Miami chef Mika Leon releases Cuban Soul, her first Cuban cookbook

🌐 Versión en español

Foto: Contextual image: Cuban sandwich at Versailles, Calle Ocho, Miami — Wikimedia Commons / Todd Van Hoosear (CC BY-SA 2.0), not a photo of the chef

October 1, 2026

Cuban-American chef, restaurateur and TV personality Mika Leon publishes her first cookbook, Cuban Soul: 100 Vibrant Recipes from Mi Cocina, on October 6, 2026, from Union Square & Co. (Hachette). The book gathers about 100 home-cook Cuban recipes — from beef empanadas and lechón asado to ropa vieja, pan con bistec and flan — and follows the family story that took her grandfather from Cuba to Valencia and later to Miami.

Leon, known for Caja Caliente in Coral Gables and for Food Network appearances plus shows with Gordon Ramsay, Padma Lakshmi and Andrew Zimmern, will mark the launch with South Florida events. On October 12 she signs and talks with journalist Carlos Frías at Books & Books in Coconut Grove; pop-ups are also set at Wolf of Tacos (October 13) and Frankies & Wally’s in Coral Gables (October 16–17), plus a launch party October 18 at Uma House in South Beach.

The hardcover lists at $35. Publisher notes and local coverage frame the book as a bridge between family tradition and everyday cooking in Miami’s Cuban diaspora.

Fuente: Hachette / Union Square & Co.; The Adventurist; Books & Books; Miami Food Pug

Mika Leon

Society, Arts

Mika Leon is a Cuban-American chef, restaurateur and television personality based in Miami. She grew up in a Cuban family that, after a period in Valencia, Spain, settled in South Florida and ran a backyard cantina at home.She started with Mikabites, a wholesale dessert company, then opened a Cuban-taco food truck and later Caja Caliente in Coral Gables.