NYC/NJ Dining: Pollo Tropical

Pollo Tropical (Columbia Park Shopping Center)
3103 Kennedy Blvd, North Bergen, NJ
(201) 864-4060

Pollo Tropical
374 Route 3 West, Riverfront Center, Clifton, NJ

Pollo Tropical
771 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 218-8965

Web Site: http://www.pollotropical.com

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If you live in South Florida, the Pollo Tropical quick-serve restaurants are among the best alternatives to the usual suspect fast food chains, with their clean and bright colored tropical-themed dining rooms and their flame-grilled marinated chicken, served Caribbean-style. With 75 stores in Florida, Pollo Tropical recently opened 3 stores in the NJ/NYC metro area, with two in Northern NJ and one initial store in Brooklyn.

In Northern NJ Pollo Tropical faces huge competition from many independent and well-established Pollo a La Brasa restaurants, such as the very popular Colombian Pollos Mario NY/NJ mini-chain and any number of other Latino-owned roast chicken places in Union City, North Bergen and West New York.

However, I think they have an interesting angle, in that they appear to be more non-Latino friendly than the other restaurants in the area. The counter staff at the establishments are fluent English-speaking and the stores have clear menus in English. The menus are limited to variations of a few different items and easy to understand, and while the featured dishes themselves are not hardcore Cuban, Dominican or Puerto Rican (with the exception of the Ropa Vieja) they are items that have broad appeal, such as the chicken, pork and steak sandwiches, plates and salads. The BBQ-grilled chickens themselves, the signature dish of the restaurant, are excellent and are cooked properly to order. The restaurant chain is very healthy-eating focused and provides nutritional data for every item at the restaurant with printed-out pamphlets.

The Pollo Tropical store at Columbia Park Shopping Center in North Bergen.

Pollo Tropical brings the taste of Miami to New York and New Jersey. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

Do It Yourself Cubanos

I love Cuban Sandwiches, and I’ve posted on them extensively here on Off The Broiler. I generally don’t eat them at home, because we have a number of good Cuban restaurants in the Northern NJ area. However, we found ourselves with an abundance of really good leftover slow-cooked Berkshire pork shoulder from Momofuku Ssam Bar this week after indulging in their Bo Ssam, and we needed something to do with it. Originally I thought about doing barbecue sandwiches, but I wanted to show the meat more respect and let the natural flavor of the high-quality pork show through, so I chose to transform it into Cubanos.

Click Here for Hi-Resolution photos.

First, take your roast or slow cooked pork (even pork loin will do, leftover pork shoulder from your barbecue works great) shred it apart, and heat it on low heat in a cast iron pan, just to get the cold off from the refrigerator. To make it taste more authentically Cuban, we added some of Daisy Martinez’s Pineapple/Garlic/Chile Vinagre which is a great condiment to make for doing all sorts of marinades or to add some kick to deep fried and grilled foods. When warmed up and mixed up with the Vinagre, remove from pan and set aside.

Next, get your Cubano mise-en-place ready. You’ll need some nice sliced ham (we’ve got Black Forest), sliced Swiss-style cheese (this is Jarlsberg), sliced dill pickles, and a mustard-heavy mayonnaise and mustard mixture.

Get some nice hero rolls or French bread (Cuban sandwich bread is ideal, but French bread is very similar) or an eggy bread like a Portuguese roll (in order to make Medianoche, a popular variant) and spread some of the Mustard/Mayo mixture on each side.

Next, the cheese and the pickles.

Next, the pork.

Finally, the ham.

Cover with the other half of the roll.

Butter both sides of each sandwich. Heat up the cast iron pan to medium-low heat, and put the sandwiches in there.

Using a second cast iron pan, smush down firmly on the sandwiches while they are grilling. Flip the sandwiches after 3 to 4 minutes and grill on the other side for the same amount of time.

Cut the sandwiches along a triangular bisect. Serve with potato chips and fruit-flavored soft drink (such as a champagne cola or mango/pineapple soda) or Caribbean-style Latino beer such as Hatuey or Presidente.

Florida Dining: Columbia Restaurant

Columbia Restaurant
2117 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL
(813) 248-4961

One of my favorite experiences during my last trip to Tampa was dining at the historic Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. Ybor City is one of the biggest enclaves of Cuban culture in this country, second only to Little Havana in Miami and is known as the cigar capital of the US, and is one of the most popular tourist areas for restaurant, nightclub and bar activity in the Tampa area. One of its biggest fixtures is The Columbia Restaurant, which was established in 1905 by Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez and is known as the largest Spanish restaurant in the United States — it can sit 1700 people and in busy seasons it has a staff of 120 or more, although they actually don’t have enough plates to serve everyone if they fill the entire restaurant to full capacity. Columbia has branches in other cities in the greater Tampa area, but none of them compare to the original. The restaurants are still run today by the 5th generation of the Hernandez-Gonzmart family.

