Tierras Colombianas

[Kerry]

We just went there last night. Batidos came in seven or eight flavors, including typical Colombian fruits like lulo. A grilled marinated steak took up the whole plate, as did a fried trout. Arepas, tostones, pinto beans, buttery rice, yuca and potatoes accompanied everything, and the waitress was charming. There were typical Colombian desserts like figs with cheese in syrup, and bananos en panela, bananas and orange slices stewed in a cinnamon syrup (absolutely delicious).

[Maria]

There is a reason why this place has been around for ever. The enormous portions are typical of all Colombian restaurants in Jackson Heights.

Most Colombian restaurants in this area offer good food at can't be beaten prices.

[Kerry]

We really enjoyed it Maria. I went with a Colombian friend from California who is unfamiliar with NY...can you recommend any other places?

[Andrew]

The best Colombian restaurant I have been to in New York is La Boina Roja in Jackson Heights, Queens. The restaurant is located on 37th Avenue somewhere between 80th and 82nd Streets. The closest subway is the #7 stop at 82 St.

At La Boina Roja, the setting is comfortable for a long and relaxing meal, the service is friendly, and, best of all, the meat is spectacular. I recommend ordering the parrillada, which contains churrasco, asado de tira, chorizo, and rellena/morcilla (which term you use depends on he region you are from). It is the closest thing I have found to a real "asadero" in Bogotá.

[John]

Could you please give us the address. I did a search and could not come up with an address. This restaurant seems great. Thank You.

[Kerry]

John,

Tierras Colombianas is in Astoria at the Broadway station on the N, between 33rd and 34th St. on Broadway.

[The Rogue]

Their are actually two locations. Both are great.

31-08 Broadway (at 33rd St) in Queens 718-956-3012.

82-18 Roosevelt Av (at 83rd St) in Queens 718-426-8868.

[foodpimp]

"Arepas, tostones, pinto beans, buttery rice, yuca and potatoes accompanied everything"

Does each entree at this place really come with all of these sides? Or did you mean that some of these sides are assigned to certain entrees and some to others? The starch-glutton in me awaits your answer.

[Jim Leff]

foodpimpstarchglutton--

Get thee to Columbia (or at least Jackson Heights).This stuff is served with most entrees as a matter of course in Columbian restaurants. It's an...umm...GENEROUS cuisine.

The ultimate (which you must try!) is the plato montañero ("mountaneer's plate"), aka bandeja paisa or bandeja paisano. It's a meat n' starch orgy. Check it out.

ciao

[foodpimp]

Thanks for the rec, Jim. I have been to JH for Colombian, most recently to a place whose name I've forgotten. I think it's on the Northwest corner of 80th and Roosevelt with an ice cream service station in the front and a bakery in the rear. Food was very decent, and the cake I had for dessert was terrific, and dirt cheap (like $1.60 for an enormous piece).The steak I ordered did come with a generous amount of sides, (arepa, rice & beans, and potatoes as I recall) but it did not run the full gamut that Tierras Colombianas seems to. Of course I'm a guy who is happy in a Brazilian joint cuz you can get rice AND french fries with most entrees, so maybe it's high time I started scoping out some of the better recs for Colombian in Jackson Heights. Is the plato montañero that you mentioned offered at Tierras Colombianas in particular, or is it a standard JH Colombian dish? Could you describe it in more detail? I'm already sold on it, but am looking to enhance the anticipation - I'm sure you understand!

[Jim Leff]

The place you hit was more of a bakery, which is a distinct sort of Columbian food service (serving more than just baked goods, so the name's a misnomer, but still not quite the equivalent of a restaurant).

Tierras Columbianos isn't special in terms of generosity...that's all typically Columbian. I haven't been tracking local restaurants (I'm actually more up on the bakeries), so can't recco much. I used to like Casa Columbiana a lot on roosevelt in the 80's, but that was long ago. I have no colombian favorite sit-down full restaurant right now, but that's more my fault than anything else. Never been a huge fan of Tierras.

Plato Montañero/Bandeja paisano can be found in any Colombian restaurant. Let me see if I remember: big mound of rice, lots of ground meat (simple but satisfying), though thin-cut grilled steak is often an option instead. Those big weird brontosaurus things they call "ribs" but are more meat-on-fat than meat-on-bone. An arepita (small arepa, not meant to have much flavor). Avocado. Beans. One other thing, i forget what...anyone?

