Nicaraguan food/Pittsburgh

Looks like a new Nicaraguan restaurant opened in Pittsburgh. I have never eaten at a Nicaraguan restaurant and I believe this is the only one in the area.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07242/813128-46.stm

Has anyone eaten here? Anyone have experience in a Nicaraguan restaurant and have a favorite dish?

I have never heard of a Nicaraguan restaurant anywhere, but when my daughter was young, her babysitter was from Nicaraugua and a delicious cook. The food was very wholesome, lots of soups, rice dishes, potatoes, meats. Not especially spicy.

NYNM-
Thanks for the reply. If a native New Yorker like yourself has never heard of a Nicaraguan restaurant, this makes me think this is something unique.

I am hoping to get there in the next week.

Let me know how it went. Try a soup or stew.

NYNM-
I finally went to Rivas last night. What a pleasant experience we had. The owner's son waited on us and was extremely helpul in explaining the different dishes to us.

My girlfriend is more of a traditionalist and ordered the salmon, her usual dish. It came with a lemon sauce on the side and she absolutely loved it!

I ordered the shrimp with garlic:


It came with rice, plantains and pico de gallo on the side:


I took your advice and tried one of the soups. This is the chicken soup and it was my single favorite item. Delicious!


Also, for my salad, I ordered the traditional Nicaraguan salad, which is over cabbage. I thought it was just okay.


For my beverage, they had a drink of their own called Rivas, which was a mixture of different fruit juices, including papaya, banana, coconut and mango. Loved it!

We were the only customers eating in the front dining room, but a loud birthday party was going on in the backroom. This is such a neat little place, I hope they get enough customers to make it. Pittsburgh isn't known as an adventurous eating city. My girlfriend, who lives less than a mile away is already talking about coming back with her friends.

BB: Looks delicious...very "homey" as I said. Did you find it spicy?

NYNM-
The only thing I found spicy was the salad, of all things. When we told the waiter this is was our first time there, he told us not to expect Mexican food (I didn't, but apparently many who enter do) and that Nicaraguan food is known to be more sweet than spicy. This made my girlfriend very happy!

Great report, as always. I have found Central American food to be sweeter . Also spicy cabbage has been a little more prevalent. I have had the fortune to eat Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran food.

mr chips-
Did you get to eat Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran foods in those countries or in restaurants here in the US? I was surprised enough to see a Nicaraguan restaurant in Pittsburgh.

The Guatemalan restaruant was here in Portland, Oregon.The Honduran restaurant was in Springfield, Virginia and I have eaten at Salvadorean restaurants in the Adams-Morgan Washington D.C. neighborhood and here in Portland, Oregon.

quote:

Originally posted by mr chips

The Guatemalan restaruant was here in Portland, Oregon.The Honduran restaurant was in Springfield, Virginia and I have eaten at Salvadorean restaurants in the Adams-Morgan Washington D.C. neighborhood and here in Portland, Oregon.

I have noticed many Latin (Salvadorian, Guatemalen, etc) place in DC area but no where else, including NYC. Here in NYC we have a lot of PR and Dominican places. My Nicaraguan babysitter's family is in Miami where there is apparently a large Nicarauguan community.

Any comments freom RFers near Miami or other cities?
(Portland Ore????)

quote:

Originally posted by NYNM

quote:

Originally posted by mr chips

The Guatemalan restaruant was here in Portland, Oregon.The Honduran restaurant was in Springfield, Virginia and I have eaten at Salvadorean restaurants in the Adams-Morgan Washington D.C. neighborhood and here in Portland, Oregon.

I have noticed many Latin (Salvadorian, Guatemalen, etc) place in DC area but no where else, including NYC. Here in NYC we have a lot of PR and Dominican places. My Nicaraguan babysitter's family is in Miami where there is apparently a large Nicarauguan community.

Any comments freom RFers near Miami or other cities?
(Portland Ore????)

NYNM:
The Salvadoran and Honduran communities actually grew pretty rapidly in the NYC area during the late eighties, as a result of political, and now, poor economic conditions in their home countries. Brooklyn has some Salvadoran and Honduran places, but my experience is that the best places for Salvadoran food can be found in Port Chester, right up north...the Salvadoran community has really established themselves there. Try the pupusas, wherever you go!

Here is a place I plan on trying in the very near future, as I have had a couple people tell me good things about it.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_541332.html

Anyone familiar with Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken? Obviously, it is a new one to me.

This is a place my son and daughter-in-law like. They've been going for a few months. They live in Bellvue.

Yeah! looks like i have another choice to go dinner...Me too i have never eaten at a Nicaraguan restaurant...This is really the only one in the area, and im sure this resto would be so popular in the near future...

___________
Marvie

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quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster

Anyone have experience in a Nicaraguan restaurant and have a favorite dish?

It's good to here that you have had a new "ethnic" dining experience.

There are lots of Nicaraguan restaurants in Miami-Dade county. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans fled to here when the Sandanistas conquered their country. The area around Sweetwater in western Miami-Dade county is sometimes referred to as "Little Nicaragua".

The churrasco (marinated and grilled skirt steak), typically served with three sauces, is such a treat the we seldom stray far from it.

The first of the traditional (at least here in Miami) sauces is chimichurri, which is a parsley/olive-oil/garlic/lemon delight that some say originated in Argentina, but is served in all of the Nica steak houses. The second is cebollita, which is spicy pickled onions with plenty of the slightly sweetened pickling vinegar which gains its heat from jalapeño slices. The last is a spicy tomato-vinegar sauce (I don't know the name) that has garlic and onions and tomatoes in it. I have also had it on the ubiquitous deep-fried snapper dish, pargo a la tipitapa.

Incidently, I believe that as Nicaraguan (and some other ethnic groups) restaurants age here, they take on a Cuban and American slant to the food. After all, they are in business to make money.

This is probably too much information, but I love churrasco.