The 52,000 square foot Columbia occupies an entire block on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City.

The sidewalk in front of The Columbia has a tile walk of fame similar to the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

The tile-work here is absolutely stunning.

Ready for some Spanish Food and Flamenco dancing? Click the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Tarpon Springs: Sponges, Surf and Saganaki

Where in Florida can you find an abundance of natural sponges, Greek culture and great Mediterranean food, and a nice beach? Tarpon Springs, that’s where!

Tarpon Springs, which is about 40 minutes north of Tampa, is the natural sponge capital of the Gulf. Yes, sponges — not those artificial things you buy in the supermarket, but the actual sponge animal, as in Porifera. Here, Greek immigrants (the historical masters and practicioners of the sponge diving trade) have established their own town, with all of the things associated with it that make it a real Greek fishing village, including (many) restaurants that feature locally caught seafood, as well as Greek Orthodox Churches and community centers, etc. According to the 2004 census, the city has the largest percentage of Greek Americans living there of any city in the United States, including Astoria, NY.

This is the Sponge Factory, one of the myriad of tourist stores on Dodecanese street that sells natural sponges, beauty aids, as well as Greek decorative and religious goods. The Sponge Factory also has a theatre where you can watch a 30 minute video on all about sponge diving, as well as a museum exhibit area.

The common “Yellow” sponge.

Ready for some Sponges, Surf and Seriously Greek Food? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

Greetings from Busch Gardens, And Lots of Cute Cuddly Animals (UPDATED)

So what do you do in Tampa over the weekends? You go to Busch Gardens, of course.

Oh cute!

We got lots more cute animal photos. Click on “Read the rest of this entry” below for more.

Florida Dining: The Cuban Sandwich Shop

Cuban Sandwich Shop
10434 N Florida Ave, Tampa, FL
(813) 932-0998

As I alluded to earlier, I arrived to Tampa a bit under the weather, and I had a good amount of work this week to get done. I wasn’t going to trek all the way back to International Plaza for some more Matzo Ball when TooJays was over a half hour away from my job, so I decided to pull out my trusty Garmin Nuvi GPS and went thru the restaurant listings. Then it dawned on me — Cubans make some darned good chicken soup, too. I headed over to the nearest Cuban place, which ended up being kismet, because as it turns out, the one I picked is regarded as one off the best in the entire area, The Cuban Sandwich Shop on Florida Ave.

The Cuban Sandwich Shop is probably the closest you are going to get to Calle Ocho in Tampa. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Florida Dining: TooJay’s

TooJay’s Original Gourmet Deli
2223 N West Shore Blvd # B207, Tampa, FL
(813) 348-4101

(Plus Various Locations in Florida, see web site at http://www.toojays.com)

So I’m here in Tampa this week on business (with a little bit of vacation thrown in this weekend) and I arrive in town with a nasty flu-like virus. I’m under the weather, and I’m dying for some home made chicken soup, otherwise known as Jewish Penicillin, the cure-all to everything. Short of Rachel FedEx overnighting a quart or two of her home made matzo ball to me, I needed to find myself a hardcore Jewish deli, and fast — on the West Coast of Florida, its not like there’s an equivalent to  Wolfie’s (long gone), Rascal House or Pumpernick’s (also extinct) like there had been in the Miami/Broward area.

However, I had heard of TooJays, a regional Florida-based Jewish-style deli chain, and various web searches on local newspaper sites reported that their Matzo Ball was quite good. Not having that many options in front of me, I headed to the sole Tampa location, which is in the food court of International Plaza, the mall located right next to Tampa International Airport.

TooJay’s is located on “Bay Street”, the open air food court section of the mall.

TooJay’s has sort of an Disney-esque appearance, as if it were the Jewish Deli pavilion in Epcot Center. Everything is perfectly arranged, made up to look like a ubiquitous classic delicatessen, although clearly everything is brand new, not decades old.

