Michele Faedo's Tampeño- The Tampa Cuban Culinary Connection

  3 1/2 Snaps!  Better than average! Give it a shot 

A Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle recently mentioned that Tampa was famous for Cuban sandwiches stirring up a lot of online chatter with Miami's Cuban culinary community. It left me hankering for one of those fabulous footlong feasts. Award-winning and much storied Michelle Faedo's Tampeño Cuisine comes to mind so I decide to follow the accolades. Her version of the sandwich includes a secret sauce of sorts. It is located just north of downtown in the growing Encore complex and pretty easy to get to. ​

The counter service is cafeteria style- look at the size of that menu

The restaurant is bright and modern and ordering is cafeteria line style. When I arrive, there is a couple ahead of me and two people at the cash registers. One of the servers behind the counter is waiting on the couple as the other watches. It took several minutes for them to finish their order and when I finally get to the head of the line I get trumped by an incoming phone order taking several more minutes. It’s lunchtime on a Friday. With the phone order complete, I finally order my sandwich and for the full Tampeño experience I snag a Deviled Crab (yes, it originated in Tampa) to go along with it.

By the time I am served I'm nearly 25 minutes in. It took 15 minutes for the sandwich to be prepared but it is then wrapped to-go when I ordered it to eat in. To cure that they simply hand me a small styrofoam plate. So far counter service and presentation score no points in the fight against time during lunch hour.  With Queens We will rock you playing in the background, I dig in.

One thing that makes Faedo's Cuban sandwich unique is the special herb garlic butter spread on the bread before pressing.. Look at those green specs of goodness on the outside

The sandwich is massive and a five-napkin messy handful. I choose the Famous Hybrid Cuban ($9.00) that includes lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard, and mayonnaise. Traditional Cubans (and much controversy) come with mustard and pickle only. The La Segunda Cuban bread is covered with Faedo's secret sauce (signature garlic herb butter) and pressed. It is a perfectly crunchy thick bite rendering a tasty mix of salty meat (pork, ham, salami), creamy mayonnaise, fresh veggies, tangy mustard and a strong presence of garlic from that signature schmear. The flavors blend into a mouthful of true Tampeño delight. I can see why it's award winning. It's so large I can't possibly finish. Now where is that deviled crab?

This baseball-sized croquette ($8.00) is delicate on the outside and stuffed with sweet crab. Like the sandwich, it's larger than traditional Tampa fare and round instead of the typical Tampa football shape. The texture is right on but the 100% blue crab stuffing (according to the menu) is too sweet. It could use a little more influence from some onions or peppers. If it had a more savory umph it would absolutely be Tampeño perfect. 
Deviled crab is often paired with a hot sauce like Salsa Picante. Faedo's offers a carrot based hot sauce that has a decent hotness but is a too gelatinous for this Tampeños taste. 

The carrot based hot sauce served by Faedo's is a little too gelatinous for traditional tastes

The menu, like the food, is huge expanding beyond Tampa favorites.. Offerings of gourmet salads, cheeseburgers, and seafood sandwiches make for tons of options. The food is moderately priced especially for these large portions. Parking is easy and cleanliness is excellent.
Faedo puts her own spin on traditional Tampa food winning much notoriety. With some of the dishes it scores big. That herb butter on the Cuban bread is a winner. Some of the other offerings don't work, reminding me that tampering with tradition can be a gamble. And, as mentioned above, counter service could use some coaching if this restaurant is going to continue to compete for the lunchtime crowd.
Faedo's is a strong recommend. If you are looking for a unique slant on a traditional Tampa Cuban sandwich, go!

I'm stuffed!

The restaurant is located in the Ella building of the newly built Encore project just north of downtown Tampa

Ordered for dine in, the food was handed to me to go. The cure was a small styrofoam plate. No way that sandwiches fitting!