For a true taste of the Dominican Republic, try this 'volcano' of flavor in Fairfield
Mofongo isn't new to Greater Cincinnati. In 2020, Miami native Guillermo Vidal and Arnaldo Vazquez, who grew up in Puerto Rico, opened MashRoots in College Hill, giving customers a Chipotle-like experience by letting them choose their own proteins, toppings and sauces as their orders were being made.
MashRoots shuttered in 2023, and an outpost of the restaurant at Element Eatery in Madisonville was rebranded as BurgerNati (I've heard it's very good).
I've always liked mofongo, a specialty of Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisines where green plantains are mashed with garlic, olive oil and, often, pork rinds. Thankfully, there are still a few places that serve it, including Lalo, Downtown, which has an excellent version topped with your choice of carnitas, chicken, barbacoa or other proteins.
Another option is Mofongo City, located in a repurposed Skyline Chili building in Fairfield. It's been open for more than two years, and the menu is Dominican through and through, with dishes such as yaroa (a street food made of layered french fries, meat and cheese) and pechuga a la plancha (grilled chicken breasts with Dominican spices).
The variety of mofongos here can prove overwhelming, so I wasn't sure how to order. When my server, Leslie, arrived, I asked a barrage of questions. Knowing she had other customers to tend to, I ended up pointing to a photo on the menu that looked like mofongo covered in some sort of meat and sauce, and said, "Let's do that." Leslie also recommended an appetizer of chicken croquettes ($5). Given how patient she was with my questions, I obliged.
Before my entree arrived, she brought out a small wooden cup of sancocho, a deeply flavored broth made with pork and beef that she told me to enjoy like a shot. That broth was too rich and rustic not to savor, so I ended up sipping it instead. Sancocho is a traditional stew in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where it's made with, well, everything from meat scraps to vegetables or whatever a home cook might have on hand. Here, it comes as a starter for several dishes on the menu, but you can also order it as an entree called Grandma's Sancocho ($19.99) with meat and vegetables.
The chicken croquettes were lovely ‒ crispy on the outside and creamy and savory on the inside. Resembling short cigars, they were stuffed with minced chicken, celery, onions, bell peppers and cream sauce.
That picture I pointed out to Leslie turned out to be the $46.99 Volcan de Churrasco, a huge, splittable entree that comes with a whole skirt steak (churrasco) and shrimp piled on "trifongo" in a way that resembles a volcano, hence the name. Unlike regular mofongo, trifongo is made with three different starches: green and yellow plantains and cassava. At Mofongo City, it also comes with tiny bits of pork rind (chicharrones).
The dish was sweet, salty and, as much as I hate to use the word, moist (a bad mofongo is often dry or dense), the chicharones adding a nice chewy texture. My tiny volcano was ladled with a sauce meant to represent lava. It tasted familiar, but I couldn't quite figure it out. I licked it off my finger several times, trying to determine its ingredients. "Good?" a chef standing behind the counter called out, catching me in the act. "Very," I answered. Leslie later told me it's made with mozzarella, Parmesan and cream and is similar to an Alfredo sauce.
Given how filling the croquettes and trifongo were, I certainly didn't need the skirt steak, which was a little overcooked and tough. Next time, I think I'll order the trifongo with longaniza, a delicious Dominican sausage spiced with garlic, paprika and herbs. And, oh yes, there will definitely be a next time.
Mofongo City, 7373 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, 513-499-2354, mofongocityoh.com.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Craving mofongo? This Fairfield restaurant does it a little different
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