El Cubanito - Calle Ocho Comes to Chicago

Driving up Pulaski after enjoying one of the best hot dogs in Chicago at Jimmy's, I spotted this on the east side of the street near Wrightwood.

El Cubanito


I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to get a second look. El Cubanito is a postage sized establishment housed in a simple concrete block building. It's almost as if someone picked up a little strip mall sandwich shop from Miami's Calle Ocho and dropped it in a godforsaken stretch of Pulaski, cooks and all.

Upon entering, I felt like I had been transported to Miami. The place is tiny, no more than 3 - 4 seats along a smallish counter against the wall, but the staff was turning out a solid stream of sandwiches from the small menu served to a long line of mostly Cuban customers snaking to the door.

El Cubanito's Kitchen


On my first visit, I ordered a Cuban sandwich to see if this place could deliver the goods; and deliver it did.

El Cubanito Cuban Sandwich


The thing that really made the sandwich, besides the generous portion of meat and cheese, was the bread. It was the best example of Cuban bread I have yet encountered in Chicago. It was of the Miami school; very crispy and thin.

A second visit a few days later along with jazzfood and G Wiv uncovered the fact that the bread is locally baked by Gonella, but made to a recipe from a place in Miami. If the proprietor hadn't told us this, I would have thought that the bread had been flown in. On this visit, In addition to another Cuban sandwich, we also tried the recommended steak sandwich, served on the same great bread, and a pan con timba, which is a sandwich made with guava stuffed in the middle of cheese inside a sandwich. This dish was meant as a dessert.

El Cubanito Cuban Sandwich (Again)


El Cubanito Steak Sandwich


El Cubanito Pan con Timba


I urge all you Cuban sandwich lovers to get over to El Cubanito ASAP to check it out. Between La Unica, Cafe Marino and now El Cubanito, we know have several choices for great Cuban sandwiches in Chicago. El Cubanito is my current favorite of the bunch.

El Cubanito
2555 N. Pulaski
Chicago, IL

Excellent post, Stever...

I was thinking that this is quite an apropos post because of the Edens construction starting tonight. If it backs up into the Kennedy (which we know it will) and I have to take streets back up north, this may ease the pain!

Jay

Looks good, guys. I'll have to bring the Cubans by to try the Cubans. Thanks for not letting me in on this earlier!

That Gonella bread looks not unlike the Gonella that is delivered to Marianao, which I understand also to be adjusted for Cubans (though the Marianao bread seems to vary there between straight-up beef rolls to a decent rendition of Cuban). Knowing Steve and Gary have had their share of Miami and Tampa Cuban bread, I'm excited to hear about this stuff and I am thinking about getting my hands on some for home use.

The one thing I see that is the mark of Gonella, which I don't like but can live with, is the use of cornmeal on the crust. The sandwich looks very good though, and seems to be made with actual cheese rather than the processed cheez product that is the hallmark of Chicago commercial Cubans.

I can agree already based on this excellent post that the trinity of Marianao, La Unica and Cubanito gives Chicago a solid grass-roots base of Cuban cafes that could blend into Calle Ocho or Boliche Boulevard (Columbus in Tampa). These are under-the-radar type places. It's interesting that the popular "foodie" belief is that Chicago lacks Cuban compared to other large cities not in South Florida. Simply not true. We just don't have many Cubanish theme park places with names like Papa Hemmingway's Cha Cha Coconuts, which are common enough in other towns but uniformly suck.

But I am most interested in the coffe setup. Looks to me like an urn of hot milk is sitting next to an urn of cafe Cubano. Gary, tell me you tried the toast and coffee, right?

PS, not to be dogmatic (although the Cuban sandwich does exist within a particular, rather narrow spectrum), but I don't think I have ever seen Cubans with the cheese placed squarely in the middle of the sandwich. Interesting concept, as it keeps the meats from mingling and prevents the mojo from the pork from reaching the entire sandwich. Not wrong, just different I'd say. The remarkable thing is that the sammy gets hot enough to melt cheese that is so well insulated. In this case, the cheese acts like a pop-out turkey thermometer: when the cheese melts, it's done. Good way to avoid the cold-centered Cuban problem.

