Rincon Criollo

The cheapest way to enjoy the Caribbean

by Margaret LeRoux

Rincon Criollo 9 Sterling Street Clinton (978) 368-7227 Hours 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Cash only BYOB Handicap accessible

If you don't have the time or the budget for a Caribbean holiday, you can still go on a bargain culinary trip by visiting Rincon Criollo. It's not that much of a journey, just a 20-minute or so ride to Clinton. Yes, I was surprised by the location; Worcester's neighbor to the north doesn't come to mind when I think of palm trees, salsa, and plantains. But in an immaculate little storefront off Depot Square, just a couple blocks from Main Street, you'll find a welcome as warm as the tropics and a menu unlike any you've seen in Worcester. Not to mention prices that will make you think you're in fantasyland.

Clearly, Rincon Criollo has found a niche already -- and it's been open barely five months. While chef/owners Fernando Garcia and Joel Reyes cook up a storm seven days a week in the backroom kitchen, Fernando's wife, Wendy, oversees the front. She and a waitress make frequent trips to the backroom, emerging with trays of chicken, ribs, and fish and mounds of rice and beans. And plantains, all varieties of the starchy banana-like fruit that's a staple of Caribbean cuisine. At Rincon Criollo, you can have your plantains fried, mashed, yellow, or green. Two friends and I tried most of them and we've become converts. It's plantains from now on; we may never crave a peanut butter and banana sandwich again.

Rincon Criollo's menu is surprisingly large, given the size of the place, and is organized into daily dinners (most are $5 regular size; $7 large) and seafood and vegetarian dishes. There are seven different kinds of sandwiches and a host of side dishes. Plus, there are daily specials -- everyday at least two or three -- and a trio of homemade desserts.

You can try chivo guisado (goat meat in sauce), baccalao (salt cod), cosido con arroz blanco (cow's feet soup with white rice), and mondongo (beef tripe). For the faint of heart there's pescado, which is fried fish ($7 small; $11 large), chicharrones de pollo (fried chicken bits), and lasagna vegetal ($5 regular; $7 large).

Let me reassure any non-Latinos who may be reluctant to try a restaurant as unique as Rincon Criollo is. My friends and I were made to feel very welcome, both by the staff and by other patrons. When we spied on our neighbors' tempting-looking dinners, they graciously described what they'd ordered. The same for the wait staff, who kindly translated and answered all our questions. Even if you don't speak a word of Spanish, if you're willing to try a new restaurant experience, I urge you to give Rincon Criollo a try.

We dined on a Friday when the specials included costillas de cerdo (baby-back ribs), bacalao guisado (salt cod in sauce), carne vegetal (vegetarian meat), and sopa pescado (fish soup). We tried the ribs, rotisserie chicken (quarter-chicken $5; half for $6.50), and bistec encebollado, which is steak and onions ($7). Each came with our choice from a selection of 15 different side dishes, several of them rice and pea or bean combinations. There are also tostones (fried green plantains), platanos maduros fritos (fried yellow plantains), yuca hervida o frita (steamed or fried yuca), papas fritas (French fries), or what everyone in the restaurant was having, mofongo ($1 extra).

Mofongo, as far as I'm concerned, is the best way to eat plantains, besides fried till crispy, that is. In mofongo yellow, plantains are first fried, then mashed with lots of garlic, then formed into a ball. Sometimes meat or shrimp is mixed in; the Puerto Rican version frequently includes bits of fried pork rind in the mixture, but Rincon Criollo's mofongo is for vegetarians and garlic lovers who have no fear of or total disregard for their cholesterol levels. If you can answer yes to these qualifications you'll make a plate of it disappear, just like we did.

Other side dishes we tried and liked were fried yellow plantains, long slices not exactly crispy but a texture above mashed, and fried yuca, crispy, but it must be an acquired taste; on first sample we weren't overwhelmed. Rice and black beans, which I chose to go with the chicken, were tasty and plentiful. We barely made a dent in the huge mound.

The chicken was seasoned with adobo, a mixture of pepper, oregano, garlic, salt, olive oil, and lime juice or vinegar. Similar seasoning was rubbed into the pork ribs.

Steak and onions were thin slices of both only lightly seasoned, so the meatiness of the beef came through.

Rincon Criollo doesn't have a license to sell beer or wine, but you can bring in your own or choose from an interesting selection of bottled and canned beverages such as mango juice, coconut soda, and non-alcoholic, Jamaican ginger beer. We also sampled a passion-fruit drink on the house, another example of the hospitality the staff extended to a group of interested strangers.

For dessert I couldn't resist flan ($1), though there are also bread pudding and corn pudding. Rincon Criollo's flan is light, but decadently creamy with a burnt-sugar topping and syrup.

Now for the best part for all you restaurant bargain hunters: the three of us feasted for $30 not including tip.