My wife Teresa and I made our second visit to Growler Country here in Tallahassee last week. We had seen their Cuban sandwich on the menu on our first visit and promised ourselves that we would be back to check it out. My wife was born in Havana and is a great cook. Over the years, she has got me “addicted” to all things Cuban, especially Cuban sandwiches. As much as I love the food, many of the dishes do require a lot of prep work. When we lived in Coral Gables, we would explore places that did both classic and modern interpretations of Cuban cuisine whenever we (well mostly I) needed a Cuban “fix”. We had some favorites, but it was tough matching the taste and quality of my wife’s creations.
The choices here in Tallahassee to get Cuban food are more limited than in South Florida. We have tried a few. Chi Chi’s was a favorite before it closed. We haven’t found one we liked since then. So I was really looking forward to checking out the Growler Cuban, but did keep my expectations in check.
The Growler Country Cuban is made the traditional way on real cuban bread. It has Mojo pork, thick spiral sliced ham, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. There are a couple of things that really make a difference between an ordinary and a great Cuban sandwich. One is the quality and toasting of the bread. Another is how flavorful the Mojo pork is. You also have to use the right condiments (the mustard, pickles, etc). Chef Zeek at Growler’s was right on target with each of these. It was a better Cuban than we have ever had at a restaurant and almost matches the Cuban my wife serves us every Christmas Day.
If a great Cuban sandwich is something you really love, you need to go try this. If you never had a proper classic Cuban, you should add having this one to your bucket list.
