Fairfield Business Spotlight

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Route 4 in Fairfield is home to 11 authentic ethnic restaurants that are appealing to adventurous diners from around the region. A recent article in The Cincinnati Enquirer highlighted 4 of these Latin American restaurants.

Latin flavors found in Fairfield

By Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090428/ENT01/304280074/1028/ent

Wednesday April 29, 2009

On Sunday, Cincy Cinco comes to Fountain Square for the first time. Our city square will be transformed into the plaza of a town in Mexico or somewhere else in Latin America, with colorful dancers, music and food.
Though it commemorates Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday, the yearly festival here includes all the cultures of Latino Cincinnatians. It’s free this year, so for not much money, you can make a quick trip south without actually crossing a border.

And the rest of the year? You’ll find a similar collection of cultures from South America, the Caribbean and Central America by taking a drive along a couple of miles of Ohio 4 (Dixie Highway) in Fairfield. Whether headed northwest or southeast, it’s like going south: to Peru, the Caribbean, South America, Cuba and Mexico.

“Route 4 links the core of the city with the booming areas of Fairfield, where there’s a lot of construction work,” said Alfonso Cornejo, president of Hispanic Chamber USA (also organizer of Cincy Cinco), explaining why there’s such a concentration of Latin-American places to eat along this stretch of road.

Some of the stops:

Sabor Peruana serves the famous dishes of Peru: seviche, which is marinated raw fish and shellfish, lomo saltado, a dish of beef, onions and fried potatoes, potatoes in all kinds of other ways, (Peru is where potato plants originated). Their pasta dishes are an interesting combination of Asian and Italian. And chicha morada is a bright purple drink that’s made from corn but tastes like apple pie. 7105 Dixie Highway, 513-860-0349,

The Green Plantain has bright murals of the rainforest and the beach, and the seat backs are painted with bright Saludos, or Greetings, from various countries of the Caribbean and South America.

Owner Angela Ortiz grew up in Connecticut, but her parents came from Puerto Rico, and her husband is from Ecuador. The menu includes vatapa from Brazil, which is fish and shrimp in a coconut sauce; steak from the Dominican Republic, Ecuadorian pork roast, and several kinds of tamales, such as Puerto Rican pastels and Ecuadorian humitas.

From Jamaica there are beef patties and goat curry, and grilled beef from Argentina. Green plantains – which are a type of starchy banana – are common to most of those cuisines, and every meal here begins with a basket of fried plantain chips and an oniony tomato salsa. 6679 Dixie Highway, 513-894-7000.

Taqueria Mercado. This taqueria is in a little strip mall that also includes a bar, a butcher and a Mexican bakery. It’s a place to go for soft corn tortilla tacos with fillings like goat or carne asada, the Mexican sandwiches called torta (on bread made next door) and a good dose of Mexican community spirit. 6507 Dixie Highway, 513-942-4943.

El Havanero has something not many restaurants offer: a big dance floor. as El Havanero, which took over the roomy space of the former Tea Garden Chinese buffet. It’s owned by Inis del Rio and Livan Ruiz, who moved up here from Miami.

Their idea is to have a family-friendly restaurant, serving authentic food of Cuba, with music to dance to any time, and DJs and live music from time to time on the weekend, but not a nightclub, they say. They’re happy to have kids run around on the dance floor.

Their menu lists the most well-known Cuban dishes, including a gigantic Cuban sandwich, which is a pressed, grilled roll filled with delicious roast pork, ham, cheese and mustard. Cuban food is very accessible, with dishes like ropa vieja, which means old clothes but is actually shreds of beef, served with rice, black beans or congri, a beans-and-rice dish. Also: Vaca fritta, which is crispy fried beef, masas de puerco, and tropical shakes.

They don’t yet have a liquor license, but expect it soon. 6435 Dixie Highway, 513-860-5731. http:elhavanero.net.

Last stop: If you want to cook Latin American food at home, there’s Jungle Jim’s, not far away at 5440 Dixie Highway, where you can buy anything you need. 513-674-6000 .

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090428/ENT01/304280074/1028/ent