Sure, Tampa is known for its Cuban sandwich\u2014a tantalizing mash-up of Spanish, Italian, Swiss and German flavors served between two pieces of crusty Cuban bread created in the heyday of Ybor City, the Cigar Capital of the World at the turn of the 20th century\u2014but there\u2019s another iconic local dish born of the same era to try when in town: devil crab.<\/p>\n
Rodney Kite-Powell, historian at the Tampa Bay History Center<\/a>, says Tampa\u2019s devil crab was inspired from the need of an inexpensive meal during the cigar industry strikes of the 1920s. Key ingredients like crabmeat\u2013\u201cthe waters of Tampa Bay were teeming with blue crabs at the time\u201d\u2013and Cuban bread could be easily sourced at low to no cost.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople weren\u2019t going to sit-down restaurants, and generally cigar workers weren\u2019t anyway, so they’re eating at home or getting something quick for lunch,\u201d Kite-Powell told Travel + Leisure of the 1920s strikes. At the same time, it was common for restaurants to have side windows for walk-up Cuban sandwiches; they added devil crab to their menus.<\/p>\n Long before food trucks, enterprising business types began selling devil crab on-the-go from their motor scooters and bicycles equipped with insulated carriers. Perhaps the most beloved was the Devil Crab Man, Francisco Miranda, who peddled thousands of his devil crabs from the 1930s until he passed away in 1953.<\/p>\n \u201cThey’d make them at home and ride around the streets of Ybor, and later the port, and they would sell them to people kind of like a food truck of modern times,\u201d said Kite-Powell of what became a popular street food.<\/p>\n Unlike Maryland crab cakes and Southern-style deviled crab, in which crabmeat is mixed with breading and spices, Tampa\u2019s devil crab mixes fresh crabmeat with sofrito, or a blend of green peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes (or tomato sauce or paste) and oregano saut\u00e9ed in olive oil. Rather than pan-frying or baking in crab shells, the devil crab mix is traditionally formed into palm-sized football shapes and coated in a breadcrumb mix of day-old Cuban and white bread \u201cchopped up into almost kind of a meal or a flour\u201d before being deep-fried.<\/p>\n Devil crab can still be found on restaurant menus throughout Tampa, including the Silver Ring Caf\u00e9<\/a>, which was in Ybor City in the 1930s; Brocato\u2019s Sandwich Shop<\/a>, where the devil crab softball-sized; Alessi Bakeries<\/a>, another Tampa institution; and in Ybor City at Carmine\u2019s<\/a> and Columbia Restaurant<\/a>, Florida\u2019s oldest restaurant. For a twist on the original, try the Crabmeat Empanada at Mr. Empanada<\/a>. Or, make devil crab at home with the Columbia Restaurant\u2019s recipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n