Caribe Restaurant/Uphams Corner/14 Hancock Street/Dorchester, MA 02125

More often than not, even somewhere that you may not be that fond of has some sort of saving grace.  Other than Gary, Indiana, that is.  But even Gary probably has a decent barbecue joint or two.  Caribe Restaurant on Hancock Street in Upham's Corner had no such saving grace today.  Today was not the first time I thought about stopping here.  Parking is tough, and Yanet is not far away, but today I took the plunge.

Mondongo (the best of the bunch, believe it or not)

 What a waste of time.  This is a day that I have somehow dreaded.  I knew that it was inevitable, but my first really bad review of a restaurant was not something I was looking forward to.  Not only because I realize that running a restaurant is hard and some little shitbag talking badly about your restaurant is the last thing you want to deal with at the end of the day, but also because I have enough bad meals within the course of a week.  A purely horrible meal, although par for the course at some point considering this is a food review blog, is never a welcome prospect.  If I go to a Latin restaurant that I have never patronized, I know that at least trying the chicharron will make for a worthy trip.

Boring Chicharron

Even the chicarron at Caribe is boring and basically flavorless.


I didn't even have the urge to eat the pieces of fat and skin that I usually leave so that I can fool myself into thinking that the meaty part of the deep-fried fat back is some how perfectly fine, healthy cuisine.  I never leave all of them mind you, just 40-70%.  You can take what you would like from this review, since my main meal was bacalao and mondongo with rice and beans.  The majority of those that live in this country would touch neither bacalao nor tripe, but I happen to very much enjoy both of these delicacies.  After a very disappointing appetizer in the chicharron, I tried the bacalao, which tasted like it was cooked in either ketchup or Hunt's tomato sauce and nothing else. Except maybe some extra salt because it was rediculously salty.  Even after drowning it in hot sauce it was close to inedible.  And the rice was horrendously dry and flavourless.

Questionable Bacalao w/ crappy Yellow Rice

Keep in mind, that I walked in here at a little after 5 p.m. on a Friday.  You may want to show your A-game at dinner time on a Friday.  Just a suggestion.  I question myself as to why I didn't just walk right out without ordering, because nothing looked particularly good or fresh.  What looked the tastiest, and I hope that I don't regret this for the next 3 or 4 days, was the mondongo, so against any kind of intuition, I decided on that.  That may be akin to getting sushi late at night on a Sunday after an early evening blackout that National Grid is still working the kinks out of in an establishment that was suspect to begin with, but I hadn't eaten since 11, so I was hungry and not thinking straight.  The only good thing about the mondongo was the sauce it was in, but the tripe itself was stinkier than it should have been and had kind of a fishy taste.  Like I said, I hope I don't regret this for the next 5 or 6 days.  Gross.  That's my final verdict.  The food here is gross.  No way will I go back.  Don't bother.  I'd go back to Gary, Indiana before I'd ever bother going back here.

Besides, Yanet is right around the corner.  So don't waste your time here.

Yanet Restaurant/ 734 Dudley St./ Upham's Corner/ Dorchester, MA 02125

Sweet, sweet Yanet Restaurant.  It's in Upham's Corner.  The parking is more than tricky, and the traffic sucks at rush hour, but it is oh-so worth the trouble.  Crunchy, salty, meaty, fatty, chicharron is just the beginning.  The yucca here is perfect in every way, though minus the red onions.  Depending on the day, you can find 4 different kinds of rice.  I prefer the yellow rice with green peas, but yellow rice with sausage is a special weekend treat.  The bacalao at Yanet is tied for the best I have ever had.  Not only is it soaked perfectly, but the onions and peppers are fresh, crunchy, and a perfect addition to the feigned-fresh fish.  The baked chicken is tender,

Yellow Rice w/Green Peas, Bacalao, and Baked Chicken

moist, and substantial whether you order the $7 small or the $9 medium (this pic is of the $9 medium).  There is a lot more to choose from at Yanet, but I am addicted to the chicken and bacalao.  Stewed beef, chicken, pork, oxtails, take your pick.  If you are hungry, Yanet will not disappoint.  On top of the wonderful food, Yanet, the owner, is the sweetest abuelita you have ever met.  Go now.  Eat it.  It will make you happy.

Alex's Chimis/ 358 Centre Street/ Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

I think it is only fair of me here to make an admission:  Yucca is a very important part of my life.  That's not to say that I could not survive without it, but I would certainly be quite sad to exist in a world where yucca was unattainable.  That being said, the (boiled, not fried) cassava at Alex's Chimis is the best I have had to date in the Boston area.  For that reason, A's C will hold a special place in my heart for the foreseeable future.  The rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, was only OK.  I suppose I went in with inflated hopes, since it is the chicken that they are famous for, and the mandioca did help to sooth my disappointment, but the meat was pretty dry, not succulent, overly spiced.  Not spicy hot, just too many spices all mixed together without a ton of balance.  I would try this place again, but mainly to see if the manioc is consistently good, and to check once more if the chicken is juicier at, say 5 or 6 at night when they make a new batch.  The price is right.  A 1/2 Chicken with Yucca was $8.00.  I haven't given up on these guys yet, but I can't see them changing their secret spice recipe anytime soon, so I won't keep my hopes up.

I went to Alex's a second time for no good reason.  The chicken was much more dry than I remember from my first trip months ago.  The yucca is still scrumptious, but both myself and those who I sadly brought with me agreed that it was not worth a third trip for chicken.  The chicharrón isn't bad, but then, when is chicharrón actually bad?