NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — You can smell it in his kitchen and taste it in his food, but if there's any doubt, just read the sign outside Javier Salado's business.
"'Soy Cubano' means 'I am Cuban'," he said.
His beef empanadas and fried plantains tell the story of Salado's childhood.
"I grew up in Miami in a neighborhood, a little area called Westchester or as we call in Miami 'Wecheste'," said Salado.
The son of Cuban refugees, Salado is a first-generation American.
"So that's kind of what the food that I make today," he said. "The food that I grew up eating which is also the food that was brought with these exiles from Cuba."
But in a city rich with Southern cooking, Salado wondered if there was an appetite for Cuban cuisine.
"So I invested $60 on two pancake griddles, $50 on a folding table from Target and off I went," Salado said.
Using his stimulus checks, Salado set up shop at farmer's markets and pop-up events.
"Early in the morning I would be setting up and people were already waiting in line," he said.
They were waiting in line for one thing in particular- his Cuban sandwiches. "This is what everyone comes for."
Soy Cubano found a home in The Wash, surrounded by other minority-owned businesses.
Now Salado hopes to pave the way for other Hispanic entrepreneurs in Nashville.
"The name of the restaurant comes from me trying to figure myself out living in Nashville where I felt I've lost myself and I lost my sense of who I was, and going back to that- reverting back to my roots and kind of putting it: 'I'm Cuban'," he said.
