| rev:text
| - Fantastic food, friendly owners, a new favorite.
I'll admit up front that I'm a huge fan of Caribbean food--anything with plantains in it automatically gets points in my book. I had been wanting to check out this place for a while, and now that I finally have, I'll be sure to make it back here regularly.
This is a little place in an otherwise unremarkable strip mall on Main St. I believe there are only 3 tables inside this place, so there were a number of people who took their orders to go while I was in the restaurant. I think I heard one person say that he had driven from the other side of the Valley for the food, so I was pretty sure that I was in for something good. There are a bunch of pictures inside of Puerto Rico, as well as a number of little souvenir-type trinkets for sale. It's all enough to make me want to visit the island, especially when combined with the delicious food.
There were a number of daily specials, sandwiches, and other items to order. As I was trying to decide, I saw a newspaper article on the countertop about the Jibarito sandwich. As soon as I saw that it used tostones (fried plantains) as the "bread", I knew what I was getting. The people with me got the pernil with arroz con gandules and the chicken with arroz con gandules. We also ordered sides of tostones and amarillos (a more dessert-like version of plantains) to share before our entrees. My nephews also each got a mango juice.
The person taking our order--who I assume to be the owner of the place--was very friendly and helpful throughout. They definitely know what they're doing here, food-wise.
So back to the food: My Jibarito was amazing! The tostones as bread contained some delicious pork and nice complementary items. I tried it with some of the hot sauce made in store as well as the garlic dip served with the tostones, and it was even better that way. This really is a good sandwich! It's not huge, so if you have a big appetite (like I do), some other food may be necessary to satiate your hunger.
I'm writing an entirely separate paragraph for the garlic dip that comes with the tostones. This stuff is amazing! It's really a simple dip, I'm sure, and you have to be comfortable with the people you're around for the rest of the day after eating it, but it is delicious! There is a nice little spiciness to it, and it goes great on the tostones and the Jibarito sandwich. I'm sure it goes great on a number of other things as well, but I only had so much to use. Great stuff!
Both the pernil and the chicken were done really well--great flavor and tenderness. The arroz con gandules was really great, especially with some of that hot sauce poured onto it. Speaking of the hot sauce, it's a very liquidy mixture that is very different from any hot sauce I've previously had. I'm not sure exactly what was in it other than a bunch of little chilies which seemed to have been pickling in the liquids. Whatever it is, it's a great accompanying flavor. Both of these dishes come in pretty substantial serving sizes.
The tostones and amarillos were both done perfectly. The tostones were hot and crispy, while the amarillos were hot and sweet. Seriously, I could survive solely on variations of plantains. Finally, the mango juice was excellent. It's made fresh in the store with pulp, according to the guy helping us, and it smells and tastes like it's fresh. It's really like liquid, ripe mango.
I'm really satisfied with my visit. This place turns out delicious food, provides great service, and does it all at a really reasonable price. For 5 of us, it was around $45, juices and appetizers included. I'll be back!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)