The Cuban Sandwich The icon
Citywide · $
Photo: Sanguich
Why it made the list: Miami's signature bite, roast pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and mustard on Cuban bread, pressed flat on a plancha until the outside is crisp and the inside melts. It's the taste of the city, and the debate over who does it best never ends.
Stone Crabs Seasonal
Miami Beach · $$$$
Photo: Chris Whitaker
Why it made the list: Florida's great delicacy, sweet, firm stone-crab claws served chilled with mustard sauce, sustainably harvested (only the claw is taken; the crab regrows it). The season runs roughly mid-October to early May, and Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach has been the temple of it since 1913.
Café Cubano & a Pastelito
Citywide · $
Photo: Andres F Almaguer
Why it made the list: The fuel of Miami, a tiny, intensely sweet shot of espresso (a colada to share, a cortadito with milk), ordered at a ventanita, the walk-up window on the side of a Cuban café. Pair it with a pastelito, a flaky guava-and-cheese pastry. It's a daily ritual, not just a coffee.
Croquetas
Citywide · $
Photo: Dos Croquetas
Why it made the list: Little golden logs of creamy béchamel and ham (or chicken, or bacalao), breaded and fried crisp, the perfect cheap snack, sold everywhere from bakeries to gas stations. They're the thing Miamians eat by the dozen without thinking about it.
The Frita Cubana Invented here
Little Havana · $
Photo: Silvia Amighini
Why it made the list: Miami's Cuban burger, a spiced, chorizo-tinged beef patty on a soft bun, topped with a tangle of shoestring potato sticks and a special sauce. Brought over from Havana and perfected here, it's the city's greatest under-the-radar eat.
⭐ Bonus Pick: Versailles, The Institution
If you do one Cuban meal, make it Versailles in Little Havana, the self-proclaimed 'world's most famous Cuban restaurant', a Miami institution since 1971 where politicians campaign and generations of Cuban Miami gather. Grab a cortadito at the ventanita out front even if you don't sit down; it's the beating heart of Cuban Miami.