Exemplars include Hammond's La Teresita Tampa Cuban:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=14287

...and Gary's Latin American Cafeteria Miami Cuban:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=45

It's usually, top to bottom, bread, butter, pickles, mustard, cheese, pork, ham, butter, bread. (Meats get flipped more often.)

JeffB wrote:Gary, tell me you tried the toast and coffee, right?

Jeff,

Didn't try toast and coffee, but they are open at 7am during the week and toast and cafe con leche is on my El Cubanito game plan. I did have a cafe con leche, and a hit or two of Jazzfood's cortadito, they both compared favorably with Marianao and La Unica, though I'm quite partial to Marianao's cafe con leche.

Laritza, friendly cashier is in charge of coffee as well.


I really have to thank Steve for pointing El Cubanito out, both steak and Cuban sandwiches were terrific as was the guava and cheese, which I had not had in sandwich form before.

Guava and Cheese


El Cubanito Menu


El Cubanito posted hours


Jeff, I'm going to go out on (not much of a) limb and say you will very much enjoy El Cubanito. Looking forward to your impressions.

Enjoy,
Gary

El Cubanito
2555 N PUlaski
Chicago, IL 60639
773-235-2555
7 -5 Monday - Saturday
9 - 3 Sunday

Please note the frita Cubana. A rare Chicago sighting of the heavily spiced, greazy, onion and potato-stick covered Havana hamburger. A must-try. Bring Tum's.

Very excellent find, stevez. I drove by this place when I was touring taquerias in Logan Square and it hadn't opened yet. Thanks for the recon.

JeffB wrote:PS, not to be dogmatic (although the Cuban sandwich does exist within a particular, rather narrow spectrum), but I don't think I have ever seen Cubans with the cheese placed squarely in the middle of the sandwich.

Obviously, the Big Baby has influenced the Chicago-ization of this classic Cuban sammie.

JeffB wrote:Please note the frita Cubana. A rare Chicago sighting of the heavily spiced, greazy, onion and potato-stick covered Havana hamburger. A must-try. Bring Tum's.

That looks very good, as does the ropa viejo. Unfortunately, they have been out of the ropa on both of my visits. I'll have to make it a point to try the hamburgesa next time I go.

Oh geez, I guess I have to have two lunches today.

-ramon

Made it this way for lunch today and I was very pleased with the Cubano although both of mine came without any pickles or mustard but luckily I had both in the fridge. I lived in Tampa for a bit and this is one of the better Cuban's I've had outside Florida, if not the best. I also grabbed a steak sandwich and a ropa vieja sandwich, shredded beef and onions in a sauce. The steak was very tasty and the ropa vieja was also really good and highly flavored. I was really impressed with everything and the total on the two cubans, one steak and one ropa vieja with two kola champagne pop's was $19.85, one hell of a deal. It looked as though it already had at least 3 or 4 repeat customers in there picking up orders and im sure they will collect many more. I know Ill be back. Great find.

Ramon wrote:Oh geez, I guess I have to have two lunches today.

-ramon

One of the BEST lines from Lord of the Rings: " I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pippin."


Oh, but we do! I will have to try this place and soon.

JeffB wrote:PS, not to be dogmatic (although the Cuban sandwich does exist within a particular, rather narrow spectrum), but I don't think I have ever seen Cubans with the cheese placed squarely in the middle of the sandwich. Interesting concept, as it keeps the meats from mingling and prevents the mojo from the pork from reaching the entire sandwich. Not wrong, just different I'd say. The remarkable thing is that the sammy gets hot enough to melt cheese that is so well insulated. In this case, the cheese acts like a pop-out turkey thermometer: when the cheese melts, it's done. Good way to avoid the cold-centered Cuban problem.

This is an interesting point, Jeff. I had never noticed the uniformity of how the ingredients are arranged before, though now that you mention it, not having the cheese at the top is a bit out of the ordinary.

Very interested in trying this place. I love La Unica but am always looking for something better/closer. Thanks for posting this.

Stopped by for lunch today with the wife and had a great lunch! One Cubano, Ropa Vieja, and Pan Tambin with the guava. Sandwiches were all excellent, the bread was very authentic and the cheese is of great quality, not cheap and watery. Three sandwiches and a coconut soda for $12! Awesome!

