A mixed plate of fried pork skin, empanada and chorizo...

A mixed plate of fried pork skin, empanada and chorizo is served at Mi Casa Es Tu Casa in Great Neck. (October 10, 2010) Credit: Photo by Barbara Alper

You don’t think of Great Neck as a hotbed of Latin American cooking, but I had a very good dinner the other night at Mi Casa Es Tu Casa, a Colombian restaurant just across Middle Neck Road from Waldbaum’s.

I make the same crack every time I write about Colombian food: with the portions they serve, you’d think the Colombians would be the fattest people on earth. (So you see, this time is no exception.) The Colombian bandeja tipica (or bandeja paisa, the national dish) usually consists of rice, beans, steak, chicharrón (pork rind), chorizo, a fried egg and an arepa, a fat little tortilla. At Mi Casa, the house special bandeja features shredded beef instead of a steak and costs $13. For my dinner, I opted for the bandeja sencilla ($9) with rice, beans, steak, a fried egg and sweet plantains. Everything was delicious, including the steak which had been pounded, marinated and fried into tasty submission.

I was far too stuffed for dessert, but took home the excellent bread pudding and flan pictured above. They made a fine breakfast, along with an arepa de chocolo, a pleasantly greasy corn-filled cornmeal pancake.

 
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