- So how did they make it in Miami? Is it any good, Miami Cubans? - It's not the same. - Yeah, this is ours.
- This is definitely ours. And as you can see, it's awesome. - It's an amazing sandwich. - It is an amazing sandwich. (upbeat music) - When you think of Cubans in Florida, you might not think of
Tampa, but you should. Today, Miami has the highest concentration of Cuban-Americans in the state, and in the entire country for that matter. But back in the 19th century,
before Miami was even a city, it was here in Tampa that
the cigar industry boomed and the iconic Cuban sandwich was born. You know the one. Cuban bread, shredded pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard,
and crucially important, specific only to Tampa, Genoa salami. And while Miami basks in
its modern and well-deserved reputation as the
capital of Cuban America, 400,000 Tampans wait
patiently for their town to get its Cubano due. So we came down to Cigar
City to do just that. (upbeat music) We started in Ybor City, the neighborhood often called Cigar City, is the soul of Old Tampa's
immigrant populations, and it's got a vibe all it's own. Local tips: don't mind the roosters; (rooster crows) watch out for streetcars and cobblestones; and never, ever accept a Cuban sandwich that's been made with mayonnaise. - Some places will put
the mayonnaise on it, and that's not an
authentic Cuban sandwich. It had to be able to sustain
not being in air condition so mayo would have gone bad. (upbeat music) - Andrea Gonzmart Williams
is the fifth-generation owner-operator of the
historic Columbia Restaurant on Ybor City's 7th Avenue. It makes one of the best
Cuban sandwiches in Tampa. Turns out, there's a very specific reason. - My grandfather, both of his grandfathers were cigar rollers in Ybor City. Cigar rolling in Ybor City was what made the Columbia
Restaurant so important, because we got to feed all
of these great cigar rollers. So the Cuban sandwich in Tampa, you start with your Cuban bread, which obviously represents the Cubans. You do your ham, which
represents the Spaniards. Then you go pork, Cubans. Then you have your salami,
which represents the Italian. You top it with the Swiss
cheese, which I always say kind of melts it all together, much like Ybor City is a melting pot. And then you top your bread
off with yellow mustard and pickles, which represents the Germans. It's very important that
you layer it in these orders so it hits your palate just so. (upbeat music) - We ordered some expertly
layered Columbia Cubans to go, and headed across the
neighborhood for lunch with the president of J.C.
Newman, the last operational cigar factory in Tampa. (upbeat music) - If you know anybody that's been, that's had three or four
generations living in Tampa, chances are their family
worked in the cigar industry, because those were the only jobs around. The cigar industry came to
Tampa in 1886 from Key West, that's when Martinez Ybor
brought the whole industry to Tampa looking for a
place that had a port to bring tobacco from Cuba
that was located close to Cuba. A place that had a railroad
line to send cigars up to New York and Tampa was the ideal spot. At its height, Tampa
had 150 cigar factories, and in the 1930s was making
500 million cigars a year. And out of those 42,000 cigar
manufacturers back in 1895, we're the only one left. - Wow. - Making cigars today the same
way my grandfather made them, on the same machines, in the 1930s. (upbeat music) People think of Cubans settling in Miami, but nobody has the heritage
for cigars like Tampa does. Nobody even has the heritage
for Cuban sandwiches like Tampa does. One key to making a good Cuban sandwich is the bread itself. This bread comes from La Segunda Bakery. (upbeat music) - La Segunda is legendary in Tampa. Up front, customers at
this family-owned spot stop by for breakfast
sandwiches, Cuban pastries, café con leche, but in back,
a giant commercial bakery cranks out authentic Cuban
bread for... well, everyone. Its own patrons, cross-country
mail-order buyers, long-time accounts like
the Columbia Restaurant, and pretty much any cook in the city that wants to serve a real Cubano. How long has La Segunda
been around as a bakery? - 102 years, since 1915. Our bakers have been around
an average of 20 years, so we feel that they're
a part of our family. (upbeat music) - Every day is a different
day with the dough. The bread is really like a
sponge, it draws in the weather. And that's the trick of the bread. My name is Bryant Valdez, I'm from La Segunda Central Bakery. I've been here for 30
years and I love my job. Been here since I was 17 years old. All my family grew up
into making Cuban bread. I was a natural, really. First it gets mixed, then
we give it air time, 30 minutes tub time in English,
then we end up rolling it. The trick to rolling it is
making sure that it's even. Then, they will measure it in the back, and put leaves on it. The leaves are the face of the bread, and it opens up the bread down the middle. It opens up like a flower. We use the palmetto leaf,
that's the tradition my great grandfather learned
when he was in Cuba, and that's also got a
little bit of a sour flavor. - So what's the move you're
doing when you do that there? - When we do that, we're
banging it, we're stretching it, we're making sure it's
got a good length on it. - Gotcha. - And also, we knock out
air out of the dough, so they can really just measure and go. But we're at 6,000 a shift, 18,000 a day. We stay busy. Miami's got, they don't
have real Cuban bread to me, but they got the form
of it, not the taste. There's no taste like that. There's no bakery compared
to the La Segunda. - The main thing is that
it's got a soft, flaky crust, so that when it goes on the
press, it's still crunchy when you bite into your sandwich. (upbeat music) - What makes an authentic
Tampa Cuban in your mind? - Definitely the bread. The bread has to be, it's
known to Tampa from La Segunda. - What about lettuce and tomato? - Absolutely not. That was more of an American
thing, no, not on this. It messes it up. It is believed to have been
from the Taino culture, where they take the Cassava bread, and what protein they had at
the time, back in the days, it would be what stuffed it. But the Cuban sandwich
was made here, in America. (upbeat music) But it was always a batido
mamey, and a Cuban sandwich. It's almost like a milkshake
and french fries and a burger. It's delicious, you can't let it go. - I'm so glad you ordered this. - Felicia Lacalle is a
born and raised Tampan, and an accomplished chef. Cubanos are a personal treat for her, and her very favorite one
can be found at Aguila, an unassuming sandwich
joint in West Tampa. - Aguila is a restaurant
that I've been coming to since I was a little girl. Mayito knows you, he knows
what you already have, everyone comes and has a regular. "Are you having a regular?" you can hear it. It's soul food, it's dope, it's delicious, whatever the case may be, you know? That's what we want. - That's fantastic. I mean there's so much meat in here, but then that plate is just perfect. - It is perfect. You have the sweetness,
you have the saltiness, the creaminess, the
texture, it's just amazing. It's delicious. - I immediately went
back for a second bite. I couldn't help myself here. - I feel ya, this is a treat. - You go to Miami. Miami has the glitz, the
glamor, they've got TV shows about them, everyone knows Miami, but Tampa was the originator
of a very important part of Cuban cuisine in America. Do you feel like Tampa
doesn't always get its due? - It doesn't, because a lot of
people think, "okay, Tampa", but that's where it came. - But Tampa's where it found its identity. - It did find its identity, for sure. - Identity. What gives
a city its identity? Like the Cuban sandwich itself, it's a concept that seems simple enough, until you start pulling back the layers.
