"Like a cordon bleu with bacon and egg."
This was my dining buddy's apt take on the contents of the chivito al pan de pollo ($10.90), a chicken sandwich also kitted out with mozzarella and ham. The standard version of this Uruguayan dish features beef rather than chicken; see El Rey de Chivito for its widely told but unverifiable origin story.
Uruguayans have a thing for eggs. Matambre (for one, $8) — the name is a portmanteau of the Spanish words "mata hambre," loosely, "hunger killer" — consists of flank steak rolled around vegetables and hardboiled eggs, then roasted. The sliced matambre can be served cold or, as in this case, grilled. A slice of torta Pascualina ($4) — a savory pie first prepared for celebrations during Pascua, or Easter — also showed off a fat yolk. The flavor of the spinach in this rendition was very bright, too.
Also shown: a cutaway view of a perfectly fried, exceedingly moist rice croquette ($2.25). Evidently it contains no egg, and there's no special name, but it does have a little story: My dining buddy and I each insisted on one for ourselves.
El Chivito de Oro
84-02 37th Ave. (at 84th St.), Jackson Heights, Queens
718-424-0600
