Right down the street from me, a Throwdown is shaping up. Bobby Flay is challenging Nick Vazquez, owner of Azucar, a popular Cuban eatery in the Newport section of Jersey City, across from downtown Manhattan.

Cuban Sandwich by Azucar. Image by Azucar, via Grub Street

From New York magazine’s Grub Street:

Jersey City has been getting some love from New Yorkers lately. A new sweets truck appeared outside of the Whitney Biennial, Robert Sietsema recently praised South Indian restaurant Sapthagiri, and now we’re told Bobby Flay paid a visit to Newport Cuban joint Azucar for a Cuban-sandwich Throwdown that airs on the Food Network next Wednesday. So why cubanos in Jersey City and not Miami?

Azucar’s chef-owner, Cuban-born Nick Vazquez, tells us that indeed, Flay originally wanted to fly his crew to Miami, but a Food Network producer who happened to be a regular at Azucar convinced him to keep it local.

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