CARROLLWOOD — Nelson Valdes has given his heart to his hometown.
And a lot of sandwiches, too.
For most of his adult life, the West Tampa native has made Cuban sandwiches and devil crabs for Silver Ring Cafe, a Tampa institution that once had several locations around Tampa Bay. Now he has brought it back again, this time close to home.
Silver Ring reopened Oct. 3 at 1727 W. Fletcher Ave., in Carrollwood, where Valdes has lived for decades.
“I just couldn’t stay retired — this is my retirement plan,” said Valdes, 67, who had triple-bypass surgery less than five years ago. “Nothing has changed. It’s the same recipes, the same sandwiches, the same devil crabs that are hand-rolled.”
The buzz started before the doors opened. Valdes said people began dropping in as soon as the sign went up, days before the opening.
“Since that sign went up, 100 people have stopped in — ‘Oh, Silver Ring’s coming back?’” he said then. “I bet I’m going to have to make 100 sandwiches on opening day.”
He was right. On opening day, Valdes was back in the kitchen, singing along to oldies and turning out more than 100 sandwiches, along with plenty of hand-rolled devil crabs. The rest of the menu is back, too, and breakfast has been added. But Valdes knew what the crowd — friends, family and plenty of fellow West Tampa natives — had come for.
“The to-go line was around the corner, out the door,” said Valdes, a 1977 Tampa Catholic graduate. “West Tampa was supportive, yeah, but it was Carrollwood that really showed up.”
It isn’t the first time Valdes has revived the sandwich shop.
In 2024, he and longtime associate Tim Booth, who owns the Silver Ring franchise, reopened it at Westshore Plaza, in a food court space left empty when a Jersey Mike’s closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the mall was sold earlier this year, Valdes went looking for a new home.
“The writing was on the wall,” he said. “Chick-fil-A was gone. Macy’s closed down. Dick’s closed down. JCPenney was closing out, so there was no traffic to me. So we found this place.”
The new spot, a former Domino’s, has limited seating but a sprawling menu. Beyond the Cubans and devil crabs, there’s the 1987 Salad and palomilla steak sandwiches, among many other items.
Getting here has been quite a journey for Silver Ring.
Angelo Cacciatore opened the original on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City in 1947. A decade later, Booth’s father began supplying the restaurant’s meat. Booth made the deliveries, and when Cacciatore began eyeing retirement, Booth took over.
In 1987, Booth began franchising Silver Ring, which expanded to Land O’ Lakes, Lakeland, Bartow and Riverview. The Riverview location, run by Booth’s niece, is still open.
Booth moved the original restaurant from Ybor City to downtown Tampa in 1996, returned it to Ybor for two years in 2006, then moved it to Wesley Chapel, where it closed in 2012. The other franchise locations, except Riverview, were gone by 2008.
The Carrollwood location also brings back the roast pork recipes Valdes learned in his early 20s working at his grandmother’s West Tampa restaurant, El Rinconcito. And the Cuban is unchanged: smoked ham, Swiss cheese, roast pork and salami from Four Star Meats, the same recipe Silver Ring has used since 1957.
“This is fourth generation, you know?” Valdes said of the Cacciatore and Booth families. “It’s the same families that have been a part of Silver Ring, its products, since 1957. And I’ve been making that sandwich since I was 13 years old.”
He has no plans to step back.
“I couldn’t stay retired, and I’m going to be hands-on, all the way,” he said. “I always have been making sandwiches. That’s what I’ve always done. It’s what Silver Ring has always done.”