Cuban sandwich

The fight is about one ingredient. Tampa's version includes Genoa salami, a trace of the Italian immigrants who worked beside Cubans and Spaniards in Ybor City. Miami's version, which spread after Cuban exiles arrived following 1959, leaves the salami out. Key West versions sometimes add lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, which both cities consider wrong.

On April 19, 2012, the Tampa City Council voted unanimously to name the Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich the city's signature sandwich. Councilwoman Yvonne Yolie Capin led the effort and briefly considered trademarking the name. Black Bean Deli, the Orlando benchmark, leaves the salami out.

If you want the salami version at its source, Ybor City is on our Tampa day trip.

• The bread: Cuban bread, light inside with a thin crust. Pressed, it should crackle, not chew like a sub roll.
• The pork: roast pork with garlic and citrus, sliced or pulled. Deli-style pork loin is a shortcut.
• The press: flat, hot and melted through. A cold Cuban exists, but a pressed one is the default.
• Mustard, not mayo: yellow mustard is standard. Lettuce and tomato mean you are in Key West or somewhere that has not heard the argument.

The media noche is the same fillings on a sweeter egg bread. At Black Bean Deli it costs $10.

Black Bean Deli has counters in Mills 50 (on East Colonial Drive) and Winter Park. The Cuban is $11, a lunch special with a smaller Cuban plus black beans and rice is $10 until 3 p.m., and a cafe con leche is $5.50.

4 Rivers Smokehouse sells a barbecue twist for $9.99: smoked pork and ham, mustard, mojo, pickles, onion rings, provolone and 4R sauce, pressed and grilled. Good sandwich, not a classic Cuban. Se7en Bites goes further with a Southern Cuban ($18.75) of pulled pork, ham, Swiss, fried pickles and South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce.

At Disney, Cuban sandwiches turn up at resort pool bars and quick-service counters for about $10.49 to $12.99. They are fine for lunch by the pool, but they are not why you should order this sandwich.