Brocato's has occupied the same corner of Oak Park since 1948, when the Brocato family's grocery store gave way first to a meat market and then to the sandwich shop that's operated there for nearly eighty years. It remains family-run, serving out of an open-air building that has changed little over the decades.
The menu centers on Cuban sandwiches, deviled crabs — a Tampa specialty of fried, sofrito-seasoned crab — and stuffed potatoes. The Cubans here are served unpressed, arriving cold rather than griddled hot, a departure from how the sandwich is typically made elsewhere in the city. Both Creative Loafing Tampa and Photogfoodie have named Brocato's among Tampa's best, and it's widely regarded as one of the city's longstanding sandwich-shop traditions.
The menu centers on Cuban sandwiches, deviled crabs — a Tampa specialty of fried, sofrito-seasoned crab — and stuffed potatoes. The Cubans here are served unpressed, arriving cold rather than griddled hot, a departure from how the sandwich is typically made elsewhere in the city. Both Creative Loafing Tampa and Photogfoodie have named Brocato's among Tampa's best, and it's widely regarded as one of the city's longstanding sandwich-shop traditions.