The Most Famous Spot To Grab A Cuban Sandwich In Florida

The Cubano is undoubtedly in the pantheon of the world's greatest sandwiches. Salty and tangy with the perfect combination of crunch and gooey cheese, there's no itch of the appetite that this iconic dish doesn't scratch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its proximity to Havana, the state of Florida is full of amazing Cuban sandwiches, but the most famous one comes from Miami's Versailles Restaurant.

Despite its French name, Versailles has been a hub of Cuban cuisine and community organizing since founder Felipe Valls opened its doors in 1971. Over the years, the restaurant has become a center for cultural and political gatherings, hosting everyone from politicians like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to celebrities like Beyoncé. The famous restaurant was even the Miami setting for the 2014 film "Chef." 

The restaurant originally contained a sandwich counter, a few tables, and a pick-up window for coffee, called a ventanita. The ventanita was the first of its kind, and it created a place for customers to gather and order coffee and guava and cheese-filled pastelitos in the beautiful Miami sun. It was a hit and led to ventanitas popping up all over the city. But of course, the real star at the joint often referred to as "The World's Most Famous Cuban Restaurant" is the Cuban sandwich. It's listed on the menu as "Our Famous Cuban Sandwich," and it features ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, mustard, and pickles.

While the origins of the Cuban sandwich go back to, unsurprisingly, Cuba and its mixto sandwich, the American roots of the dish are contested between residents of Miami and Tampa, where the Cuban sandwich is also a staple. Tampa's Cubanos differ in their addition of Genoa salami, while Miami's tend to be the version more widely known, thanks to institutions like Versailles making it a world-renowned dish.

Any good Cuban sandwich recipe starts with Cuban or French bread. Cuban bread — with its airy crumb and white flour dough — is perfect for the role as it flattens while toasting, leaving a thin, crispy layer of pork lard-tinged carbs as the vehicle for what comes next. After that is sweet ham, which at Versailles is glazed with brown sugar, cloves, and pineapple juice. Then comes equal parts Swiss cheese and roast pork. While home cooks will find that pork shoulder is the best cut of pork for Cubanos, due to ease of cooking and price, at Versailles, it's made from slow-roasted, bone-in pork leg marinated in cumin, garlic, lemon, lime, oregano, and sour orange. And you can't forget the pickles and yellow mustard. 

The bread is buttered on the outsides, and both halves of the sandwich are toasted, open-faced with the ham facing up. This way, the bread toasts evenly, and the ham is slightly crisped before the sandwich is closed and pressed. In some ways, the grilling is the most important part, as it creates the unique bite for which the sandwich is known.