Heights Heighlights - Jan/Feb 2009

A Taste of History: The Tampa Cuban Sandwich

It’s not just the city’s fine, hand-rolled cigars that put us on the map; there’s another handcrafted indulgence that is original Tampa – the Cuban Sandwich. By peeling back its many layers, you discover the ingredients for the spirit of the Urban Corridor (UC): rich traditions, proud families and a shared heritage. When pressed together, the combination forms a strong community with a bright future and prideful past. New Heights now introduces you to two families of artisans who (for generations) have been making history … one Cuban Sandwich at a time.

Cuba’s version of the Cuban Sandwich, by contemporary definition, evolved from “mixto” sandwiches that Cuban workers carried with them to work during the early 1900s. The mixtos were simple: basic cold cuts between two slices of bread. The concoction quickly arrived in Ybor City as Cubans migrated to Tampa for jobs and other opportunities that were created by its booming cigar industry. Once here, they mingled and shared ideas with migrants from Spain and Italy and a lunchtime Tampa original was created.

Cuban bread is to this day the foundation of any real Cuban Sandwich. Its origins are humble and stem from the late 1800s, when Cuba was fighting for its independence from Spain. With times tough – and Cuban families hungry – the country’s bakers started spreading their dough thin to create long loaves of bread that could be rationed into small slices. Though today’s bread loaves found in Cuba are more full and round, Tampa’s version is made in the same manner as it was during the sparing days of Cuba’s revolution.

On the meatier side, the roast pork on the Tampa sandwich is also of Cuban influence. Spaniards added glazed honey ham, while salami was the Italians’ contribution. It’s up for debate how the perfect double handful is finished, but the most common acceptable complements are Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. There’s even a proper layering order between the bread bed (from bottom to top): ham, pork, salami, cheese, pickles and mustard (which is spread only on the sandwich’s top slice).

If you don’t know what’s in your perfect, authentic Cuban Sandwich, there are plenty of restaurants in the Urban Corridor to begin your search. However, many locals claim that two partnering Tampa families have found it for you. One is the Faedo’s, who serve up traditionally-made, old country loaves of Cuban bread from their Mauricio Faedo’s Bakery; the other is the Hernandez’s, who – at their Pipo’s “The Original Cuban Café” locations – top the bread with slow-roasted pork the rest of the puzzle’s eatable pieces.

It’s What’s Inside
As he dishes out steaming-hot roast pork (which had undergone 48 hours of marinating and 12 of slow heat), Danny Hernandez sings out customers’ first names across the countertop of the South MacDill Avenue Pipo’s. He follows up with questions far more sincere than the typical “how are you today?”

“How’s Donna doing, Dr. Greco,” Danny sincerely inquires. “And how about James?”

The room he stands in is full and alive with lunchtime conversation and laughter; no one bothers to be too quiet. Patrons step away from the café’s counter with heaping plates of Cuban goodness – roast pork, black beans, Spanish rice and platanos – to find their seat in the family dining room where friendly neighbors and strangers are breaking bread together.

Danny’s parents, Ramon Sr. and Sinarah, moved to the states from Cuba in the mid-1960s. Working with a friend from Cuba, they opened El Dragon de Oro in West Tampa (Armenia Avenue) – a Chinese Cuban restaurant. After selling their interests in El Dragon (1975), Ramon and Sinarah made history by opening their first Pipo’s (1979) on Town-n-Country on Hillsborough Avenue. (At home, Ramon was affectionately known as “Pipo,” an endearing nickname for “father.”) In what was the first Cuban café, the loving couple served up old family recipes and rich espresso.

Danny remembers working at that location with his family as a child; just as well as he remembers two sets of stern words from his father, Big Pipo: “Go to school,” and “Get out of the kitchen.”

Danny did just that. He served in the navy and finished school at the University of South Florida. But upon graduation, he went right back into the kitchen after buying his first store (in Countryside Mall) and converting it into a Pipo’s.

“It’s in my blood,” Danny says. “To represent my father’s name every day, while giving people a great taste of Tampa.”

At age 37, Danny has opened eight Pipo’s restaurants across central Florida and owns three of them today. Each location is distinct in character and staffed by it owner’s family members – a time-tested formula for success, as validated by loyal customers who’ve been coming back to Pipo’s since it opened its doors for business.

“People gravitate toward what they know and what makes them feel good,” Danny says. “Especially during down, economic times like these.”

“That’s why we do everything the same way we have for the past three decades,” Danny continues. “Mom and Dad are still in charge of quality control. We’re not here to mass-produce. We’re cherishing age old traditions done in my family’s name – and I refuse to cheapen either.”

Danny, with a devotion that’s intrinsic to West Tampa’s cultural fabric, has used the same vendors for many years to supply Pipo’s its recipes’ staples. He’s done so because he not only trusts the products, but he trusts the people who stand behind them. He’s friends with the son in the family who provides his stores’ rice and beans. And Danny attributes the sweet-smoothness of Pipo’s Café con Leche to the espresso blend they order from Naviera Coffee – an authentic Cuban product roasted on Ybor City’s famous 7th Avenue.