I've been twice since stevez's original post. What a great place! Sadly, the Cuban Hamburger is off the menu (not selling quickly enough) but may be replaced by croquettes.

All the sandwiches are outstanding,but to me the super star is the Ropa. Brightly flavored, rich, garlicky and studded with green olives, this is the best version I have ever tasted. Good enough in fact to go right to the top of my "favorite sandwiches in Chicago" list. Too bad they close so early.

And we have a new champion! El Cubanito just dethroned La Unica as my favorite cubano in the city. The bread is good (I wouldn't say markedly better than La Unica's), but it's the ingredients that stand out as they just seem to taste much fresher. The pork was terrifically flavorful, much more so than La Unica's. It's also a bit bigger than La Unica's and one was more than enough.

They were out of the ropa so I look forward to giving that a shot next time I'm there. I will however pass on the coconut soda next time. It sounded great in principle but didn't really work for me.

My only suggestion to them would be to use a bit more mustard and pickles.

Ralph Wiggum wrote: I will however pass on the coconut soda next time. It sounded great in principle but didn't really work for me.

My only suggestion to them would be to use a bit more mustard and pickles.

Try an Iron Beer when you go again. Like a slightly fruitier cola champagne, this 80 year old Cuban soft drink is perfect with the sandwiches here.

Agree completely about the mustard and pickles. I asked for extra last time myself

kuhdo wrote:Try an Iron Beer when you go again. Like a slightly fruitier cola champagne, this 80 year old Cuban soft drink is perfect with the sandwiches here.

Indeed.



I have to admit Iron Beer reminds me a little of a Suicide at Fat Johnnie's. That's where they take a cup and go down the line of soda dispensers. (I think Iron Beer is actually 90 years old. They just haven't changed the label in a decade!)

Iron Beer (eeronber) is a cola champagne, similar to many found around Latin America. It might be the first. I don't really get the French appellation reference. I always think of it as a light cola with an orangesicle melted in. I love the crappy PR knockoff (in terms of the can and the falvor) "Champ Cola."

Herbaceous Materva is more of an adult Cuban pop.

Rene-- outstanding looking Cuban. One can see that the pork is superior to what is served at even the better places around here. But pan con lechon, for me, is the real test. Extra pork, lots of mojo and translucent onions. Didn't notice it on the menu, but I'd assume they'll make it.

I was back again today for lunch and I ran into jazzfood, fresh back from Puerto Villarta. It must be just my luck, but so far they have been out of ropa viejo every time I have visited. In this case, they were getting slammed so hard, they simply didn't have time to make the ropa viejo. I think La Cubinita is going through a bit of opening month growing pains. I highly doubt they anticipated the popularity of their sandwiches; not only among LTHers, but among the Cuban community at large. They have brought in an extra person or two to help out. One guy is cooking steak and putting it into sandwiches as fast as their grill will cook. This time, my Cubano (while still the best in town, IMO) was a bit undercooked. The cheese was not fully melted and the bread was not crisped up as much as in the past. This can totally be explained by the huge volume they were doing at lunchtime.

I know they make Ropa on Saturdays, but evidently never on Sundays. Other weekdays seem hit and miss.

I guess I agree with JeffB about Materva being more "adult". My daughter really likes it's iced teaish aftertaste. I do like Ironbeer though.

Finally got a chance to stop by today for a couple of Cubanos. They knocked it out of the park. The smell of the steak cooking made me salivate, and I can't wait to get back to try it, as well as the other offerings. Great find, Steve. I can easily see stopping by here once a week. This place will make Mrs Ramon quite happy, who works close by, was born in Cuba and raised in Miami / Chicago.

I hope they do add homemade croquettes to the menu. Most places do not make them from scratch. I have and know why they don't.

-ramon

Yeah, the abuelitas have forearms like Konerko from stirring the stuff that becomes croquetas.

I'd like to see a picadillo sandwich myself. Still need to check it out, but the hours don't jibe with mine.

JeffB wrote:Yeah, the abuelitas have forearms like Konerko from stirring the stuff that becomes croquetas.

I'd like to see a picadillo sandwich myself. Still need to check it out, but the hours don't jibe with mine.