TooJay’s deli meats are supplied by National Deli, a Florida-based cold cuts purveyor. According to Wikipedia, National Deli was once the non-Kosher subsidiary of Hebrew National (now part of ConAgra foods) and was spun off by ConAgra as its own company in 2001. Despite the fact that the meats are not Kosher (and TooJays does not profess to be Kosher, they have quite a number of non kosher items) they are actually pretty good quality. I tried the pastrami, and while its certainly not Katz’s, as a commercially made pastrami its probably better than anything else you can get in Florida.

Main Dining Room

Matzo Ball Soup, the main event. The Matzo balls have a wonderful fluffy quality, and have an alternating farfel/matzo meal texture which gives them a nice home style mouthfeel. The chicken stock was soothing, with some nice root vegetables thrown in, along with both white meat and and dark meat chicken pieces. Very nice matzo ball soup indeed, and it made me happy.

Turkey Club, on thickly cut rye bread that is baked onsite. Freshly roasted turkey, thinly sliced, with bacon, lettuce and tomato. The presentation was nice and the lettuce greens and tomatoes were fresh and of good quality.

The bakery section, in front by the takeout area. I took a mixed box of rugelach home, and I have to say this is some of the best I’ve ever had. Don’t leave the restaurant without getting some of these.

Quickies and Leftovers 12-08-06

Updates to Greek Village Taverna (Dinner Items) and Pollos Mario (Colombian Breakfast)

Leftover Florida photos:

Cohiba Wrap (a la Cuban Sandwich with BBQ Pork) and Shrimp Po Boy from Hobo Gourmet Kitchen in West Palm Beach (a cute locals diner joint, highly reccomended)

Here’s some leftover breakfast porn:

Poached Eggs over whole wheat toast, Home Fries, Country Sausage and Gravy with and Tomato with Fresh Florida ruby red grapefruit a la Florida Condo

Crab Omelette with Avocado, Pan Fried Bratwurst, Home Fries, Louisiana Satsumas and White Toast (Freshly Baked)

Florida Dining: Getting your Asian Food Fix in Palm Beach County

Look, lets face it, if you’re vacationing in the Palm Beaches, then you’re probably not there for the food — you’re there, hopefully, to catch some rays and to relax from the pressures of the real world and to escape the brutally cold temperatures of winter, wherever you come from. Still, you gotta eat, and if you are a foodie, going out to mediocre chain restaurants aren’t going to cut it.

Those that know me are well aware that I am an Asian food fanatic — be it Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian, or Indian, I have to eat one of those cuisines at least once a week. At home in the New York Metro area, we’ve got no lack of decent restaurants in these categories. However, there seems to be a major problem with finding legit, authentic Asian food in South Florida. Perhaps it’s because the local aging population prefers a more watered-down, white bread version of these things and can’t tolerate the spiciness, or there just isn’t enough Asian people of any particular ethnicity to sustain a restaurant community down there. The Chinese appear to have gotten a minor foothold, but for some reason they absolutely refuse to serve legit regional Chinese cuisine — even the Cantonese is watered down, American Chinese gloppy bland Chop Suey stuff. And it’s a shame, because over the years I’ve found a few gems, such as some nice Vietnamese places, that served legitimately authentic and delicious Asian food, but only to find on a return visit that the restaurants go out of business. Even when perusing the local newspaper websites such as the Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post you come up with listings for restaurants that are defunct more than half the time. It’s enough to make you want to completely give up.

Here are a bunch of Asian places that passed my “Good, definitely worth a visit, I would eat here all the time if I lived down here and I would come back on my next vacation” test. Please make use of them.

Want to know where to score some good noodles or Thai Beef Salad in Palm Beach County? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

Florida Dining: Tom’s Place

Tom’s Place
1225 Palm Beach Lakes BLVD, West Palm Beach, FL
(561) 832-8774

As I discussed in a previous post about Amy Ruth’s in NYC, I like to save my soul food meals for when I am traveling in the South. South Florida certainly counts as the The South, at least geographically, but sometimes, from a culinary perspective you get the feeling that you’re in some weird transplanted version of the the Northeast or Middle America. And if you’re looking for legit Southern stuff like barbecue and soul food, you end up finding mostly chain restaurants like Sonny’s and Park Avenue Grill to scratch that itch. So when I heard about Tom’s Place, a legit Soul Food and BBQ restaurant with a heritage, I had to go.

A picture of Tom Wright, the founder of the restaurant. Originally the place was just a shack at a different location, but in the mid-80’s his restaurant had become so popular he had to build a larger place, then eventually move to the site of a former steak restaurant in Boca Raton to fill the demand. Wright retired in 2005 and his son has re-opened the restaurant in West Palm.

Ready for some great Soul Food and Q? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link for more.