Every year, Jake Kaufman heads to Floodwood to make and sell sandwiches during the Minnesota community’s annual Catfish Festival.
But with festivals canceled this year because of the pandemic, Kaufman had to come up with another way to share the family’s authentic Cuban sandwiches with the community.
That gave rise to Superior Cubans.
Teaming up with Rich Cuisine, owner of the Wednesday Bakery, Kaufman said he and his brother decided to bring their recipe for the Cuban sandwich to the people of Superior.
“You really can’t find an authentic Cuban sandwich around here,” Kaufman said. “Everybody here is loving them so far.”
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Now every Friday and Saturday night, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., the Kaufman’s are serving up the pressed sandwiches out of the Wednesday Bakery, 1202 Ogden Ave., at least throughout the summer.
“We’re not too sure about the winter yet,” Kaufman said. “We might try to shoot for some in the wintertime. We’ve got a really good location here. We got the drive-thru here, the windows that slide right open. People wouldn’t even have to get out of their cars.”
Superior Cubans opened as a food stand July 3 in the space it shares with Rich Cuisine and the Wednesday Bakery.
“Business has been pretty good,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said the family started making Cuban sandwiches about a 10 years ago and has worked to make improvements.
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The Cuban consists of ham, roast pork and swiss cheese
“We’ve had a lot of people say the Cuban sandwiches they’ve had, people don’t press and grill them,” Kaufman said. “We do. That’s an essential step.”
According to What’s Cooking American, the key to a great Cuban sandwich lies in the grilling because it pushes all the juices and flavors together while creating the desired crunch.
“We also make a special mojo sauce … garlic, citrus juices, spices,” Kaufman said. “Not a lot of Cuban sandwiches I’ve seen have that on there ... it’s a really flavorful experience.”