I wouldn't hold out hot for any new menu items very soon. I think they are a bit overwhelmed by the volume of business they are getting. I stopped by again today and, for the 5th or 6th time in a row, they were out of ropa vieja. Evidently it's very popular because they make enough for 50 sandwiches every day and are sold out by 10:00ish (early ropa viejo breakfast, anyone?). That's also the reason that the frita Cubana is off the menu. Given the size of the place, adding kitchen staff is not an option. I'm happy that the choice they made is to carry fewer items and maintain the quality of what they offer rather than electing to take shortcuts in order to pump out more volume of less interesting food. I love this place.

More ropa vieja and picadillo would be the easiest thing to do. They are stews, essentially, that are made in huge batches and keep/freeze well. Spooning some stew onto bread is easy work compared with composing Cubans or frying up croquetas. That said, it's their place and it sounds like they are off the charts anyway.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:My only suggestion to them would be to use a bit more mustard and pickles.

Ralph,

I brought an El Cubanito Cuban sandwich home to my wife, couple bites in she says "I really like the sandwich, but it could use more pickles." You and she are on the same page.

The only person I've not heard mention additional pickles is m'th'su, an outspoken opponent of all things pickle.

Second time at El Cubanito today, even better than the first. A real gem of a place.

Steak sandwich


Cuban sandwich, Guava and Cheese


El Cubanito. Alberto (Far right) Laritza (Second from right)


Enjoy,
Gary

JeffB wrote:Yeah, the abuelitas have forearms like Konerko from stirring the stuff that becomes croquetas.

Hmm, maybe they should trade Uribe for a couple of Abuelitas.

This thread is slightly painful for me, simply for the fact that, if I hadn't left Chicago, this would have been about a 2 minute walk from my old place of residence.



Sigh. Looks great.

Stopped by this afternoon for a taste of these "legendary" <b>Sandwich Cubano's</b> (& a <b>Steak</b> Sammie for the GalPal)......and -
Man- what a GoldMine they've got goin' there....a steady stream of customers, "no" overhead- a "physical plant" that is as big as the CokeShack I remember from my Little League days......

How'd they <i>taste</i>?
Good.
Not great.
I prefer a Media Noche- personally the mildy sweet flavor/texture of the yellow bread, gives a nice counterpoint, to the "hard" flavors of the Lechon, Ham and Cheese. But...not available here.
The very sweet gal at the counter, did inform me that they have secured the space next door (a Vacant/For Rent Nighclub space)- so they'll soon(?) be able to add <b>tables</b>, and other amenities, at some point in the future. Wonder if they'll "expand" the menu (maybe tostones,Yucca,Yucca con Ajo, Batidos, etc.) at that point- or just stick to the <b>Sandwich ONLY</b> concept that has brought them to this point of popularity.

All in all- a great "find" for sure....but no where close to a now closed Cuban Bakery/LunchCounter in the 2400 block of Milwaukee Ave.
They set the Gold Standard, for me.

Hombre de Acero wrote:How'd they taste?
Good.
Not great.
I prefer a Media Noche

You've captured my feelings as well. I stopped in around noon yesterday for a Cuban sandwich around noon yesterday. I enjoyed it, (The bread is excellent) but as others have said here, it could use more pickles (I think there was one slice on my sandwich) . I don't like to ask for things "special" on my first visit anywhere, but next time it's "extra pickles" for sure.

I am a much bigger fan of a media noche than of a Cubano and I'll still be visiting Marianao for that. I'll be back to El Cubanito for the ropa vieja when the temperature drops a little.

After my sandwich, I still had the taste for something with a cheap yellow mustard focus. So, with nothing to do for the next hour, I headed due west to Gene & Judes for a perfect hot dog (mustard & onions). Quite a nice two-part lunch.

Best,
Michael

I got a chance to go yesterday morning, before they got busy. Around 9am or so.

I sampled three sandwiches:

1. Cubano: Fine. A little dry. Uber-crisp.

2. Steak: Delicious, greazy--tastes like they use worcestershire in the "sauce." Next time I'd order mine without the shredded lettuce--which maybe authentic, but seemed odd to me.

3. Ropa Vieja - My favorite of the three, especially with the sweet cafe con leche. Visible olives pieces. Rich, spicy, tender beef. Just enough "juice" to moisten half of the bread, without bleeding through to ruin the crisp outer. A Great Sandwich.

Good'eye stevez.