Smash hit

Cuban bread looks a lot like French bread -- a long baguette about 3 inches thick -- but the crust, though crisp, is thin, and the interior is soft. Lots of flour, a bit of yeast and sugar and water, and you get an interior that reminds you most of WonderBread, but with big air holes.

But:

-- Stout enough that a stale loaf is the official weapon of the Conch Republic (wielded like a sword);

-- Supple enough that it can be cut into lengths filled with spiced meat, breaded and fried for the Caribbean version of a pastie;

-- Sweet enough that it can be buttered and pressed, maybe with a sprinkle of cheese, into Cuban toast for breakfast;

-- And filled with multiple variations on a theme of pig -- accented with onion, mustard, pickles and maybe cheese -- to form the iconic Cuban sandwich.

There are lunch counters here that have made their bones on Cubans -- Sandy's and Kim's foremost among them -- but when I had some leftover roast pork, and brought home a fresh loaf (it has to be fresh) from Publix, and put it all together to squeeze in my sandwich press for the perfect smash-and-crisp, even Robert admitted that this inch-thin homemade was about as good as it gets.