Caribbean drama in Seattle

Read Time: 12 minutes

Caribbean roast pork is a popular sandwich on several restaurant menus in Seattle, Washington. I recently visited and tried a really good one and a not-so-great one, and then came home to write about the experience and recreate the good one in my own kitchen.

What is this sandwich?

This is a sandwich that’s typically listed on menus as a Caribbean roast pork sandwich or sometimes just “Caribbean roast.” The roasted pork sandwich originated from what is now a small restaurant chain called Paseo and has spread to several other locations around the Seattle area. A few weeks ago I got a chance to try this sandwich and can report that it’s a great combination of flavors and textures.

On a recent ferry ride back to Seattle from Victoria, British Columbia, I also got a chance to try a concession stand-style version of the sandwich that was pre-prepped and tossed in a ferry galley toaster oven that’s clearly attempting to replicate the flavors and concept of the original. It’s not nearly as tasty as the sandwich it’s trying to replicate, but it was interesting to see it available. Yes, there are highs and lows in this Seattle sandwich adventure.

I took this photo of the Seattle skyline on the ferry on the way back from Bainbridge Island. It’s a great way to get views of the city from the water. Fun fact: pickleball was invented on Bainbridge Island.

The first version of this Caribbean-style sandwich that appeared was found at a restaurant called Paseo in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Opened in 1994 by Lorenzo Lorenzo, a Cuban-born chef, Paseo served Caribbean sandwiches, including their now-famous Caribbean roast pork. Paseo proceeded to gain a lot of fans and popularity throughout the years, selling its Caribbean Roast sandwich, which contains “marinated and slow-roasted pork shoulder, fresh cilantro, pickled jalapenos, caramelized onions, and crisp romaine on a toasted baguette slathered with garlic aioli.”

Several well-known professional food writers and content creators have even gone so far as to say that this style of sandwich might not just be the best sandwich in Seattle, but it might warrant a spot on best-of lists across America. In 2008—before all the restaurant drama—Esquire magazine ranked Paseo’s pork sandwich as one of the best in the Country.

Paseo and Un Bien

Paseo ended up having some trouble 20 years after they first opened, which ended up with a lawsuit that snowballed into bankruptcy and finally closure in 2014. There’s a lot of information about Paseo and the drama surrounding these events on Wikipedia, but the gist is that someone else ended up buying Lorenzo Lorenzo’s Paseo naming rights and locations, but they did not get the official recipes. The new owners of Paseo did rehire some of the old staff, and they have attempted to recreate the recipes through reverse engineering and have ended up being fairly successful and have opened other locations around the Seattle area.

Soon after Paseo was purchased and reopened under another ownership group, Lorenzo Lorenzo’s sons opened their own Caribbean sandwich-serving location called Un Bien with the original recipes from Paseo. Basically, this meant that both Paseo and Un Bien were—and still are—serving a sandwich that’s nearly identical to the other version. Both locations are still quite popular in 2026, and they’re so similar in focus that they source their baguettes from the same local bakery.

It should also be noted that these two restaurants, Paseo and Un Bien, are practically neighbors, occupying locations that are fairly close together or even in the same neighborhoods, and at this point they both have large fan bases that have their own favorites between the two options.

I painted another digital painting that another city tourism office should be paying me for! This one is for the Seattle Caribbean roast pork sandwich.

Which sandwich is best? That’s an answer that someone else will have to teach you, because I only tried the sandwich from the location closest to our lodging. But you can check out these two videos from two sources that I trust very much.

I did try the Un Bien sandwich, and I have covered my experience eating that one just below.

This is how the Caribbean roast sandwich is presented on Paseo’s website.

This is the menu listing for the Caribbean roast sandwich on Un Bien’s site. Note the sandwich is slightly cheaper than Paseo’s option.

As I said, I recently visited Seattle, and I had the chance to visit Un Bien and pick up one of their Caribbean Roast sandwiches to go. The pork was tender and juicy, which mixed in a really good way with the garlicky mayonnaise. The bread was just a little bit crusty on the exterior, and that created a great textural experience with the soft and tender pork and onions.

The caramelized onions brought a bunch of sweetness that really seemed to accentuate the citrusy flavors in the pork. There was a bit of spice from the pickled jalapenos, but any heat was heavily muted by the bread and meat. It was not a very spicy sandwich, so if that worries you, you should be able to handle it just fine.

The menu at Un Bien on Galer Street.

A cross section of the Un Bien Caribbean roast.

The sandwich was pretty messy but a very rewarding experience.

I pulled out a caramelized onion piece to show the color.

Un Bien’s Caribbean roast pork sandwich is really good. I will definitely give Paseo’s version a shot on my next visit to Seattle, but for now, I know I can make my own version that is just as good as Un Bien’s. You can too if you grab my full recipe below. But for now, keep reading about other versions of the sandwich and a full dive into each sandwich component.

Un Bien and Paseo aren’t the only sandwich shops slinging Caribbean-style pork sandwiches in Seattle. I did not get a chance to try any of these other versions, but Bongo’s Cafe has what they call The Desi Sandwich, which is very similar to the original Caribbean pork sandwich. Also, a restaurant called Honeyhole sells a Mojo Dojo (pictured here) that has components that are similar to the Paseo and Un Bien version.

But that’s not the only place you might find a Caribbean pork sandwich in the Seattle area.

Honeyhole Seattle sells a Mojo Dojo sandwich, which is different from the Caribbean roast but still very similar.

Victoria Clipper ferry’s Caribbean roast pork

We took the 3-hour Victoria Clipper ferry from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia, and back, to get a taste of poutine, look at moose, and see what milk in bags looks like, and on that trip I happened to open up the galley menu and saw a Caribbean roast pork sandwich. On the way to Victoria, it was fairly early in the morning, so I didn’t try the sandwich then, but I did order it and ate it on the trip back.

