New mobile food trailer brings traditional Cuban street fare to Santa Rosa County

If you’ve been craving some homestyle Cuban cooking, Sergio Mora and Maria Henriquez are bringing it to the Santa Rosa County streets with their new food trailer, Calle Cuba, that opened this month at 5410 US 90 in Pace.

Since Henriquez's husband is Cuban, she has traveled back to Cuba with him multiple times and has fallen in love with the country in the process – especially the robust Cuban coffee.

“The coffee is so much better,” Henriquez said with a smile.

She also couldn’t help but fall in love with the cuisine, and she has spent the past 12 years perfecting Cuban recipes of her own. Being Salvadoran herself, she discovered a lot of similarities.

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Henriquez brings all the traditional Cuban classics, like the Congri rice, seasoned with garlic, onions and bell pepper and blended with black beans, to the rich beef broth of the Ropa Vieja, a flavorful slow-roasted beef dish. However, the best-seller on the menu has already proven to be the Cuban sandwich, a slow-roasted pork sandwich paired with ham, pickles, Swiss cheese, mayo and mustard. While it's popular as is, Mora said they plan to make the sandwich even better in time by making their own Cuban bread with a Roman oven.

When they say the meat is “slow roasted," they mean it. The pork spends six hours roasting in a big, tall barrel the old-fashioned way.

“We keep the old traditions…the kitchen is her life,” Mora said of Henriquez. “It always has been, since she was little.”

Everything is made fresh daily, and served in generous portions, according to Mora, even down to the side dishes like the yuca al mojo and plantanos maduros.

The two have spent the past five years trying to get the food trailer open, before deciding they were finally ready to launch their mobile restaurant toward the start of this year.

“It has been a journey the past six months,” Mora said.

Everything from the logo, adorned with classic cars and Cuban cigars, to the menu is intended to transport you to the streets of Cuba’s capital city, Havana.

While opening the trailer has been a milestone of itself, the two dream of one day opening a brick-and-mortar.

Calle Cuba's specialties:

• Sandwich Cubano: Roasted pork meat, ham, pickles and Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard and side of plantains, chips or potato chips. ($10.99)

• Croquetas de Jamon: Five ham croquettes ($5.99)

• Ropa Vieja: Cuban style shredded beef with the choice of two sides. ($11.99)

• Fufu de Platano: Smashed plantains with chicharron (pork skin,) mojo de ajo (garlic vinaigrette) with avocado. ($10.99)

• Lechon: Grilled pork meat with the choice of two sides ($10.99)

• Espresso Cubano: $1.50, Cortadito: $2, Café con leche: $3

Calle Cuba is currently open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. However, for real-time updates on Calle Cuba’s hours and location, follow Calle Cuba on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Calle Cuba debuts Cuban street food in Pace