Come on, you could pretty much surmise the "l' in italian. Anybody who grew up in Tampa would have a problem with the "no meatball in Fla" statement. Ridiculous!

And a better factual take in a work of fiction on the Fla beef industry, i recommend the Peter Mathieson books: Killing Mr. Watson, Bone by Bone, Shadow Country, etc...

This guy thinks that beef and itakian food are new to Florida?

You would think that people with this much invested, opening a restaraunt, would at least know something about the food they're serving. New Orleans Cajun?

There was a place in Tarpon springs, years ago, right on the river next to some of the drydocks, a little joint. They served a Greek Burger that was beef and lamb, covered with potato salad and a thick slice of salty feta.
I always wonderd what you would get if you asked for a Greek Burger in Athens.

There's some really good NY style pizza in NY, or so i hear. Can't stand the stuff myself.

Island Fries.

Try Dee's Hangout, right on front beach. New Orleansish/Southern style seafood.

Sounds like my kinda joint. Thanks!

Craft cocktail culture is when the bartenders know exactly how much
diet Pepsi to pour into the Jim Beam, and do so veeeerrry carefully.

pepsi

There"s really great new york style fried rice available in,,,new york.

It's been a few years now since I've been back to Tampa, but last trip the crabs at Cacciatore's were at least as good as any I remember from the old days. My first DC, and I'll never forget it, my mother bought for me from a cart vendor when we were grocery shopping at the Kash and Karry. It was ten cents. She quit buying them when the vendors started asking for fifteen cents, too expensive!

I thought it was time for new post to this old thread.

You meant cane syrup, right?

In the time frame i mentioned, all the restaurants used a toaster as far as i know. Mine were most often bought from the Silver Ring. There were also a few joints on 22nd and 21st down towards Hooker's Point that served excellent cubans. All of the restauarants, Cafe Pepe, Valencia, Spanish Park, etc... served similar, but I'm not sure about the Columbia or Las Novadadis.

I believe that pressing started gaining favor in the eighties, and was imported from Cuba via Miami, where the bread is of course, mediocre.

I certainlt agree that the trend toward using real, good quality, jamon and roast pork in place of processed "flat meat" is more important than whether or not the bread is pressed or toasted.

these things are important to me...

Plese forgive me, but I'm on a crusade against pressed Cubans. Partly, it's because the sandwiches i grew up with in the 50's, 60's, and 70's were never pressed, but heated and lightly toasted. They were never dressed with mayonnaise, or lettuce and tomato, either. Now, i understand, eat what you like, but for me personally, there is no other way.

Another part is that a primary ingredient, the one with the highest individual worth, is the bread. The texture and flavor of Fresh Tampa Cuban Bread, baked on the same day it is eaten, is unique, and if you press it, you might as well be eating Winn Dixie cuban-shaped french bread, or even the miami version.

I don't blame miamians for pressing their bread, I would too, but there is no reason to be ashamed of Tampa bread!

Mayonaisse? Lettuce and tomato? Pressed!?!

I don't get back as much as I'd like these days. Give this a try, and if you don't like it I'll buy lunch. Sometime.

http://www.alessibakeries.com/scachat...

Best pizza? Scaciatta from Alessi Bakery, of course.

Chicago pizza is great! While in FL, why not sample a FL tradition, or a Tampa tradition anyway? Scachatta!

http://housewifebakeshop.com/yahoo_si...

In a nice Enchilado, or with bread and a simple salad of avocado and tomato. Oh wait, you're talking about that boring new england creature.

Try this. http://www.jimnnicks.com/

It's corporate, but pretty good.

I`m an expatriate, but lived there many years and get back fairly often, so have a few ideas for you. I advise you to search for posts from Andy Huse-he`s the Tampa food writer guy and up to date on all of it.

