Latin food in Port Chester???

[jake135]

Can anyone give me a list with some comments on the best/most authentic latin restaurants in port chester. They could be Colombian, Equatorian, Purtican.
Much appreciation!

[laylag]

Ah Jake - there's been much discussion of this topic on this board. Have you done a search? I'm pretty sure you'll find what you need. Btw - do you mean Puerto Rican?

[jake135]

I do mean Puerto Rican and can't believe I wrote it like that but can say I never won any spelling bee's!

[adamclyde]

Port Chester is really strong in its central and south american latin food... not much in the way of carribean latin (thus, not many PR, dominican or cuban places).

For Colombian, try Asi es Colombia. For ecuadorian, there's a place on Main that I just haven't gotten out to try yet. Hope to soon. Can't remember the name or address, but it's on the North side of the street, halfway down the stretch bounded by the kneaded bread on one side and westchester avenue on the other.

There are a lot of other places too - mexican, salvadoran, peruvian, etc. If you have any specifics, we can probably offer some good suggestions.

[laylag]

Hey Adam - I have Misti question for you although I don't know if you've frequented it enough to answer. Had take-out from there two nights last week (wasn't in a cooking mood after work). First time - rotisserie chicken and the lomo saltado with rice, not pasta. Both great. Second time, Shrimp Chaufa (fried rice) which although loaded with good sized shrimp was so salty as to be almost uneatable. Then the bistek encebollado was good, not great, but the yellow rice I ordered with it was also incredibly salty - less so than the chaufa but way too much. First time white rice was served with both and no problem. Is this indicative of their dishes - over salted - or was it just likely a bad night/mistake in the kitchen?

Oh also, by the way stopped into the Brazilian bakery around the corner, picked up some pastries (they were so incredibly nice, friendly and helpful). They said they'd been bought and the restaurant, currently primarily a hot table/salad bar style, is going to change. They didn't totally know what the new owner was going to do but thought that with the closure of Pantanal he was maybe planning to go a bit more formal. I do see though that Pantanal is already turned over and is going to be another Brazilian called Copa Cabana I think.

[adamclyde]

I haven't had overly salty food at Misti, but quite frankly, it's been nearly a year since I went there. And the turnover in the kitchens in these places is really frequent, so you just never know what to expect. Also, since a lot of smaller places like this don't have the strict consistency and quality control in recipes from cook to cook, so you also get variances based on who might have been actually cooking the meal. That's incredibly frustrating as you have no control (or knowledge) over the matter.

Latin food is often generous with their salt, but certainly not to the point of inedibility. So, back to your original question... my guess is that there was a cook back there was overzealous with the salt in all the preparations that night. But will he/she be there tomorrow night? Will he/she rectify the problem? I wish I knew. But I'll try and get over there and try it out in the next few weeks.

Wow, so the International Brazil Cafe (or whatever it is called) is going to change over, huh? The charm of that place was that you could buy a few churrascarria meats and not have to spend a fortune, which made the mediocrity of the meat very palatable. If Copa Cabana turns out to be very good, then that's all and good, but I'd like to keep a few local inexpensive brazilian places around. But that's just me.

Let's just hope that Brazil Cafe (on main) doesn't follow suit too...

Thanks for the tip.

[laylag]

Keep me posted if you do get a chance to go to Misti. Just so I know you know which one I mean on the changeover, it's the Brazilian place that's not on Main Street, not the Cafe which is pretty new no? I think it's the International Brazil one. by the way, the flan and some very yellow-orange coconuty custard thing we took home that night were quite good.

[adamclyde]

Thought I'd post the info for the places I mentioned:

[pabboy]

Stupid question but is Misti Cafe Take Out the "take out" counter for Pollo A La Brasa Misti Restaurant? I've gotten take out from the restaurant and they've never said anything about Take Out.

[adamclyde]

quote honestly, I don't know... that was just the option that the "Places" tool gave me, which gets its data from google. I've always thought it was called something with pollo ala brasa in it too. probably just a quirk in google. But yes, I know you can get take out from the place.

Actually, there is another place - closed I think - also called misti. Like, next door to the other restaurant. I always thought it was an old space and they moved to the one they are in now... maybe that's the quirk?

not sure. Anyhow, regardless, same place and same food.

[laylag]

Yes, that take-out is where you go to pick up your food if you call and order from Pollo A La Brasa Misti Restaurant. You'd also go there and not into the restaurant for walk-up take-out but you will wait a while. They have a few additional things in the take-out not on the Misti menu including empanadas but I don't love their versions. Like Argentine empanadas they are baked which I prefer to the fried version from other regions but Misti's fillings are rather boring and dry. Main Street needs a good Argentine restaurant.

[adamclyde]

I agree. As close as PC gets to argentine is inca y gaucho. And that's just very so so. And mostly uruguayan...

[isa123]

Jake:

If you want to try Peruvian, there are several places in Port Chester, aside from Misti - check out Plebeyo on North Main Street or Patrias (which has spanish and peruvian food), as well as Acuario on North Main or Irving Ave (both owned by the same owner), Also, there is another Peruvian restaurant on Midland Ave (somewhat across from BMW) that's also pretty good but I don't know their name.

As for Inca Gaucho their food is not that great. Misti - they have the chicken (pollo a la brasa) going for them, but you should try the others I've mentioned. International Cafe is excellent as well, I did not know they were being changing owners. Enjoy!

[adamclyde]

I've never really noticed plebeyo. Anything in particular you'd recommend?

[PeteStreet]

GF and I were passing through the area last fall and happened upon Misti while looking for a bite to eat. Quite easily one of the best roast chickens I've had out in a long time, and very cheap. We ordered from the take-out side and actually ate it there, not realizing until afterward that there was a sit-down restaurant up the block. We've been searching for chicken as good closer to home in Boston without success so far.

Oh, and I liked their empanadas. I used to know a couple of Chileans who ran a pizza place here in Boston that made similar ones, and it was the first time I'd had one close to theirs since then. Very tasty.