3 restaurants where rice is a meal

Rice is a staple all over the world. Although many tend to view it as a side dish, it actually serves as the basis for many winning main courses. We give you four examples drawn from East and West.

HAVANA CENTRAL RESTAURANT & BAR, Garden City

This hopping Cuban-Latin restaurant offers a vegetarian take on paella. The mixture of vegetables and yellow rice is deeply savory, very good.

PHAYATHAI RESTAURANT, Lake Ronkonkoma

This strip-mall Thai spot serves a basil fried rice with chicken that's hard to stop eating.

CHICKEN'S ROAD, Bellmore

Gallo rice, a meal in itself, is a specialty at this Venezuelan counter-serve spot. The hybrid Chinese-South American stir-fry combines rice, chicken, pork and vegetables with Venezuelan seasonings -- to delectable effect.

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