Lorenzo Lorenzo opened the first Paseo in Fremont in 1994, serving Caribbean sandwiches with roasted pork, chicken, and prawns out of a cramped space with barely any seating. The restaurant was cash-only, closed for a "winter break" every December, and operated with the kind of confident indifference to customer convenience that usually signals either arrogance or genuine quality. In Paseo's case, it was the latter. By 2010, TLC's Best Food Ever ranked Paseo's Cuban Roast as the second-best sandwich in the United States. By 2014, it sat fifth on Yelp's national list of highest-rated restaurants. Lines stretched down the block in Fremont and at a second location on Shilshole Bay.

In September 2014, four former workers filed a civil suit alleging wage theft and racially motivated mistreatment. Paseo denied the charges. Two months later, both locations closed without warning, citing "unfortunate circumstances." The next day, the restaurant filed for bankruptcy with more than $30,000 in listed debts. A Kickstarter campaign launched by fans raised $40,000 in its first week, but collapsed after former employees publicly objected to the effort. The speed of it all -- from beloved institution to bankrupt and gone in a matter of weeks -- left Seattleites bewildered. Nine employees contacted The Stranger to defend the owners, even as the lawsuit's allegations hung in the air.

In December 2014, local entrepreneur Ryan Santwire won a federal court auction for the Paseo name and assets with a $91,000 bid. Lorenzo objected to including the original recipes, and the court agreed -- the name went one way, the recipes another. When the Fremont location reopened on January 8, 2015, fifty customers arrived within the first thirty minutes. The restaurant kept its former staff and suppliers but began accepting credit cards, a concession to modernity the original never made. Meanwhile, Lorenzo's sons opened Un Bien in Ballard in June 2015, using their father's original recipes and former staff. A year later, Un Bien moved into Paseo's old Shilshole Bay space. Seattle now had two restaurants born from the same kitchen, each claiming a different piece of the inheritance.

The new Paseo grew in ways the original never tried. A SoDo location opened in 2016 in a 4,000-square-foot space -- enormous by Paseo standards -- with seating, alcohol service, and roasted corn. By 2019, Paseo sandwiches were being sold at T-Mobile Park during Mariners games. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SoDo location doubled as a drive-in theater. An Issaquah store opened in August 2022, with customers camping overnight for the privilege of being first in line. Through it all, the debate never quite settled. Seattle Magazine called the revived sandwich "unquestionably overrated." Blogger Geraldine DeRuiter had put the original on her "Over-Hyped" list years earlier. Whether Paseo is the best sandwich in Seattle or merely the most argued-about may be the wrong question. The argument itself is the point.