JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Owner Rebecca Gonzalez says 1928 Cuban Bistro is more than a place to eat; it\u2019s a living tribute to the family who shaped her, especially her grandfather.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez, a first-generation Cuban American, said she was raised in Miami and moved to Jacksonville in 2015. <\/p>\n
While her business has grown to five locations, she said the story behind it began long before Northeast Florida, with her grandparents who left Cuba for New York to build a new life in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather, he was my father figure,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cHe always pushed me to follow my dreams and to go after it and work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant\u2019s name comes from her grandfather\u2019s birth year, 1928, which is displayed at the entrance of each location. <\/p>\n
Inside, Gonzalez points to lyrics on the wall that she says her grandfather used to sing to her grandmother: \u201cMu\u00f1equita linda\u2026 dime si me quieres como yo te adoro\u2026\u201d \u2014 which translates to: \u201cMy beautiful doll\u2026 tell me if you love me the way I adore you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lyric that my grandpa used to sing to my grandmother, and it just reminds me of them. It\u2019s really special to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez said the restaurant has also become a place of opportunity for Spanish-speaking employees who may have had trouble finding work in Jacksonville. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned into a home for a lot of employees who were Spanish speakers who maybe couldn\u2019t find employment here in Jacksonville that easily,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
One of those employees is cook Yenisel Rodriguez, who left Cuba in 2013. Rodriguez said working at 1928 Cuban Bistro has helped her feel connected to home. <\/p>\n
She prepared a meal for me featuring classic Cuban favorites, including croquetas and cafecito con leche.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez said she saw a need for more cultural diversity when she arrived in Jacksonville and wanted to share the traditions she grew up with. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I moved to Jacksonville, I noticed that diversity was missing. I was like, \u2018I\u2019m ready to bring the Cuban culture here,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Gonzalez, that culture shows up in the food, the language, and the music, passed down one cafecito, one croqueta and one familiar song at a time.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Owner Rebecca Gonzalez says 1928 Cuban Bistro is more than a place to eat; it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[160357,13337,1016,6919,1925,116,118,117,5436],"class_list":["post-403132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-1928-cuban-bistro","tag-4-your-neighborhood","tag-cuba","tag-features","tag-hispanic-heritage","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-morning-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}