Waiter on the Way Blog

Caliente Fort Wayne

Have you ever had a Cuban sandwich?  Regardless, Caliente Fort Wayne offers delicious Cuban sandwiches that the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette calls “to-die-for”.  View of the full Caliente restaurant review here .

Excerpts from the article:

Caliente, the undertaking of the Cuban husband-and-wife team of Gus Rodriguez and Yalili Mesa, has a limited – but still growing – menu, not a lot of space for seating and not a lot of parking around back, and it is in a rather infamous location. I have seen a couple of pizza places, a barbecue joint and a catering business/deli come and go in that spot over the past decade, and I hope Caliente can break the trend.

After unsuccessfully searching for someone to make the proper Cuban bread for the sandwiches, the couple were forced to make the long loaves themselves. It is great that they do because that bread is the ingredient that makes this place so special. The bread is dense but still soft, chewy, crusty and delicious, regardless of what is slapped between it.

For the Cuban, Mesa slow-roasts pork in onions and garlic, then puts it – along with thin slices of ham, provolone, pickle slices, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, some of the onions and a drizzle of pork drippings from the pan – on the bread, which is buttered on both sides and toasted a bit in the plancha grill first.

Then the sandwich is placed back in the plancha and pressed until the fillings are warm, the cheese is melted and the exterior of the bread is toasted just right. Jalapeños can be added if you wish – and I wished.

The hearty pork, salty ham, zesty mustard, hot peppers and vinegary pickles marry perfectly inside the bread, and the melted cheese adds more texture than flavor, but all the ingredients mix to create something special.

The pan con lechon (pork with choice of toppings) and chicken breast sandwiches were good – as anything on that bread would be – but not nearly as brilliant as the Cuban.

The hot dog also was brilliant. Take the same bread and toppings, and replace the meat with a quarter-pound hot dog – and pay only $1.40 for it – and you will have a hard time finding fault with it. You would struggle to find a jumbo hot dog anywhere that inexpensive.

Think a $5 foot-long is a good deal? You could get this girthy hot dog sandwich, a cheese toastie, a hunk of garlic toast smeared with a zippy butter mix containing chunks of real garlic and flecks of parsley and a drink for a dime less.

Not yet convinced?  Order a Caliente Cuban sandwich today starting at just $5.75!