Ybor City, located in Tampa, Florida, is a unique cultural hub with a long and interesting history related to food. In the late 1800s, Ybor City was founded by Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, a Spanish immigrant and cigar manufacturer. Ybor City quickly developed into a thriving and vibrant community of mostly Cuban, Spanish, and Italian immigrants, who not only brought their culture and language to the city, but also their culinary traditions.
Local restaurants began to sprout up, serving up traditional Cuban, Spanish, and Italian dishes. Italian-style pizzerias, Cuban-style sandwich shops, and Spanish-style seafood restaurants were among the most popular. The Italian community also opened a variety of Italian bakeries and ice cream parlors.
In the early 1900s, Ybor City began to attract many other immigrants, including Germans and Jews, who brought their own culinary traditions to the city. This new influx of immigrants led to an even more diverse range of cuisines, including Greek, Middle Eastern, and Latin American dishes.
The Columbia Restaurant is one of the oldest and most popular restaurants in Ybor City. Established in 1905, it is the oldest restaurant in the state of Florida and serves traditional Spanish and Cuban cuisine.
But then La Segunda Bakery was founded in 1915 in Ybor City, Florida, by Cuban immigrant Francisco Ferlita and his wife Carmen Valls Ferlita. The bakery was established to supply the large Cuban-American community in Ybor City with fresh Cuban bread. Francisco and Carmen began selling their bread door-to-door and later opened a small storefront. There, they also sold sandwiches and other baked goods. Among which was a newly created sandwich influenced by the immigrant population in Ybor City. The sandwich included inspiration from a variety of immigrant groups; pickles for the Germans, Salami for the Italians, Mojo ham for the Spanish and Cuban Bread inspired by the Cubans and La Segunda Bakery’s heritage itself.
In the early 1920s, Francisco took on two of his sons, Joe and Casimiro Ferlita, as partners in the business. The family grew the business, opening a larger production facility on 15th Street and continued to sell bread door-to-door as well as in the store.
In the 1950s, the business expanded again, this time to the current location on 22nd Street. The family continued to bake and deliver Cuban bread throughout the Tampa Bay area, as well as selling to local restaurants and grocery stores.
In the 1970s, the business was taken over by Joe and Casimiro’s sons, Joe and Tony Ferlita, who continued the family tradition of baking Cuban bread. In addition to Cuban bread, the bakery began producing other Cuban pastries such as guava pastelitos, Cuban sandwiches, and Cuban coffee.
Today La Segunda Bakery produces approximately 20,000 loafs of Cuban Bread ad day and ships them to grocery and specialty stores all across America. That’s a LOT of Cuban Sandwiches!
Cuban Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients:
-4 slices of Cuban bread
-4 slices of ham
-4 slices of Swiss cheese
-2 tablespoons of yellow mustard
-1/4 cup of dill pickles, sliced
-1/4 cup of butter, melted
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Place two slices of the Cuban bread on a cutting board.
3. Spread the yellow mustard evenly over the two slices of bread.
4. Layer two slices of ham, two slices of Swiss cheese, and the sliced pickles evenly over the mustard.
5. Place the other two slices of Cuban bread on top of the sandwich.
6. Brush the melted butter over both sides of the sandwich.
7. Place the sandwich in a greased baking dish and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Cut the sandwich in half and serve warm.
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