A Legend in My Own Mind from Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our family certainly did. And boy did we have leftover turkey!
The re-heated turkey meal started to get old really fast. So I suggested sandwiches.
Me: “Hey let’s make Elena Ruz’s.”
My kids: “Mom, use your words.” (smart alecks!) “What are EL-EY-NA ROO-ZES?”
I very patiently explain that apparently (as far as I know) Elena Ruz was a Cuban socialite who frequented El Carmelo, a restaurant in Havana, and always requested a turkey sandwich with cream cheese and strawberry preserves. They eventually put the sandwich on the menu and named it after her.
I look in my refrigerator and find that I have not only leftover turkey, but lots of cream cheese and also white bread. But alas, no strawberry preserves.
And then I think that if I were making this sandwich, I’d toast the bread, skip the strawberry preserves altogether and make it with some kind of guava instead.
Wait! What am I saying? I am making this sandwich and I always have guava!
And that, my friends, is how a legendary Cuban sandwich is born. 
Presenting:
The Marta Darby Sandwich (=D)
2 slices lightly toasted white bread
3 oz. fresh cooked turkey
2 Tbsp. Cream cheese
2 Tbsp. Guava jelly or guava spread
1) Spread each slice of toasted bread with cream cheese.
2) Spread the guava jelly or spread over the cream cheese.
3) Add the turkey.
4) Enjoy!
The first time my mom ordered one of these I thought at first, gross, turkey and jelly, but when I tried it, it became one of my favorite all time sandwiches....
i'm in the mood for one now thanks to you marta
It was deliciouso! I think you should call it a "Marta Maria" though . . . Sounds more Cuban.
Marta,
Yes you’re correct, the sandwich Elena Ruz was invented at the restaurant El Carmelo en Havana.
My father worked at El Carmelo from 1948 until it was confiscated in 1960 and just verified this information for me.
According to my father, anybody who was somebody in the Cuban society in the 1950s visited the restaurant in Calzada as it was among the top five restaurants in Havana at the time.
My father has told me many stories over the years regarding certain individuals he witnessed going to El Carmelo in Caldaza (which it was the most famous of the two restaurants). The other one was located in Calle 23 next to the movie theater.
People like Oscar B. Cintas (who owned most of the railroad network in Cuba), Marta Batista (Fulgencio Batista’s wife), Eddy Chibas (the famous Cuban politician) and Lucky Luciano to name a few, visited El Carmelo.
Absolutely positive. My father also worked for El Carmelo from the 1930s until its confiscation. Actually he was the one who has to surrender the store to the government. One of the best knowns restaurants in Havana, not only buy its food. It also has an excelent Deli with the best fruits, baked its own bread and pastries
and had a newsstand where papers and magazines from all over the world were sold. Freedom for Cuba, please, e-mail me.