Another thing to check are two obscure colombian fruits, available only in batidos/milkshakes (made from frozen fruit...can't get either fresh hereabouts): lulo and curuba.

One more thing. Colombian soups are surprisingly expensive. They come with hunks of meat and all the starches as side dishes. If you ask for a small soup, you get just a BIT of meat and all the sides. If you ask for JUST the soup, you get wide-eyed stares.

Amazing surrealistic cuisine.

oh, one place, not at all a full-service restaurant but worth knowing about, is Pachas, 93-21 37 Ave. Good soups, especially. Contrarily, I'm not sure if they come with all the sides...but again it's not a full-service restaurant.

sorry this was hasty and confusing.

ciao

[Jeremy Osner]

I think the extra thing on the plate which you are forgetting is a fried egg, on top of the mound of rice. By "brontosaurus things" are you talking about chicharrones? Many places serve them with a p.m. (or with a plata bandeja, which is what a lot of places call the p.m. -- I don't think there is any conceptual difference, just two different names). My favorite plata montanera was at La Gota Fria on Junction just south of Roosevelt -- but that was several years ago, I have no idea what the current state of that restaurant is.

[Jim Leff]

Fried egg...YES!

Do they really call the brontosaurus things "chicharrones"? If so, goes to prove that that term really describes an enormous spectrum of things (these are NOT skin!). I've heard them described (in Spanish) as "ribs", and have always kinda wondered WHERE they come from. Hard to even describe. Anyone out there know more about this?
I've eaten a bunch of 'em, and never really understood what I was eating beside the fact that I wasn't exactly doing lean cuisine...

ciao

[Helen F]

Jeremy -

Although a bandeja = a tray (like in La Nueva when they offer me una bandeja to carry my refreshments from the counter to the table,) I think in the case of these Colombian mega-meals it's better translated as a platter.

[s.m. koppelman]

The "brontosaurus thing" on the plate is a really big cardiologist's nightmare of a chicharron--a hulking piece of deep-fried pork skin with vestigial bits of meat on it. It looks like a rown of vertabrae because if they didn't score the meat before frying, the whole thing would curl up hopelessly when as the fatty skin expands and the meat shrinks.

[Jim Leff]

IS it skin? I didn't read your reply before replying to Jeremy. Ok, maybe I was wrong.

But the point of these things isn't the outer non-meaty portion, it's the little nubs of meat....

[s.m. koppelman]

See, I'm not sure if the point is the pork skin or the nubs of meat attached to it, but I'll say this: the last 3 or 4 Colombian meals where I've been confronted with the jumbo chicharron, the little nubs of meat have been really hard and chewy, not my thing and not all that interesting.. but when I've taken a nibble or two of the mass of fried skin and fat that it's attached to, that's invariably good. Appalling, but good.

Though this degree of fat-overload might not make sense in a society like ours that's aware of depressing things like cholesterol, I'm reminded me of vodka-fueled office parties in Ukraine where one of the common snacks besides smoked fish and pickled garlic was an open-faced sandwich of thinly-sliced smoked bacon fat (without a molecule of meat) on buttered bread.

[Jim Leff]

The meat should be toothesome. Try Seba Seba, 83-03 Northern Blvd. Actually, try everything there.

[Canchito (J. DiStefano)]

Hola Cane Grande,

Que rico el chicharrone a questo sitio>>> OK Now that I've mangled the Spanish...the Chicharrone at Seba Seba is great...just got back from a tour of northern Blvd.....

The chich. was perfectly crispy throughout. As someone who prefers to eat the skin *and* the chunks of meat...I can vouch for the crunch and deliciousness..toothsome without being too chewy..also had a smooth textured arepa con queso and some sort of breaded beef cutlet....

Can't even believe I had room for the ceviche at Punte El Fijo but I couldn't pass it up...I have to say I was a little put off by the fact that they don't serve homemade chicha morada; it's one of my yardsticks for a good Peruvian spot....nevertheless my fears were dispelled by their ceviche....gotta get back for some entrees....anybody have any reccs. for standouts...

Eat on (and on, and on)

Canchito