Husband-wife team runs authentic Cuban restaurant, Sagua La Grande 

Sagua La Grande, a Cuban restaurant on 9th and Cherry street, is owned by husband-wife duo Greg Butler and Katy Ugalde. The two are a team, with Butler managing customers and restaurant operations while Ugalde cooks. After years of working in the food industry, the pair opened Sagua La Grande in 2019, naming it after Ugalde’s hometown in Cuba.

Cuban sandwiches are offered in many restaurants across Columbia. Consisting of ham, pickles, cheese and mustard, Sagua La Grande’s Cubano is unlike any other. They special order their ingredients, including plantains used for tostones, yuka, a root that serves as a side, and Cuban bread to make their meals as authentic as possible.

They have one employee, but most of the time, it’s just Ugalde and Butler. Serving, hosting, cooking and cleaning, the couple has mastered the art of multitasking.

“I can serve this whole table, this whole dining room by myself, and Katy and I are pretty good about helping each other,” Butler said. “If I take an order, I’ll go back and drop some stuff, especially if all the orders are sandwich heavy. So now she’s stuck there. So I go back, and then I’ll drop, you know, chicken, or fish, or tostones… and then vice versa.”

Although Ugalde has no formal culinary education, she has picked up skills from working in the culinary industry for upwards of 20 years. Cooking was always part of her life and she learned when she was only 6 years old. She moved to Dallas in 1997, she began her career in America working at an upscale winery and restaurant. She later moved to Missouri, working as a sous chef, which is how she met Butler. Ugalde’s dream has always been to have her own Cuban restaurant.

“We have one lawyer in the family and one teacher,” Ugalde said. “Everybody else is in the restaurant business.”

A window decal featuring the logo of Sagua La Grande Cuban Café is displayed for everyone waling through 9th St. to see in Columbia, Mo. on April 26, 2023. Cuban Café, which opened in 2019, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., and then from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Butler and Ugalde both acknowledge the difficulties of being an authentic Cuban restaurant in an area that lacks a prominent Cuban community. Customers typically come in with little to no knowledge of Cuban cuisine and can become surprised when they aren’t met with a typical Latino restaurant experience.

“Read about the cuisine and read about the country,” Butler said. “The history of the food, you know, a lot of people come in blind. And like [Ugalde] says, people ask for hot sauce — sorry, the food’s not spicy. Those kinds of peppers are not indigenous to the Cuban island. So, therefore, nothing is spicy.”

The pair have faced obstacles in running their restaurant but continue to honor Ugalde’s family and her dream. By creating a personal, inviting atmosphere at Sagua la Grande, Ugalde and Butler hope to share Cuban cuisine with Columbia for years to come.

“[Cuban food] is more simple, more healthy,” Ugalde said. “I love it, it’s unique — It’s unifying everywhere.”

Edited by Egan Ward | eward@themaneater.comCopy edited by Kyla Pehr and Mary Philip