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| - Rincon Criollo is a Puerto Rican restaurant in the Gordon Square neighborhood of Cleveland, right at 6504 Detroit. Rincon Criollo has a carry-out eating area and also a casual sit-down dining room. I sat down for lunch on a Monday and I was seated right away. The dining room holds about twenty diners, about 10 more can eat at the booths in the carry out side. The decor and mood is casual, the room is brightly lit and there is a television. The clientele are a mix of professionally dressed and dressed-to-work types in various uniforms of hands on occupations. The wait staff is good about explaining menu items and English and Spanish are spoken. The menu features the Puerto Rican foods I remember being introduced to in Chicago when I first had it - Mofongo (mashed plantain balls with seasoning) is featured and although I did not try them, the Chicharrones (pork belly with skin, fried crisp) looked amazing and they were pretty big, too. More meat than skin, about 4 inches by one inch and good 3-4 cm thick. I didn't actually see them on display in the way in or I would have had one.
The menu features kids selections, breakfast combinations served all day, a few sandwiches daily (and better ones towards the weekends) along with their famous "jibarito" which is a steak tip sandwich served not on bread but between strips of fried plantain.
I opted for a hearty plate of stewed chicken, beans and yellow rice with an empanadilla of chicken (they had no beef ones) and a dessert of their Budin de Pan which is a bread pudding. The empanadilla was sizable, fried crisp and golden. It was pretty good but not as "full" as maybe I expected. The chicken was delicious, tender and cooked perfectly (sometimes stewed items disintegrate...this was perfect and had the mouthfeel you want). There were two small breasts in the serving and it was adequate. Truth be told, I went in there with the hopes of getting a goat stew but they only serve that on the weekends. Stewed goat is amazing and I have never had bad stewed goat in a Puerto Rican restarant, try it....the habichuelas (beans) were good too, large plump red beans, simmered to perfection. They were flavorful also but not spicy. The yellow rice was a great accompaniment to the two saucy items and perfect for cleaning the plate.
Dessert was a generous slice of bread pudding; it had hints of cinnamon and caramel and was very dense, moist and delicious. Ordinarily I wouldn't have dessert with lunch but this was a good decision on my part.
The food and beverage came to about $16. The stew was $10 and would have been enough for lunch, the dessert and empanadilla were $2 apiece. Carry out or eat in, the food was very good and not too many sit-down places in this area are open on Monday for lunch so an excellent option.I'll be returning in the weekend for the goat stew and possibly the tripe stew (Mondongo) which is another thing that is always good.
Parking is on the street; the City has pay and display tickets in this neighborhood or you can try parking on a side street or on a section of Detroit that is open parking. This neighborhood is very active in the evening with several clubs and theaters so prepare to really search or use Lyft or Uber if you are going for dinner.
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