- Mike Sula
- Plantain sandwich, aka jibarito, Maracas
Sometime in the last year, a restaurant of fairly historic importance closed its doors and—at least as far as the food media were concerned—nobody noticed. Borinquen,* in Humboldt Park, was the alleged home of the jibarito, a notoriously messy meat-lettuce-cheese-tomato-mayo structure held together by flattened, fried green plantains. There are some questions about the claim that owner Juan C. Figueroa actually invented the jibarito, as he’s admitted reading about a similar sandwich back on the island, but there’s no doubt its glory and fame spread far and wide from California Avenue, leading to copycats across the city and country as well as interesting interpretations like the very local gyro jibarito and, apocryphally, the heebarito—a Reuben built between two schmaltz-fried latkes.
- Mike Sula
- Maracas, Bronzeville
*Borinquen 2, is still open at 3020 N. Central, 773-622-8570
