Cuban Food in Miami (A Tour)

Nick Calzada is Craig's film school friend who lives in Miami. Anytime we go to Florida, Craig says: "Let's go visit my friend Nick in Miami" and inevitably we never have the time. This trip, though, we made a point to schedule a day with Nick; not only to hang out (he and Craig had lots of film stuff to catch up on) but, more selfishly, so I could convince Nick--who happens to be Cuban--to give us a tour of Miami's Cuban culture. Specifically: the food.Lucky for us, Nick was totally game. He told us to meet him at Versailles Restaurant on SW 8th Street. That's where our story begins."Versailles is the place," explained Nick, after we greeted him under the big sign, "where the news always comes to get a reaction from the Cuban community in Miami. It's a big gathering spot."And indeed, the place was buzzing with activity. There was the restaurant proper, which had tinted windows, and then there was the coffee stand which is where we followed Nick.(Here's Nick and Craig, outside the coffee window.)"Ok," he said, "I thought we'd start here with some Cuban coffee. Does that sound good to you guys?""It sounds great."I had Nick write down everything he ordered so I could transcribe it later. Here he ordered there "cortaditos" (Cuban espressos) "con leche evaporada" (with evaporated milk) which Nick drew an arrow next to and wrote "homemade."To hear Nick order our Cuban coffee at the window, watch this video:
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Now Craig, who gags whenever he sips my coffee accidentally at home because I put sugar in it, seemed like the worst candidate in the world to enjoy Cuban coffee. "It's really, really, sweet," warned Nick, but Craig said he'd give it a go.Here's a shot of the woman who made our coffee:And here's the end result:As a person who loves everything sweet sweet sweet, I absolutely loved my Cuban espresso. Craig, to his credit, didn't gag."Mmmm," he said--or was it more like: "Hmmm?" He nodded enthusiastically--or was it nervously--as he sipped. "It's good," he said, almost trying to convince himself.Nick laughed.Then we got into Nick's car and he drove us to our next stop: Brazo Fuerte Bakery (which, Nick translates in my notes, means "Strong Arm.")There Nick pointed out the "pastelitos" or Cuban pastries in a room that made me feel, appropriately, like I was in another country (it reminded me of some of the ports of call from Caribbean cruises I took with my family in high school). I imagine it felt that way because it was such an authentic recreation of an actual Cuban bakery.Nick took the liberty of ordering, as represented in this video:
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The "plate of stuff" we ultimately settled on was a plate that included "pastelito de guyaba" (guava), "pastelito de queso" (cheese), "pastelito de carne" (meat), and "pastelito de guyaba y queso" (guava and cheese.)Eating these, various cultures were evoked; first, of course, was France--with the flaky pastry reminiscent of a croissant. Second, though, and rather surprisingly, was China; mainly because of the meat."This sort of reminds me of a Chinese bakery in Chinatown," I said, "with the pork buns mixed in with the sweeter stuff."My favorite of them all was the "guyaba y queso" which had the perfect blend of savory and sweet, the cheese and the guava (a pairing that'd return later--you'll see!)Nick also ordered us croquettes of ham and cheese:These were every bit as greasy and good as you'd want them to be. Which led to the inevitable question: "Is all Cuban food this unhealthy?"Nick laughed. He didn't say "no."But perhaps it was in response to my question that he took us to our third location, a place with a funny name: "Palacio de los Jugos" (The Palace of the Juices.)Here we could heal our bodies with refreshing juices and other nutritious foods like... pork rinds?First the juices. You order inside at a counter that's slightly reminiscent of a Smoothie King, only at a Smoothie King they're not chopping up pieces of fried pork behind the counter.All around us were interesting sights. Piles of fruit:This sign:This strange, brown, brain-like version of dulce de leche (we asked):And this strange sandwich which caught Craig's eye:That's guava paste with white cheese for the bread. Of course Craig, the world's most hardcore cheese lover, had to have it.Nick helped us choose three juices to try and we took them outside where we sat with a large cluster of people in the open air. This was my favorite stop of the day; the breeze was perfect and the crowd was boisterous and entertaining.Here are the juices we ordered:From left to right, that's: Guyaba, Guanabana, and Mamey.How those translate and what fruits they represent is anyone's guess (if you know, tell us in the comments!) Our favorite was the guanabana which was zingy and creamy and the most mysterious and, therefore, the best.Of course, these juices were getting to be too healthy, so we also shared a bag of pork rinds ("chicharrones") which were meaty, fatty, crunchy and all around good:We also shared "mariquitas" (plantain chips):And, finally, Craig's cheese sandwich which even he found a little too intense:It reminded me of the Spanish pairing of Manchego cheese and quince paste (an idea echoed by Molly Orangette when I told her about it a few days later (we met her and Brandon at Franny's for dinner (Brandon's opening a pizza place soon! (how many internal parentheses can I create? (this many!)))))Certain food writers might've cowered at the idea of more food after all this food, but not me. When Nick asked if there was anything else I wanted to try I said I had to have a Cuban sandwich.

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