Something for Everyone
For a taste, a great taste, of Cuban cuisine in Miami, visit El Palacio de los Jugos. They have a huge assortment of delicious foods to indulge your taste buds. I dare say everyone in your party will find something to enjoy. We ventured there to try their Cuban sandwich, which was touted to be one of the best in Miami. Luckily, we were not disappointed!
A Wide Variety of Food Options
El Palacio de los Jugos is an open air takeaway restaurant with many choices including juices, sandwiches, chicharrones (more on those later), native and tropical fruits. Prices are reasonable and seating is available under the tented area. They have 10 locations for your dining pleasure.
Get in the Correct Line
This is a busy place during the usual times you would expect. However they move the lines efficiently. There are separate counters for certain types of food. Since we wanted a Cuban sandwich, we got in that line at that counter. In addition to our sandwich, this line also provided fresh fruit juices. The list of all the types you could get was long. When I saw passion fruit on the list, I immediately knew it would be mine!
While waiting to order, we enjoyed watching the server hammer the corer into the coconuts and give them to the patrons with a straw in them. Nothing like fresh coconut water!
The Cuban Sandwich and Fresh Juices
The menu listed two options for the Cuban sandwich, the Cubano Regular and Cubano Especial. You may be wondering what the difference is between these two sandwiches as we were. Well, the Cubano Especial has more and additional meats added to the sandwich. We inquired as to which one, the woman taking our order, would recommend. She said without hesitation, the Cubano Especial.
The Cubano Especial comes made with the perfect thicknesses of meats and cheese. It has turkey, ham, Serrano ham, chorizo, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and mayonnaise and is grilled.
Juice Happiness
We ordered one sandwich to share and I ordered my large size passion fruit juice. And wow! It was large! It was all juice and no ice. So, unless you will be sharing or know you love a large quantity of juice, I recommend you select your favorite juice, or a new flavor to try, in a small size. After some time, I had consumed my limit and ended up throwing the rest away: a sad outcome for someone who loves passion fruit and doesn’t get it that often.
Other Items Available for Your Foodie Pleasure
While we waited for our order to be made, we wandered around to look at items in the store we don’t normally see in our local supermarkets. It was interesting to see the uniqueness of the different types of snacks, fruits, and beverages.
We sat in the outside covered area and enjoyed our delicious sandwich and juice and talked about coming back again to try some other items.
Return Visit
And come back we did! Another day we stopped in to try the Chicharrones and I tried a blackberry juice, this time a small size. Chicharrones are fried pork belly and look huge in the case. When you order one, they cut it in pieces and place them in a bag for you to enjoy.
In addition, we also purchased a few snacks to try during our travels. We bought a container of shredded coconut formed into balls with a hard caramel coating on the outside. And, we also tried a peanut bar, which was good. However, the best find for me were the bags of passion fruit juice that had been processed and didn’t need to be refrigerated. I promptly bought two to take home with me and felt happy as a clam passion fruit!
Ten locations. We ate at the Flagler location in the Little Havana area of Miami. Look for the iconic red and yellow striped awning and coverings.
Have you tried Cuban food? What are your favorite Cuban foods? Share your thoughts in the comments below.