Cafe Quiquiriqui, Ybor City, Tampa, Florida

My ongoing Cuban sandwich survey naturally led me to Ybor City, where Cuban, Italian, and other immigrants rolled as many as five million cigars a year in large factories. As they rolled, a stentorian lector read the news, novels, and the like to entertain and educate them. Family members would gather outside to listen. I learned all this and more from a fascinating film at the Ybor City Museum, and from a fascinating employee who is a font of Ybor history. Eventually, the Ybor City area fell on hard times as people prospered and moved to roomier neighborhoods. The area has revived into an entertainment district with shops, bars, restaurants, and some upscale residences. It’s a fun area, even when quiet, especially thanks to the Ybor Museum.

Lunch approached and my thoughts turned to a Cuban sandwich. I’d already tried branches of the best-known spots, original locations of La Segunda and Columbia, and our Ybor Museum cicerone recommended Quiquiriqui, the area’s “most authentic Cuban sandwich.” (Quiquiriqui is Spanish for cock-a-doodle-do.) Portuguese roosters say cocorocó, Scottish roosters crow in Gaelic, igog-a-ghuidhe-ghaoidhe, while Turkish roosters sing ü-ürü-üüü.) To Quiquiriqui we went.

It’s in the thick of Ybor City at 1402 E 7th Ave, just off the lobby of the Hotel Haya. The hotel wraps around a courtyard with a good sized swimming pool, and Quiriquiriqui flows off to one side of the lobby. All is roomy and chic. We ordered at the counter, a quesadilla for Nancy.

and a Cuban sandwich for me.

Nancy enjoyed her quesadilla, which had lots of vegetables. And I was very impressed by my Cuban sandwich. As you may be able to tell, the bread was very light and flaky, and also nicely buttery. Not croissant buttery, but it tasted very good by itself.

Here’s an inside view.

You can see the elements, the mustard and the pickle and the meats. It was pressed beautifully, with some butter and bits of toasted cheese on the bottom exterior. At first I thought the sandwich was light on pickles, but actually one had wandered a bit off its assigned place.

The filling was interesting. The sandwich is authentic in that it has a sparse amount of meat by current American overloaded sandwich standards. It’s much more of a European filling, like a jambon beurre. Also note the ratios: one slice each of ham and pork, and two slices of Genoa salami. That’s a big a hat tip to the Italian immigrants in Ybor City. Usually the ham and pork dominate and a single thin slice of salami is an afterthought. I liked this sandwich a lot. The salami gave it extra punch to make up for the endemic lack of mojo these days, and the whole thing fit together well.

Our daytime tour of Ybor City was a lot of fun. It looks like a whole lot of fun at night, although I may have aged out of much of it. And the museum was a real hit. It’s well worth a visit, and the Hotel Haya looks like the perfect place to stay. Go and visit Ybor City, have an authentic Cubano at Quiquiriqui, and you can crow about it when you get home..

***

And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box. Or bookmark us and check in from time to time. We’re on Instagram  (johntannerbbq) and X/Twitter (johntannerbbq1). If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre, Prague Castle, Vienna’s Old City, or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event.  We welcome comments and questions, and eagerly seek suggestions of places to eat and stories to cover.