafe and the other at a little shop in Little Havana. With that said I will compare the two, well kind of....

First Mangos Cafe:

Very flashy, bright colors and live Latin music (probably Cuban). Sort of touristy, but fun. I had a strawberry daiquiri, my first drink of the trip and it was wonderful! I know, kinda fruity, and not really my style, but when in paradise - go tropical! It was definitely the fact that I was in Miami but none the less it was refreshing. Marcos had a margarita, didn't look so great but he said it was good. After that we decided to go with the classic Cuban sandwich. It had ham, pork, cheese, mustard and pickles. Not too difficult right? It was actually pretty good, it came with a side of potato wedges. Good dish and a great way to start my vacation.

My next Cuban Sandwich was at a little shop in Little Havana, a heavily Cuban populated area of Miami. El Exquisito, was located on Calle Ocho (Ca-yay Oh-cho). Some of you might know the song by Pit bull (pictured right), "I know you want me..." Anywho, cool area. Almost everyone spoke some version of what seemed like Spanish. I thought Miami was mostly Cuban, but there are many Latin/South American emigrants down there which made for a VERY cool culture in Miami. I'm supposed to be talking about my sandwich though huh? While we were waiting for our sandwiches to be made fresh, we visited a little cigar shop down the street. There was three different people inside rolling cigars...fun stuff. We jumped back on the tour bus with a warm sandwich to soak up the fluids in our stomachs from the night before. It worked, the sandwich was great. A different experience than the girls dancing on the bars in pink leopard full body suits at Mangos Cafe. A simple sandwich in a brown paper bag. Which was better? They were both actually very good, moist, great bread and satisfying. Neither was really that much better than the other so i call a draw.