Dominican sloppy joe: rikitaki (riquitaki) de res. Order "con todo" to add lettuce, tomato, red onion, hardboiled egg, some sort of pinkish sauce, and perhaps extra napkins, too.
From 2011: For all my digging, my report on yaroa is still virtually a blank slate. I've learned very little about this Dominican dish beyond what the counterwoman told me, and so far I've found no references more than a few years old. On a base of potato or plantain, yaroa adds a layer of beef, pork, chicken, or mixed meats and tops the lot with melted mild cheese. It's heavy. If you think of my small order (with mashed plantain and shredded chicken) as a paperweight, the medium would be a bookend and the large, a doorstop.
In addition to quipes, bolas de yuca, and many varieties of empanada, the menu also includes South American salchipapas — which supply a tipoff about the "papa" version of yaroa. It's not layered on mashed potatoes, it's piled on fries, and we've seen where that can lead. For a follow-up report, I'll bear portion size in mind.
Also shown, from around the corner, poised to swoop down on any leavings: Blackburnian and yellow-throated warblers (George Boorujy, 2017, for the Audubon Mural Project), two of more that one hundred murals in John James Audubon's old neighborhood.
Empanadas Monumental
3772 Broadway (West 156th-West 157th Sts.), Manhattan
646-559-2502
(one of many locations)
www.Facebook.com/EmpanadasMonumentalNYC