Meanwhile, if you`re talking local trads, foodwise, you must have Cuban Sandwich and Devilled Crab. A nice convenient lunch place for both is Havana at Kennedy and Dale Mabry. They`ve been there forever, and do a decent job. Another Tampa institution, restaurant wise, is the Columbia in Ybor. Oldest restaurant probably in the state, but they aren`t nearly as good as the once were. Great for lunch though. Have the 190 something Salad and Spanish Bean soup. You won`t be disappointed. Not exactly south Tampa, but not too far.
You`ll have to cruise Boliche Blvd for cuban also. All these places are inexpensive, and mostly very good for lunch or dinner, and are the absolute essence of old-time Tampa.
Info here: You must read!http://www.associatedcontent.com/arti...

And, as I said, search Andy Huse...

You may not believe this, but...i worked through most of the 70`s on the boats that were the first to work exclusively on rock shrimp. We were out of Port Canaveral and helped set up the processor who later built Dixie Crossroads. Anyway, you`re on to something here, it`s hard to beat rock shrimp. Excellent eating, and Dixie Crossroads is pretty nice too.

There was once a natural fusion of Cuban, cracker, and Italian cuisines that flourished around the Tampa area. Only vestiges remain, but had it survived an excellent case might been made for Crab chilau as the state dish. Since it did not, I vote for the plain old stone crab.

Andy Huse is my hero. I enjoyed this review, the Columbus Drive blog, others too. Now if only he would push for a reprinting of the Seabreeze book...

Don`t look at me, I prefer cane syrup, and my favorite website is hollyeats.

Wow, scubadoo, those credentials are pretty good, but I would rather discuss, not to say argue, Cuban Sandwiches than politics any day. So, my experience, from the late 50`s through the 70`s, was that Ybor cubans were not pressed, but were offered either cold or heated. I stood in line many a day at the old Silver Ring and ordered heated cubans, and the guy at the counter would heat the sandwich in something like a big glass-sided toaster oven. The sandwich would stick together and brown a little. I loved those sandwiches! Pressing the sandwich, in my opinion, destroys the unique light texture of Tampa-style cuban bread. It just doesn`t seem right if it doesn`t crumble all over your shirt...I didn`t see a pressed cuban until the 80`s, probably the mid-80`s, when Ybor was going through a "revitalization" phase, and I assumed that pressing was just an idea that made it up from Cuba via Miami. I guess it could be that fashions in Ybor cubans have changed more than once.

I have documentation for the 60`s version sandwich as served by the Silver Ring though. From the 1961 version of the Gasparilla cookbook. I posted this on another thread, but will post again if anyone else is crazy enough to be interested in such a thing.

Are we in agreement? The Cuban Sandwich is not from Cuba, and Miami has nothing to do with it aside from stealing and screwing it up. It`s a cuban/spanish/italian fusion that happened naturally in Ybor, and of course the best version is the one I grew up with in the 50s, 60s and 70s, which is, btw, not pressed but toasted. Pressing destroys the eunique Tampa texture, and you might as well be chewing on some Miami version..

All opinion, less than .02 probably. But this is interesting. From the 1961 edition of the Gasparilla Cookbook, a recipe from the Silver Ring Cafe :

Cuban bread, butter, baked han, barbecued or roast pork, swiss cheese italian salami, dill pickle. Spread mustard on one side, butter on the other. Flavor is improved by warming in the oeven.

What did you have (at Vizcaya)? What does the menu look like?

and...does anyone remember Willie`s on 21st?

Yeah, it was a long time ago, but I`ve been looking at google maps and come to realize that i might have the location wrong. Possibly it was on 30th between Busch and Fowler. This was just a little joint in a strip mall, but I have fond but maybe not so accurate memories...

Does anyone remember when there was a Capone`s pizza on 30th between Fowler and Fletcher, Berns was run by old man Bern who raised his own beef, the Seabreeze was a small wooden building, and you could smell smoked mullet from the Mullet Inn at the airport? I`m homesick, but I`m not sure home is still there.