ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — One of the simplest — and perhaps most fun — ways to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is by enjoying the food. 

Kuba En La Playa goes beyond your standard empanadas and tres leches cake to offer unique flavor fusions. One such example is the restaurant's Cuban fried rice dish, which blends together the tastes of Cuban and Asian cuisines.

All it takes is a scrambled egg, shrimp, Spanish chorizo, ham, and some Cuban go-to spices like garlic and onion to put a fresh spin on a dish that may already be a staple in your kitchen. Kuba En La Playa even goes a bit further with the flavor, adding in roasted pork and peas to the rice.

Asian cuisine has long had a significant influence on Cuban cooking. Back in the 1800s, more than 100,000 Chinese laborers were sent to Cuba to work as indentured servants in the island's sugar, coffee, and tobacco fields. At one time, Cuba even had one of the largest concentrations of Chinese people on the planet.

Now, there are just a few hundred left on the island nation, but the impacts of their culture are still everpresent. 

Felicia La Calle pulls triple duty at Kuba En La Playa, serving as the restaurant’s owner, chef, and recipe mastermind. 

“Being Mexican but growing up in the Cuban culture was always so amazing to me,” she said. “We were surrounded by food, and just to see that happiness and the joy that it creates and just to see people come in to create those same memories, it’s amazing.”