When I was a kid, my great grandmother used to make what's known in Yiddish as "Puppick Fricassee" She took onions and sautéed them in chicken fat with salt, paprika and black peppers.  Then she added Chicken gizzards to the onions.  After the gizzards (puppicks) browned, she added a touch of chicken stock and finished the whole dish in the oven.  As a kid, I loved it!  I could not wait for her to make it.  I have not thought about this dish in at least 20 years, until yesterday. 

My friend Janine took me to lunch at a Dominican restaurant called Estrella del Caribe (Star of the Caribbean), located on Route 3E in LACE w:st="on">New JerseyLACE> (en route to the Lincoln Tunnel).  From the outside, this restaurant looked like an old diner that sat in front of a Hilton hotel.  Inside, the restaurant had a spacious interior.  They had a large bar and likely became very busy on the weekends.  To look at it, one would never guess that they offered such fantastic food.

Janine (a former pastry chef and fellow foodie) is Dominican herself, so I respected her opinion on food quality and authenticity.  They wrote the menu ½ in Spanish and ½ in English.  We began with a marinated octopus salad and an order of sautéed chicken gizzards.

Unlike my grandmother's version, this dish had limejuice, cilantro and cumin seasoning it.  However, the common elements of sautéed gizzards and onions brought me back to my childhood.  Between the two of us, we finished the whole thing.

For our main course, we ordered Grilled Skirt Steak on Sizzle plate with Fried green plantains and Mofongo (mashed fried green plantains) with roast pork and roast pork jus.  The steak arrived on a sizzling plate with green peppers and onions and a slightly spicy salsa-like sauce on the side.  With the steak came some of the best fried savory plantains I've had in years.

I couldn't stop eating the Mofongo!  The pork melted in my mouth and the mashed plantains with jus were heavenly.  We gorged (okay – I gorged) ourselves!

For dessert, we shared an order of light, creamy decadent flan. 

I have to thank Janine for introducing me to such an awesome restaurant, as it is certainly not one I would have found on my own.  

As an epitaph, one of my employees is Ecuadorian and a connoisseur of Latino cuisine.  I brought him the leftovers from lunch to eat and he didn't even make it home with them.  Even he was impressed at the deliciousness of the food.

Thanks Janine!!!