In search of perfection in a Cubano

In 2104, Jon Favreau, released a delightful movie called “Chef” (IMDB 7.3/10). It had a very strong supporting cast to his starring role of Chef Carl Casper. Those big names included: John Leguizamo; Bobby Cannavale; Scarlett Johansson; Dustin Hoffman; Sofía Vergara; Oliver Platt; Robert Downey Jr.; Russell Peters and Gary Clark Jr. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out on Netflix.

That’s quite the lineup for a movie about cooking, but this movie was also about a life unfulfilled, where the passion of being a chef, had left his character. Along the way, through his complicated relationship with his ex-wife and his young son, Carl rediscovers the joy of cooking through Cuban street food and more importantly, the famous “Cubano”. After building his food truck and going on a cross-country trip with his son as well as his sous-chef played by John Liguizamo, we are all completely invested in the food in the adventure. It's almost a Jack Kerouac "thing", with regards to the traveling part, as each stop of their journey is a discovery in Americana.

So how does this all relate to the famous Cubano sandwich? In a roundabout way, Bonnie and I took our last “Vettecation (Corvette vacation) in 2016. We decided to visit Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee and also Nashville and Knoxville. Throughout this trip, we were looking for the ultimate Cubano. While we found some really good ones, nothing matched the Cubano from the Versailles restaurant in Miami which we would experience six months later. As a sidebar, part of this movie was also shot at the Versailles. At that point, I figured that I would never experience the true Cuban flavour again unless visiting “Little Havana” in Miami again – WRONG! There is such a place right here in Toronto and I highly encourage my Toronto LinkedIn network to order a Cubano from “El Habanero & Churro Bar” on Steeles and Kennedy (https://www.elhabanerocatering.com). Chef Angel is a Cuban ex-pat executive chef and provides the exact same culinary experience as I recall from Miami. Highly recommended. 

Now, how does this relate to business on this forum, you might ask? Well, I think it does in every respect. We are facing some interesting times in all manners of life and business. Somehow, the pursuit of happiness is in there as well and good comfort food can play a big role in this. Many people and businesses are faced with the need to reinvent themselves in order to survive in this new paradigm. We have also been encouraged to support the local restaurants by ordering take out or buying gift cards, so if you want to try something different, let me know what you think.

Peace out - JP