It was fine. It was basically an airport-style sandwich where most of the ingredients were probably pre-made in a kitchen and trucked over to the boat. This version of the roast pork sandwich did not have lettuce, which meant that the whole thing could probably be premade and warmed when ordered. They gave me the option of a warm sandwich, which meant it went into a toaster to heat and crisp up.

The only thing missing on this sandwich that is in the Paseo version is Romaine lettuce.

The bread choice on the ferry version was fine, but not as good as the baguette from Un Bien.

This sandwich was ok. It doesn’t hold a candle to the Un Bien version, though.

The bread was a bit too soft; there wasn’t really enough of any one ingredient, but I certainly ate the whole thing. It was a fine enough sandwich; it just felt like fast food that was prepared by someone who didn’t really care how balanced the ingredients were on the sandwich.

I was mostly surprised at how this sandwich is such a well-known Seattle staple that it’s even included in the simple sandwich menu on at least one nearby ferry. Would I suggest this Victoria Clipper roast pork sandwich? Well, it depends. Are you stuck on a boat for 3+ hours with no other food options? Yes, in that case I would suggest it over the likely soggy chicken Caesar wrap or berry yogurt parfait. But don’t get your hopes up too high.

Now that we know what sandwich we’re making, let’s start with the most complicated part, which is the bread.

Homemade baguettes

Baguettes are not a recipe that I suggest beginning bakers attempt first. They’re not super difficult or anything; there are simply steps that are needed to produce a quality of bread that is anywhere close to what they make in a professional bakery.

I spent a good deal of time writing about baguettes and how I make them in my Jambon-beurre sandwich blog post that you should read up on if you’ve never tried baking baguettes and you’re interested. I do not consider myself to be great at making baguettes, but I do have some practice at this point, and the ones that I can regularly produce in my kitchen suit a sandwich like this Caribbean pork sandwich pretty well.

Shaping baguettes requires lots of rolling dough into long sticks.

This is a baguette transfer peel. You can also use the one I have as a ruler. I’m shooting for around 15 inches or so in my recipe.

The shaped dough rises together, closely aligned, inside a baker’s couche, which keeps them from rising flat.

After an hour or so of rise time, the dough has risen and puffed up.

The point of the transfer peel is to help you move the risen dough without deflating too much of the gas.

Carefully roll the dough onto a pizza peel and score the bread with a sharp knife or lame.

Baking your own baguettes is a bit harder than making things like white bread and hamburger buns, but it’s rewarding when you end up with a crusty piece of bread that will hold up well to tender, juicy pork and caramelized onions.

They’re also great with ham and butter too!

Just a guy holding a big bread cigar.

Three baguettes, ready for butter or maybe some Caribbean roast pork.

Each of these three baguettes should be able to make 2 fairly large Caribbean roast sandwiches.

Here’s my homemade baguette recipe that you can try if you want to make this sandwich. Otherwise, you simply need to buy baguettes, or if you can’t find those, just look for a crusty bread roll that will stand up to the soft, tender, and juicy pork and caramelized onions.

Mojo slow cooker pork

I already have a slow-roasted Mojo pork recipe that would be much closer to the cooking process that they’re using at Paseo and Un Bien in terms of an oven-cooked citrusy pork recipe. Because of this, and because it’s still the hot days of summer, I decided to turn that recipe and marinade into a recipe that I could cook in a slow cooker or crockpot, and it turned out pretty well.

Like most slow cooker recipes, everything goes into the crockpot and cooks for a long time. I cooked mine for 7 to 8 hours on low, but you can also achieve a similar consistency by cooking 4 to 5 hours on high.

This pork is heavy on the citrus flavors that come from lime juice, orange juice, orange zest, and mango nectar. If you can’t find mango nectar, you could use more orange juice or even water, but it’ll just be a bit less citrusy. Fresh parsley, oregano, and lots of garlic round out the rest of the recipe ingredients, which give the finished pork a garlicky and fruity flavor that comes through in the finished sandwich.

Note: The oven-roasted mojo pork recipe does not contain mango nectar because I haven’t had a chance to test it with that yet. But since it’s a marinade, it should work if you want to add some.

This is a bone-in pork shoulder with a fairly large fat cap. We’ll take care of the fat and the bone later. Add it to a crockpot or slow cooker.

Add the liquids, herbs, citrus zest, and seasonings. I like to add things on top and then, right before turning the cooker on, I rub everything together on the meat.

Eight hours later (on low), you have a much reduced hunk of very tender meat and a lot of flavorful liquid (don’t discard all of that liquid).

Once the meat has fully cooked, allow it to rest for about 15 minutes or until it’s cool enough to handle. Remove the meat to a cutting board or maybe even a sheet pan with a lip to catch any juices. Remove the large bone and any large chunks of fat. If you look up and see that whole fatty left side in the first photo? Most of the fat will not render, and you can pull it off at the end because the fat might add a weird texture you might not enjoy in the sandwich.

Once the fat and bone are removed, pull the meat into smaller bite-sized pieces. Then you can move the meat to a large sealed container, and don’t discard all the residual juices from the slow cooker. Spoon some of that over the pork and then place everything in the fridge until it’s time to sandwich.

A 4- to 5-pound bone-in pork shoulder makes a lot of meat for sandwiching.

As I said above, this is the slow cooker version of my mojo pork. I also have the oven-roasted recipe linked above, and instructions for the one you put in the oven are in the full sandwich recipe at the bottom of this sandwich blog post. Feel free to use the slow cooker recipe if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen. The result of the mojo pork will be pretty close to the same with either recipe.

Garlic mayonnaise