D'Mangu

Wow, I've been busy!  And, I've been eating out around town a lot, just not blogging about it. Bad, blogger :(

So, I'll use the holiday week to catch up, and I'll start with a place we grabbed lunch at this afternoon, D'Mangu.  D'Mangu offers cuisine from the Dominican Republic on a stretch of East Henrietta that seems to have become a veritable international row.  I'll admit right off that it was delicious!!

The restaurant offers both menu and buffet.  My husband and I went for the buffet: two large (read LARGE) plates with salad and two cans of soda set us back about $25.

The buffet line is served by D'Mangu staff.  You start with a huge mound of rice, with a choice of white (me), yellow w pigeon peas (him), yellow w pork.  Then, top with black (both of us) or red beans.  Add a side of either fried (him) or mashed plantains.  And, choose two meats from roasted pork (both), stewed beef (him), stewed chicken (me), or stewed pork.  Plus, you get a side salad.

The rice was delicious--not sticky and just right to soak up the fantastic black bean liquid, which was spiced with cumin, bay leaf, and garlic.  This alone would have been a meal, but it wasn't.  My husband's stewed beef was okay; I'd give it a C+.  My stewed chicken far superior--moister with a great, warming, aromatic flavor.  Yum!!  (He agreed.)  We both had the roast pork and opted for some skin thrown in.  OMG!  And, if this wasn't enough, D'Mangu makes its own hot sauce, which offered a vinegary kick to the whole plate.  It was about 30 degrees out today, and eating the combo of this roast pork, ridiculously crispy & salty skin, deeply seasoned stewed chicken and rich & warm beans and rice--slathered in hot sauce--was like heaven!  My plate could have served 4, but I would have knocked them out of their chairs rather than share.  I left my salad for last, and it offered a nice palate cleansing finish to the lunch, with a great house oil and vinegar dressing.

Our verdict ... how come we haven't been to D'Mangu before, and would it be possible to simply pull up to the buffet with a fork and a knife and dig in?