A Socialite Invented This Quintessential Cuban Sandwich
The New York Times
The sandwich, named after Elena Ruz, melds sweet and savory, using soft medianoche bread, white turkey meat, softened cream cheese and strawberry preserves.
MIAMI — When the Cuban socialite Elena Ruz Valdés-Fauli was in her early 20s, she would often go to a show or a movie and have a late-night bite with friends at the restaurant El Carmelo in Havana. Her usual meal was an off-menu request: a turkey sandwich on medianoche bread, with cream cheese and strawberry preserves.
She had to explain the sandwich so many times that she asked the restaurant’s manager to put it on the menu to make it easier to order. At some point in the late 1920s or the early ’30s (nobody remembers when), she returned to find her name in neon lights, with the sandwich on the menu for 25 cents.
“It was quite a surprise for her,” Margarita Ulacia, 82, of San José, Costa Rica, said about her mother’s reaction to the sign. “But she was delighted, and my grandmother was horrified.”
