West Tampa restaurant wins recognition with outstanding Cuban sandwich

TAMPA - Scott Wall's culinary career began in New Jersey. He and his family relocated to Land O' Lakes, where he had his first experience creating a Cuban sandwich. In that learning process, a labor of love was born. He called it Los Gringos.

Unique restaurant origins

The backstory:

The Wall family had a sandwich shop already, but here in the Tampa Bay area, customers kept asking for a Cuban sandwich.

"People said, 'Oh, do you make a Cuban sandwich?' Sure, I can figure out a Cuban sandwich. It's sliced ham, and salami, and pickles, and mustard, and roast pork," recalled Wall.

He and his family had moved to Florida with virtually no experience making or eating Cuban food, but they knew how to make good quality food, so they adapted.

Their customers loved their version of the Cuban, and soon, it was time to expand.

"My son wanted to open a freestanding restaurant where we would serve some of our, you know, good food and our staples on our menu," he said. "And we found this building. It's an old building, has a lot of history. It was previously called La Ideal, which was a very kind of famous Cuban sandwich and coffee shop."

With that building and former Cuban eatery fame came a clientele interested in what Wall had to offer.

"Not being of Cuban descent, I don't know any better, so I just cook food the way I think it's going to taste good," Wall explained. "I was making it like an Irish kid from New Jersey might make it. And it turns out the flavor is flavor, and people liked it that way."  

The name, Los Gringos, is a nod to his "fish out of water" business in the historic, deep-rooted West Tampa Cuban community.

West Tampa restaurant success

What they're saying:

When the Wall family opened Los Gringos, local regulars fell in love with his homemade soups, breakfast options, and custom Cuban sandwiches.

Those Cuban sandwiches are a bit different than customers might find in other restaurants.

Wall described it this way: "We make our Cubans to order... I didn't know any better. I started cooking the meat in the middle because I kind of looked at it like making a hamburger...  we grill the pork, the salami, and the ham, and we melt it on top of the Swiss cheese with the pickles and the mustard, and then we grill the bread too... So it's just a little bit different. And the reason it's different is I didn't know any better. Ignorance is bliss."

That bliss is contagious as the customers keep coming back day after day. Wall and his crew boast an award for the best sandwich shop in West Tampa based on Yelp and Google reviews.

The day starts early as Wall and his team open the doors at 6 a.m. to start each day with Cuban toast and Cuban coffee.

"We have a wizard on the coffee machine, his name is Mario. And we have a young wizard on the other, on the other side of the coffee machine. Her name is Leanna" shared Wall. "I know how to make coffee, but I'm making coffee in New Jersey in a diner. I'm not making café con leches and espressos and cortaditos like these folks can. So even though we have a vast menu of different kinds of choices, the Cuban coffee is the Cuban coffee."

And that coffee fuels the day for many regulars who kickstart each day at Los Gringos.

"I'm very fortunate. I have a very loyal customer base," he admitted. "These people, and I'm not kidding, come in six days a week, and we're only open six days a week. If we were open seven, I have a feeling they'd come in seven."

What you can do:

You can visit Los Gringos six days a week. They are closed on Sundays. They are located at 2922 West Tampa Bay Boulevard, about 5 blocks east from Raymond James Stadium. They open at 6am Monday through Friday and at 8am on Saturdays.

TampaFood and DrinkHillsborough County