The Cubano at Cafecito (photo: Joseph Storch)

Like all great sandwiches, the Cubano is a remarkable creation marrying flavorful proteins, satisfying condiments and crunchy textures. But unlike its Vietnamese cousin, the banh mi, or its Italian brethren – featuring slow-roasted beef slammed between sturdy loaves and draped in a bracing giardiniera – the Cuban sandwich has something the others don’t: griddled bread.

I’m a sucker for a good panini, even if it comes from an airport terminal. There’s something about barely-melted cheese and warm pork squeezed between hearty slices of bread (that have themselves been kissed with melted butter), scorched and seared in a sturdy griddle that just resonates with me.  I think I’ve always loved a warm sandwich; probably the result of growing up on Davanni’s in Minneapolis. But the Cubano is something altogether different.

There is always roasted pork – and the five below all roast their shoulders in-house – as well as the requisite slices of luncheon ham, yellow mustard, Swiss cheese and pickles. But the better joints will generously season their pork with a mojo featuring garlic and sour oranges; they’ll line one interior side of their bread with melted butter and will get their specially-made bread delivered everyday from the likes of Turano, Gonnella or D’amato’s, making sure each sandwich is pressed until the exterior is as crunchy and crisp as a mariquita, the fried plantain chips that often accompany a meal. Some, like Señor Pan (which won the Best Sandwich category at the Festival Cubano last summer), use two slightly different types of ham, one of which is lightly smoked. Others, like Cafe Marianao in Logan Square, simply transport you to a Havana bodega, with noisy old-timers sipping their café Cubanos, arguing about their favorite baseball players and sharing stories from back home; the sandwiches’ legitimacy is never questioned.

There are certainly other places to get a good Cuban sandwich in Chicago, but when it comes to these five, as Carly Simon once sang, nobody does it better.

1. Cafecito

26 E. Congress Pkwy.

312-922-2233

2. Cafe Marianao

2246 N. Milwaukee Ave.

773-278-4533

3. Señor Pan

4612 W. Fullerton Ave.

773-227-1020

also:

2615 W. North Ave.

773-227-9601

4. El Cubanito
2555 N. Pulaski Rd.
773-235-2555

5. 90 Miles Cafe

Logan Square location

2540 W. Armitage St.

773-227-2822

also:

3101 N. Clybourn Ave.

773-248-2822