One of his most fierce product loyalties is Mauricio Faedo’s Bakery and its legendary bread. The Hernandez and Faedo families have a long history of friendship, partnership and respect for each other’s expertise. So it’s no twist of fate that the string of buildings where the West Tampa Pipo’s (Armenia Avenue) resides was once a bakery and home of the Faedos (until 2005). Danny can still remember meeting the Faedo’s back when he used to play on the streets of West Tampa as a child. (Back then, the Hernandez’s were still running El Dragon de Oro, which was just two blocks away.)

Still at the heart of that location’s kitchen can be found a gigantic, 1950s-era stainless steel oven – the very one that the bakery’s namesake, Mauricio, began his legacy. It’s the metallic mother and grandmother of more than a million bread loaves Faedo’s bakers have handmade over the years.

The non-coincidence is an example of the overlapping Tampa history that continues to inspire Danny to preserve his family’s little piece; and is what motivates him to give back to his hometown.

“It’s one of the greatest things we aspire to do here,” he says of Pipo’s. “Allow people to enjoy their meal at their leisure, and get a taste of the city’s original food and history at the same time.”

A Living Tradition
Driving into its parking lot, a crew of men who are busy at work can be seen just behind a “Hot Bread Now” sign that hangs in one of several oversized windows. The neon sign glows bright red; a clear signal to those in-the-know that warm-from-the-oven, Mauricio’s loaves are ready and waiting.

Stepping inside the 5600 sq.-ft. bakery, one is overwhelmed by an intoxicating scent of fresh baked bread; which is being gently stirred by large, overhead fans. The aroma is satisfying and comfortable.

The crew members all stand behind long tables; baking craftsmen lined up and hand-flopping, folding and rolling doughy globs into thin, long cylinders. The scene is reminiscent of what it must have been like in the cigar factories of Ybor City’s past. And like a great Ybor cigar, Faedo’s Cuban bread is pure, true Tampa.

Michelle Faedo – a Tampa native and daughter of Mauricio – remembers working in her father’s bakery when she was just nine-years-old. Michelle still works there; as do her parents, uncle, brother and sister. The business is a family affair that celebrates her dad’s Spanish roots and her mom’s Cuban lineage. And Mauricio continues to reinforce the message that the path to life’s success is paved with honesty and hard work.

“It’s a work ethic that’s proven itself from the beginning,” Michelle says. “It’s what kept my dad focused running trials on recipes until he found a delicious combination of ingredients that just can’t be beat by supermarket breads,” Michelle says. “We don’t use animal lard and we don’t use preservatives.”

The work ethic/recipe combination is likely why Faedo’s is recognized as the “bakery of choice” for more than 90 percent of the area’s eateries that offer Cuban bread. And while they deliver their taste of Tampa all over the Bay area – from Clearwater to Pasco County (and even Orlando) – their longest standing clients can be found close to where Faedo’s has always called home; the Urban Corridor.

Its popularity keeps the bakery’s phone ringing nearly non-stop with new orders. (Michelle personally takes many of them and all are jotted down by hand – a personal touch on which Mauricio insists). Walk-ins orders are brisk, too; occasionally causing lines to stretch out the front door. As for the order requests, those are varied. Sometimes people will ask for 12-foot-long loaves, but the requests for one to a hundred, standard 36-inch loaves are far more common.

No matter the order, Faedo’s can likely fulfill it. And all are usually done by the store’s standard baking process. Under the supervision of a head master baker, batter is mixed into dough, weighed per ounce and steamed for 30 minutes. Once the bread brigade members get their hands on it, they turn the dough into raw loaves and place them in rows on metal trays. As they do, they lay a palmetto leaf along the center length of the waiting loaf (it allows the dough to open properly during baking).

Full metal trays are slid into large rolling racks, which – once full – are guided into massive, walk-in ovens. These are the baking basics that have been perfected over three decades. (The made-from-scratch recipe has gone unaltered for two and a half of them.)

When asked how she would best describe her family’s bakery, Michelle looks past the dough and oven and towards the front of the store where three children could be seen outside looking in as the bakers worked away.

“It’s those big windows in the front, which allow the public to see that we’re open to them,” she says. “Everyone is invited to come by – any time of day or night – and watch our team practice its trade.”

“Faedo’s has always been this open and friendly and we’ll always welcome our community,” she continues. “After all, the Urban Corridor is not just where we are … it’s who we are.”


Where’s It At.
[sh] Mauricio Faedo’s Bakery
5150 N. Florida Ave.
(813) 237-2377

[hp] Pipo’s Cafe
411 S. MacDill Ave.
(813) 871-5252
www.pipos.com

[wt] Pipo’s Cafe
3501 N. Armenia Ave.
(813) 876-7476
www.pipos.com

Where Are Others?
[yb] Columbia Restaurant: Ybor City
2117 E. 7th Ave.
(813) 248-4961
www.columbiarestaurant.com

[wt] West Tampa Sandwich Shop
3904 N. Armenia Ave.
(813) 873-7104

Try Something New!
[yb] Teatro On Seventh
1600 E. 8th Ave.
(813) 248-9400
www.teatroonseventh.com

[sh] Cappys Pizzeria
4910 N. Florida Ave.
(813) 238-1516

[sh] Bungalow Bistro
5137 N Florida Ave
(813) 237-2000
www.bungalowbistrotampa.com

Read More at www.NewHeightsMag.com.