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The Café team of tasters crowned Señor Pan as best Cuban sandwich in Chicago.
Sabor a Cuba
In search of the Windy City’s best Cuban sandwich
words Maura Wall Hernandez photo alBerto Treviño
Whether you call it a Cuban sandwich, a cubano or a mixto, this
unique Cuban take on a ham and cheese sandwich undoubtedly
will leave you with visions of sandwiches dancing in your head and
strains of Celia Cruz melodies tinkling in your ear.
Most experts agree: a true Cuban sandwich consists of roasted
pork, cured ham, swiss cheese, thinly-sliced dill pickles and Cuban
(or French) bread, slathered with yellow mustard. Typically, the
bread ranges anywhere in size from 7 to 12 inches long. Some
versions also include butter spread on the crust or mayonnaise on
the bread, though there are those who will argue over a Cuban sand-
wich’s authenticity if it includes mayonnaise.
The exact origins of the sandwich are unknown, but according
to some sources the sandwich tradition first became popular in the
late 1800s or early 1900s among cigar factory and sugar mill workers
in Florida. The sandwiches were sold at restaurants, lunch wagons,
and just about anywhere else factory workers ate frequently.
The bread, grilled to a crispy perfection on the outside but main-
taining softness on the inside is achieved with a plancha – an appara-
tus similar to a panini press but without the ridges, so that it presses
the sandwich flat. Not everybody’s got a plancha, though. Some
home cooks improvise by pressing the sandwich with a bacon press,
a cast iron pan or even a brick covered in aluminum foil.
In Tampa, we hear they add Genoa salami to their cubano –
probably a result of accommodating the taste buds of local Italian
immigrants since the 1800s; in Key West, it’s common for your
74 Café OCTOBER | NOVEMBER 2010
cubano to come with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Another
version of the sandwich – called the medianoche – has all the same
main ingredients, save for the pineapple juice-sweetened and egg-
based bread akin to Hawaiian bread.
Café editors voted on a list of top-rated Cuban establishments in
Chicago, focused on serving mostly sandwiches, and enlisted a team
of in-house taste-testers (and friends and relatives) to check out half
a dozen locations to find Chicago’s best cubano. The following is an
evaluation of a select list of restaurants serving this traditional sand-
wich. They took into consideration six key elements when rating
the sandwiches: the bread (which should ideally be Cuban bread,
toasted a la plancha, but French bread was considered an acceptable
substitute); that it contained all the standard ingredients; rating the
meat seasoning and moisture; thickness or heartiness of the sand-
wich; overall balance of flavors and taste; and size and value for price.
What our team noted most is that traditional preparation always
wins out – but not always where you expect. Some of the older
establishments received low marks, mostly for inconsistency, missing
ingredients or poor overall taste and value. The new crop of Cuban
sandwich shops that received highest marks are relatively young and
owned or run by the under 40 crowd.
The Café team of tasters, Marilia Gutiérrez, Maura Wall
Hernandez, Diana Ramirez, Alejandro Riera, Christina E. Rodri-
guez, alBerto Treviño, and Susan Willey, crowned Señor Pan as
Chicago’s best.
 dINING

BREAD INGREDIENTS SEASONING THICKNESS TASTE VALUE

Señor Pan 4: Per- 4: All ingre- 3: The pork was 3.5: One of 3.5: All the in- 4: With two sizes
4612 W. Fullerton fect, toasty dients were a bit dry, perhaps the meatiest gredients live (7- or 10-inch),
Ave., Chicago goodness. present and in from over-roasting, sandwiches we together in per- Señor Pan is an
(773) 227 - 1020 abundance. but the ham was tried. fect harmony. excellent value.
senorpan.com juicy. TOTAL RATING: 4

El Cubanito 3.6: Nicely 3.6: All ingredi- 3: The meat was 3.3: Very meaty 3.6: Well- 4: A satisfying
2555 North Pulaski toasted. Not ents were pres- thick-cut and ham. balanced and sandwich – you
Rd., Chicago too hard ent and in good moist, making it satisfying. can’t go wrong
(773) 235-2555 and not too proportion. very filling. here!
heavy. TOTAL RATING: 4

90 Miles 4: Toast- 3.6: All the in- 4: Very flavorful 2.3: The ham 3: Well bal- 3: Excellent value
3101 N. Clybourn ed to gredients were and tender meat. and pork were anced flavors in for the price. Plus
Ave./2540 W. Armit- perfection. there, but the thick cut, but each bite. plantain chips at
age Ave., Chicago pickles were only one layer no extra charge.
(773) 248-2822 fairly bland. of each. TOTAL RATING: 3

Cafecito 4: Skinny 3.6: All ingredi- 3.3: Juicy and 2.6: This sand- 3: Inconsistent 3.3: This sandwich
26 E. Congress and flat but ents were pres- slightly fatty, the wich is pressed use of mustard. comes in one stan-
Pkwy., Chicago delicious ent; the pickles pork has a garlicky as pressed Sometimes too dard and satisfying
(312) 922-2233 and crusty. were nice and flavor. One of our gets. But it’s much, other 7-inch size.
tangy. favorites. pretty filling. times, too little. TOTAL RATING: 3

Cafeteria 2.3: Bread 2: Zero mus- 2: The pork was 2: The regular 2.3: If you aren’t 2.6: Not a terrible
Marianao tends to be tard and only well-seasoned but size isn’t very looking for value given the
2246 N. Milwaukee overheat- two dime-sized too dry, and the thick. For only 100% authen- sandwich size.
Ave., Chicago ed, even pickles. C’mon! ham seemed like $1 more, make tic, you might TOTAL RATING: 2
(773) 278-4533 burned. normal deli meat. it a double. like it.

El Rinconcito 2: Properly 1.5: No pick- 2.5: Slightly thin- 2.5: Just barely 2: Too much 2.5: A large sand-
Cubano cooked, but les and barely cut, but still tasty. enough meat. bread put a wich, but not very
3238 W. Fullerton the bread any mustard. damper on the satisfying.
Ave., Chicago was too But, mayo and flavor. TOTAL RATING: 2
(773) 489-4440 thick. butter?

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