Cuban Sandwich & Medianoche (1903)

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   From "HAVANA'S HOTELS AND CAFES," part of a series of Cuban dispatches from Dorothy Stanhope, in THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18 January 1903, pg. 26, col. 6:
     On the counters of restaurants are all kinds of baked meats and fowl.  The Cubans are all (Illegible.  Old NY Times microfilms are horrible!--ed.) spiced.  Sandwiches are piled up high, but they are not the kind we know, with a simple layer of meat, or nuts (?--ed.), or lettuce.  The Cuban sandwich is made of a roll and has three or four things between the sides.  The kind known as "medianoche," suggesting that it is usually eaten late at night, is of a very delicious roll, with chicken and bits of pickle between the sides.  Ham, cheese, and pickle are the ordinary filling for a native sandwich.  Whatever may be lacking among the edibles displayed on the counters, sweet cakes are not.  They are unprotected by bars of glass; still people eat them with great relish apparently.  Cubans have a liking for very sweet things, and the cakes are made to suit them.  To Americans they seem far too sweet.  Many of them are filled with custard, "flan," it is called here.  There are some small meat pies that are very p
alatable.  Other kinds of pies are unknown.  Large cakes are likewise uncounted among Cuban pastries.

   From "CUBA'S CAPITOL IS GAY" by Dorothy Stanhope, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 1 March 1903, pg. 4, col. 6:

   There have been many luncheons; these differ very little from the ones to which we are accustomed in our own land either in service or the dishes offered.  The one exception is the fish course, which usually consists of the most delicious little dried fish--pargitos they are called.  One of them is about the right quatity for a person.  Of all Cuban delicacies, none excels this.