Operated by the fourth and fifth generations of its founders, the Columbia Restaurant still serves many of the original family recipes that nourished Cuban cigar workers in Tampa’s Ybor City in the early 1900s.

One of its most famous dishes, Spanish Bean Soup, was invented by the restaurant’s founder Casimiro Hernandez Senior who combined the courses of cocido madrileno – broth, meat, garbanzo beans and potatoes – to make a delectable appetizer that’s now served at the all seven Columbia Restaurants around Florida. You won’t find it on menus in Spain, but with this recipe, you can add it to yours.
 
Spanish Bean Soup (Potaje de Garbanzos)
Serves 4

½ lb. uncooked garbanzo beans, dried (also called chickpeas)
1 ham bone
1 beef bone
2 quarts water
1 tbsp. salt
¼ lb. salt pork, cut in thin strips
1 onion, finely chopped
1 chorizo (Spanish sausage), sliced in thin rounds
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
Pinch of saffron
½ tsp. paprika

Wash garbanzo beans. Soak overnight with 1 tablespoon salt in enough water to cover beans. Drain the salted water from the beans. Place beans in 4-quart soup kettle; add 2 quarts of water and ham and beef bones. Cook for 45 minutes over low heat, skimming foam from the top. Fry salt pork slowly in a skilled. Add chopped onion and sauté lightly. Add to beans along with potatoes, paprika, and saffron. Add salt to taste. When potatoes are tender, remove from heat and add chorizo. Serve hot in deep soup bowls.