Winston Salem's Best Kept (Cuban) Secret

So you can't really tell based on things that I've blogged, but I absolutely love Cuban food.  Well, maybe you can gather that from what I wrote about myself.  Growing up in a household where the first thing you tell people when you meet them is that you are Cuban, you cannot escape the decadent flavors of our patria (homeland, fatherland).  From arroz con pollo to bistec empanizado, there is never a meal without the influences of our heritage.  There has to be some sort of semblance of mojo or rice or beans somewhere, or at the very least naranja agria (sour orange juice) or olive oil.  And garlic or onion.  There has to be something somewhere.  If not, we would be terrible Cubans.

That being said, when I was off at Governor's School in Winston Salem this summer, I was severely deprived of the fantastic food that my parents and grandparents have been making me since I can remember.  The food there definitely had room for improvement, although I would rejoice every time they made something with rice in it (hey, what can I say?  Rice is one of the 7 major food groups).  It was an absolute blast, but the food was, well, not so great.

Then, on weekends, my dad would come and take me out to eat lunch.  Oh, how much of a relief that was.  My dad was the one who really got me into the wonder that is great food, so I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed no matter where we went.

Since I had been craving Cuban food so much, we decided on going to this little place called Miami's Cafe.  When we got there, we knew immediately that the food was going to be good, based on the fact that there were actual Cubans eating there.  Yes, actual Cubans!  This doesn't surprise me, because as one of my aunts always says, "Cubans are like dog [insert synonym for fecal matter].  We show up anywhere."  If Cubans show up to a place, then you know that the food is good.

Their menu was basic, serving sandwiches, fries, milkshakes, and a daily special meal, but that didn't mean that we didn't expect the best.  We ordered Cuban Steak Sandwiches, our favorite, and a side order of fries.  Since we weren't exactly in the most metropolitan area, we weren't expecting much, but what we got was incredible.

Our sandwiches were absolutely perfect.  They were made on fresh Cuban bread, with perfectly cut Palomilla steaks, or thinly cut skirt steaks about 1/4 of an inch thick, with sauteed onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and last but most certainly not least, shoestring potatoes.

My dad enjoying his glorious Pan con Bistec.

The bread was perfectly crisp, the fruits of a great flat press, and all of the ingredients were fresh, excluding the shoestring potatoes.  Overall, the sandwich was crisp, as it should be, and rich with the flavors of the tomato and the mojo seasoning of the steak and onions.  Mojo, which is a mixture of garlic, sauteed onions, olive oil, and sour orange juice, is the staple of any Cuban dish, and adds so much flavor to the cuisine.  They put the right amount of pepper to make the steak sing, which contributed to the wonderful experience of this amazing sandwich.  And to top it all off, because we were Cuban and started talking with the other Cubans in the place, including the owner, we all got free cafecito.  Which I will do another general post about in the future, I promise.

This place, even though it didn't look like much from the outside, in a teeny tiny little strip mall in the middle of rural Winston Salem, really made me feel, well, like I was eating in Miami.  If you're ever in Winston and are craving Cuban food, check this place out.  It will do more than enough to satisfy your craving.