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| Allyn Wells makes Cuban coffee at Mr. Cubano restaurante, the
home of the real Cuban sandwich in Cape Canaveral. |
CAPE CANAVERAL -- A visit to Mr. Cubano in Cape Canaveral is like a trip to pre-Castro Cuba, a time when life was a delicious mixture of sensory delights, of pulsating music, beautiful landscapes and scrumptious food.
Restarateur Tony Hernandez left Cuba when he was only a year old, so he was too young to remember personally the many charms of the Pearl of the Antilles, but his family made sure Hernandez would not forget his native land.
Thanks to their fond tutelage, Hernandez fell under the spell of the treasure that was Cuba and has tried to recreate the island’s original ambiance in his Brevard restaurant.
“I want to keep the heritage going,” said the gregarious Hernandez. “I do not want to lose my history.”
Open the door to Mr. Cubano and you enter a wonderful time warp. Gone is 2007 Florida, replaced by the Cuba of 1957.
A colorful mural depicting La Bodeguita del Medio, author Ernest Hemingway’s favorite Habana Vieja hangout for the perfect mojito, greets guests. In the painting, Hernandez’s mom Caridad is taking her three children out for a stroll along the cobblestone Calle Esperanza in front of the bar.
Tony is inside the stroller while his older sisters hang on to their mother’s hands; his dad has just stepped inside the Bodeguita to grab a cigar. His plume of smoke wafts out the door of the place.
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| Dan McDade is showing off some of Mr. Cubano's Cuban pastries. |
Place your order for picadillo, black beans and rice and sit on booths that faithfully replicate the back seat of a 1957 Chevy.
Hernandez divides his time of work between his two loves, the law and the restaurant. If he’s not working at his law practice a mile down the road, he’s sure to be at Mr. Cubano, invariably wearing a starched white guyabera and eager to show off his museum of Cuban history.
“This used to be part of my law practice,” said Hernandez.
“Everyone was always trying to get me to open a restaurant.”
Two and a half years ago he did, gladly giving up part of his law office to house the eatery.
“We were immediately successful,” he said.
Now he has surrendered the other half of his law offices to expand Mr. Cubano.
The addition will double the restaurant’s space, allowing Hernandez to increase his popular catering business as well as to add a cigar bar that will feature premium cigars grown from Cuban cigar seeds in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
“We’re very excited because these are the same people that used to grow premium cigars in Cuba,” said Hernandez.
“They’ve taken the seeds to Dominican Republic and Honduras and replicated these excellent cigars. They also have some of the best rollers available and that makes all the difference.”
While you wait for your order to arrive, Hernandez will be all too happy to show you the collection of pre-Castro memorabilia he’s amassed through years of research into the Cuban Historic Timeline Museum.
Cuban heroes and villains, the conquistadors and the vanquished, are all there, assembled in chronological order for a fascinating history lesson.
If you lived in Havana before Fidel arrived, you might want to leaf through the 1958 Havana phonebook and check out your own listing.
Though most of the collection focuses on Cuba before Communism, Hernandez included a bit about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis and even the tragic and courageous balseros.
Of course, after the food arrives your mind will shift to enjoying the feast before you.
Hernandez’s passion for Cuban food borders on a magnificent obsession.
“We try to stay as authentic as possible,” he said.
Take for example, the pork that goes into his steaming Cuban sandwiches. Every night, the leanest of pork is left to slow cook for eight hours so it can be hand pulled the next morning in time for the sandwich rush.
The menu includes media noche sandwiches, papas rellenas, croquetas, empanadas, palomilla steak and that Cuban delicacy known as the frita, a burger like no other in the world.
Top off the meal with the owner’s favorite dessert, tres leche, or perhaps with a flan.
For beverage, check out the oh-sooo-cool Havana Cola or Materva, a soda that gave Cuban kids a constant sugar high.
It’s a delicious way to enjoy a trip back in time.
“The goal is to give diners an experience in eating,” said Hernandez.
Mr. Cubano, located at 6550 N. Atlantic Ave. in Cape Canaveral, is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The restaurant is closed on Sundays.
For more information call 799-2200 or visit www.mrcubano.com.
