Ropa Vieja appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Ropa Vieja · Miami
Cuba's national dish: slow-braised beef flank shredded into long fibrous strands (the name means old clothes), simmered in a smoky sofrito of onion, pepper, garlic, tomato, cumin and dry sherry.
Ropa vieja arrived in Cuba from Spain's Canary Islands and Castilla-La Mancha in the 17th century, where peasant cooks shredded leftover boiled meat into a stew rather than waste it. The Cuban version codified through the 19th century and became the national dish, particularly identified with Havana. Miami's exile generation brought the recipe wholesale in the 1960s; Versailles in Little Havana, opened 1971, made it the canonical Miami address for ropa vieja. The textural distinction is essential; the meat must shred to long fibres, never chunks.
Where to eat in Miami:
- Versailles
- La Carreta
- Sergio's
Ropa Vieja (Cuban braised beef) · Tampa
Slow-braised shredded flank steak in tomato, peppers, onion and white wine, served with yellow rice and black beans. Cuba's national dish and the staple.
Ropa vieja (literally 'old clothes' for the shredded appearance) is the national dish of Cuba and arrived in Tampa with the Cuban cigar workers of the 1880s. La Teresita and the Columbia Restaurant both run versions. The dish stretches flank or skirt steak by braising it in a tomato-pepper-onion sofrito until the meat falls apart.
Where to eat in Tampa:
- Columbia Restaurant
- La Teresita
- Cafe Don Jose