Eating Cuban on Miami’s Calle Ocho
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.14.08 | 1:37 PM ET
The cultural heart of Cuban life in Miami is, naturally, Little Havana. And in Little Havana, the main drag is Calle Ocho—8th Street. It’s on Calle Ocho where old men in elegant guayaberas gather to play dominoes, and it’s on Calle Ocho where a number of fine Cuban restaurants have been serving up strong espresso and garlic-infused fried pork for years. For Americans who want to experience authentic Cuban culture without violating U.S. laws with a clandestino trip to Havana, Miami’s Calle Ocho is the place to start.
Where to eat? From across the pond, the Guardian recently offered dining suggestions, beginning with my favorite Calle Ocho restaurant, Versailles.
Writes Kevin Gould: “Versailles is packed from early morning to the early hours with families and friends reminiscing about a Cuba few have ever been to….The food’s fine and very hearty at Versailles, but for me the kick is in morning coffee and an empanada in their adjoining bakery, or in late-nite media noches: toasties of sweet Cuban bread stuffed with ham, pork, swiss and the works.
I’m with Gould: While the food is good, the scene is the primary attraction. I’ve popped in to Versailles for dinner close to midnight and found the place packed and hopping, everyone wired on espresso, the rapid-fire Cuban-Spanish sentences whizzing past me like 90-mile-per-hour fastballs on a Havana baseball diamond. Good times.
Related on World Hum:
* My Patatas Bravas Are Better Than Yours
* Dear Mexican, Why the Yellow Cheese on Tex-Mex Food?
Photo by sprig and sprout via Flickr, (Creative Commons).