Eating this lunch in the busy, sun-lit dining room felt like I was

in a small Cuban café in Miami. But Don Carlin is way out west in Broward, near Sawgrass Mills Mall. Area workers filtered in for filling lunch specials, none more than $8.99. That price was for rabo encendido, stewed oxtail served with rice. The lunch menu also listed platos Cubanos mas tipico such as maso de puerco (garlic-marinated fried pork chunks), ropa vieja, and a nicely pressed Cuban sandwich that cost less than five bucks. I'll have to try that Cubano next time I'm at Don Carlin. Some of the same bread used to make it is made hot and crisp on a sandwich press and shows up at each table in a bread basket -- that alone was awesome stuff.

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