A taste of Havana: Floridita serves authentic Cuban cuisine

In a town with a slew of ethnic restaurants, evoking varying cuisines from Persian to Peruvian, Viennese to Vietnamese, there are few eateries that so completely embody the spirit of their home country as Floridita.

As much a bakery as a restaurant, Floridita Cuban Bakery & Restaurant at the corner of Collier Boulevard and Golden Gate Parkway offers a genuine slice of Cuba, whether it is the tamales, ropa vieja, media noche sandwiches or the vast array of pastries. Walk in the door, and you are no longer in a primarily English-speaking country. Lettering on the door proclaims, in English, “the best Cuban food in Naples,” and “A piece of Cuba under the Naples sky.”

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While the staff can certainly accommodate you and take your order in English, Spanish is what you hear all around, and the language of the great majority of the patrons. Traditionally, this means you are in an establishment serving authentic foreign dishes, and that precept holds at Floridita.

“We have a lot of American people (coming in), but more Cubans,” said owner Yanet Casanova, speaking in Cuban-accented English. “Also Mexican, Venezuelan, Brazil … ” she trailed off, thinking.

“Y España, (Spanish from Spain),” added server Yanela Quirogal.

Breakfast and lunch are the busiest times at La Floridita, although the restaurant stays open till 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and until 6 p.m. on Saturday. The menu is extensive, with row upon row of baked goods sitting behind the glass display cases under the counter, and lunch offerings sitting in trays waiting to be ladled out.

For desayuno, or breakfast, whatever you choose to eat, the Cuban thing to do is to wash it down with café con leche, or Cuban coffee. Perhaps along with rum – and the name “Floridita” harkens back to the legendary bar of the same name in Havana, where Ernest Hemingway inspired the creation of the “Papa Doble,” an especially potent daiquiri – café con leche is the national drink of Cuba. Sweetened to a syrup with the same sugar that also goes to make the rum, brewed barista-style in an espresso machine, and heavy on the milk, it would be called a latte in an American eatery. Or you can order guarapo, sugar cane juice.

Floridita also offers Cuban soft drinks such as Malta Hatuey and Malta India, that, like the American classic Moxie, you had to grow up with to develop a taste for, but are beloved by Cubans, along with Ironbeer, Colombiana, and Inca Cola.

Many of the breakfast specialties come with café con leche included in the price, such as dos huevos fritos or revueltos con chorizo y tostada – two eggs fried or scrambled with Cuban sausage and Cuban toast – or the breakfast sandwich with two eggs, ham and cheese, each for $4.95.

For lunch, the aforementioned media noche, or midnight sandwich, is popular, as is oxtail with fried plantains or your choice of rice – white, yellow, or brown. The number one seller is the classic Cuban sandwich, with ham, pork, pickles, cheese, mustard and mayo. There are regular rotating lunch specials every day except Sunday, when the specials are at the whim of Señora Casanova.

But whatever your meal, save room for the renowned Cuban postres, or desserts. These include guava and cheese-filled pastries, flan de leche or flan de coconut, arroz con leche or rice pudding, eclairs, flaky sweet señoritas, tres leches, cheesecake, and tiramisu. Traditional Cuban cuisine is not for the serious dieter.

Casanova has owned Floridita for over five years, and it was there another eight years before that.  Business is very good – “the whole year busy,” said Casanova – so good that she is opening a second location on Airport Road near Davis Boulevard, which should be open by the time you read this.

The Golden Gate location has 32 seats, and the new spot will emphasize restaurant seating more, she said.

Mike Langan, one of the minority English speakers in the restaurant on a recent morning, said, “I’m a foreigner here,” but he loves it, and would come back over and over, if only for the chicken soup. In any language, Floridita offers the taste of Cuba, or perhaps Miami’s Calle Ocho in Little Havana.

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If you go

Floridita Cuban Bakery & Restaurant

11689 Collier Boulevard, Naples

239-331-8600

Floridita Restaurant

1716 Airport-Pulling Road South