In our Oct. 29 issue, we told you that Box of Cubans restaurant was getting ready to open in the space previously occupied by Mochinutโs New Tampa location at 17512 Doรฑa Michelle Dr., off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just north of the BBD exit off I-75 in the area known as Highwoods Preserve.
(Photo by Katherine Baker)
Well, owners Marcos and Oni Silverio and their son, Marcos Jr. (MJ) have now opened their second Box of Cubans location (the other is in Riverview) and everything weโve sampled so far has been pretty great.
In addition to tasty pressed Cuban sandwiches (left photo), Box of Cubans also offers 14 different varieties of empanadas โ from beef & cheese and chicken to banana nutella and guava & cream cheese. My current favorite sandwich is the โpan con bistec,โ with mojo-marinated Palomillo steak, Swiss cheese, sautรฉed onions, crispy potato straws, mayo and a house cilantro sauce (top photo). There also are Cuban rice bowls with black or red beans and your choice of protein, garlic toast and sweet plantains that I havenโt sampled yet, although I did also enjoy Box of Cubansโ black beans and rice.
Box of Cubans also serves a variety of breakfast items, even though it doesnโt open until 11 a.m. during the week and 10 a.m. on Saturday & Sunday. โWe sell our breakfast all day,โ Marcos told me. โAnd we already have customers coming in at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday ordering our breakfast sandwiches.โ
The bacon, egg & cheese on pressed Cuban bread is delicious and I also enjoyed the ham, egg & cheese empanada. But, my surprise favorite breakfast item is the torrejas, or Cuban-style French toast (right photo), which is topped with powdered sugar and served with both breakfast syrup and a warm strawberry dipping sauce. Incrรฉible! The cafรฉ con lechรฉ is excellent, too, and other hot and cold coffee drinks are available.
To place an order online, visit BoxofCubans.com, or call (813) 632-9021 and please tell them I sent you! โ GN
As much as most of our readers say they want them, itโs just never easy to be successful with unique concept restaurants in our distribution areas โ there is always just too much competition from other chain restaurants โ so you need all of the little factors to come together to โmake it,โ including location, quality, demand for the product, management and more.
Thatโs why it wasnโt much of a shock to me that the Mochinut โMore Than Just A Donutโ location on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. just north of I-75 (in the small plaza located north of Glory Days Grill) made the announcement shown lower left on Instagram a week or so before we went to press with this issue that the New Tampa location had closed, even though the Mochinut locations in Citrus Park, Temple Terrace and on the north S.R. 56 (near Mellow Mushroom) were staying open.
Whether or not Mochinutโs light-and-airy Korean-style donuts were a hard sell for folks raised on Krispy Kreme and/or Dunkinโ Donuts, the location of the New Tampa Mochinut (the second eatery to fail there; Mahana Fresh was the first) is extremely difficult to find and get to for a lot of people, even though it is visible from BBD.
Enter: Box Of Cubans!
I happened to stop by the already-closed Mochinut location to take the exterior photo to your left when I was able to see two people sitting inside the vacant eatery. They were Marcos and his wife Onelia (โOniโ) Silverio โ the owners of the Box of Cubans restaurant in Riverview, who were waiting for contractors to come in to help them get the former Mochinut location ready to become their second fast-casual Cuban eatery.
โOur Riverview location was named the Best Restaurant to Eat At in Tampa Bay by Yelp for 2023,โ Marcos told me. โWeโre famous for our authentic Cuban sandwiches and empanadas.โ
Marcos and Oni said that in addition to those popular Cubans and empanadas, Box of Cubans also receives high marks for its outstanding breakfast items โ including Cuban-style French toast (also known as Torrejas) and egg, meat (choice of bacon, ham, sausage, turkey or chorizo) and cheese and โPipoโs Breakfastโ (tender, juicy roast pork, aka lechon, sautรฉed onions and Swiss cheese inside a pressed fluffy egg omelet) sandwiches and more.
For lunch, try the restaurantโs signature Mojito Pork Sandwich with lechon, Swiss, sautรฉed onions and pickled jalapenos, the Pan Con Bistec (grilled palomilla steak marinated in mojo with Swiss, sauteed onions, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, crispy potato sticks, house cilantro sauce and mayo) sandwich or the ham croquette sandwich.
The empanadas come with a variety of fillings, from traditional chicken or beef and cheese to bacon, ham or sausage, egg & cheese, Empanada Cuban and even cheeseburger and lasagna options and more.
The โanatomyโ of a Box of Cubans Cuban sandwich. (Source: BoxofCubans.com)
There also are black or red bean & rice Cuban bowls with one of four house proteins (Lechon, Palomilla Steak, Chicken, or Picadillo), served with three pieces of Cuban bread garlic toast made and three sweet plantains.
Bakery items will range from savory ham croquettes to cream cheese churros, flan, tres leches and even cheesecake and key lime pie. โWeโre also famous for our specialty Cuban coffee drinks,โ Marcos says, including cafรฉ con leche and cold brew ice coffee.
He says Box of Cubans also has a cool story to tell. Marcos, who is Cuban and a lifelong Tampa native, and Oni both left other jobs to open the original Box of Cubans together in a BP gas station in Brandon in 2017. They were able to stay open and continue serving their community during Covid because the gas station was considered to be an โessentialโ business. Their son โMJโ (Marcos, Jr.) joined the team as COO and GM in Jan. 2023 and were looking to open a second location when the Mochinut spot became available. โWe hope to be open by the end of October or the first week of November,โ Marcos says. โWe know the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area will love our food!
