Culinary wizard and cafe owner Josefa Gonzalez-Hastings offers this extravagance of Cuban cooking as a celebration of her heritage. Many of the recipes were passed down to her from her mother and aunts; others are "nuevo Latino cuisine"--a fusion of traditional Cuban foods with modern dishes. Cuban food and preparation always has been varied, she says, flavored by the ancestry of the island, with contributions from Spanish conquistadors, African slaves, Asian laborers, and Indian natives. Of course, she also includes Habana Cafe's standard sides of rice, black beans, and glazed golden-brown plantains. Customer favorites are all represented here in easy-to-follow recipes and colorful photographs--from appetizers and soups, seafood and vegetarian entrees, to classics (Cuban sandwiches and flan) and beverages (mojitos, sangria, cafe con leche, Cuba libre). Gonzalez-Hastings also provides a glossary explaining typical ethnic Cuban ingredients such as bijol, a condiment used to give rice a yellow color; naranja agria, the tart Seville orange often used to marinate meat and make mojo sauce; and malanga, a mild, nutty root that flavors soups and other sauces. "In my Cuban family," she writes, "two things were always certain-- food and good times." Gonzalez-Hastings shares family stories and photographs of life in pre-Castro Cuba, re-creating the days when Havana was a dining mecca, Ernest Hemingway frequented La Floridita restaurant, and the island gave birth to the daiquiri.

Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine.

James Beard Award–Winning Author: Savor a deliciously complex culinary culture with 120 recipes and gorgeous photos. Spanish, Native American, African, Chinese, and French traditions have all contributed to Cuban cooking, producing a distinctive Caribbean cuisine as richly chorded as the island’s music. Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs’s itinerary takes them from the barrio, paladars (private restaurants), and chic nightspots of Havana to the eateries of Florida’s emigré communities. From their journeys, they’ve gathered more than 120 recipes that comprehensively document Cuban cooking’s diversity, from the black bean soup found on any Cuban table, to the empanadas sold by Havana’s street vendors, to the grilled sandwiches that are a mainstay of Miami’s Calle Ocho, to the innovative dishes devised by chefs at top Cuban restaurants. Gorgeously illustrated with Jacobs’s photographs —many shot on the authors’ travels through Cuba—Eating Cuban highlights Cuban food’s historical roots, the classic Creole dishes that evolved from these disparate cultural influences, current trends in Cuban cooking, street foods and on-the-go snacks, and quintessential Cuban beverages from café Cubano to the mojito. In addition, a valuable resource list helps American cooks locate the required ingredients, and a restaurant directory points the way to the very best in Cuban cuisine—in Cuba and the U.S.

Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine.

Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine.

Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine.

Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine.