MAMBO'S in Trenton

[Rich Pawlak]

We slipped into the new MAMBO'S last Friday night, in a horrible torrential rain, and what a bright, friendly place (albeit almost empty) laced with salsa in the background.

This is the location of the former Joe's Tomato Pies on Clinton Ave. (550 Clinton Ave., not far from the Trenton Amtrak station) on the very edge of Chambersburg. It has been freshened with blond woods, wrought iron accents, Latin record album covers and wonderful aromas. Joe's venerable pizza ovens remain, and so does pizza as a menu item!

But the rest of the menu, confusingly printed, is decidedly Latino, with Cuban, Puerto Rican and what I'll call "fringe Latin" dishes.

A hearty chicken vegetable soup was perfect for the weather outside, a rich, cloudy broth full of torn chicken and diced veggies. Its fragrance filled the room.

An appetizer sampler plate. called a "Pachanga" was piled with cornmeal sticks, fried cassava, and fried and sweet plantains. Empanadillas were feather light, crisp-crunchy and nicely filled with seasoned meat and peppers. A mild , orange dipping sauce was alongside and outstanding.

A basket of garlic knot rolls come to the table with butter and more mild dipping sauce. Get a bottle of this stuff to take home. They actually offer it on the menu, along with bottles of house "hot sauce", which is impossibly hot, but delicious. But really really hot. A bottle of the hot stuff is on every table, and you will feel even the tiniest drop in your food, I swear. Fire-breather stuff.

I chose Mofongo (mashed plantain mixed with garlic) for my entree, and here it's molded into a large crispy cup and filled to ridiculous overflowing with (my choice) roast pork. It was fabulous, the mofongo was again crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, and the pork was classic, shredded suckling pig, sweet, smoky skin and citrusy meat. This dish can also be had filled with broth (!) or seafood (my next visit, I will order it this way). I've had mofongo in Puerto Rico, but it was never this good.

Shrimp and steak kabobs were nicely done, layered with onions and peppers, served with moist yellow rice and magnificent "house beans" smoky red beans in a piquant sauce.

Portions are huge here, hence we had no room for desserts. Prices are extremely low. Service was not the best, a tentative teenager who really didnt know, or understand , the menu. But the owner, Jose Diaz, who circulates, makes up for it in enthusaism. Almost.

Most of the clientele when we were there were Hispanic, and all seemed to really enjoy what they were eating. I know I did.

And I did get a bottle of the mild house sauce. It is heaven in a bottle,and unique.

Get to this place soon. Run. I'm serious. There is something special going on here.

Rich Pawlak

Edited March 4, 2003 by Rich Pawlak (log)

[Rosie]

Thanks for the report. Be sure to tell us about other restaurants in the Trenton area.

[Kim WB]

Rich, I was less enthused, but since my visit a few weeks ago, two or three folks RAVED about thier meal..so I leave it open to perhaps making bad choices. I did have ethe skewers..I thought the meat wsa very tough. Soem of hte sauces were wonderful, but that orange one, if its the same one, was a little sweet to me.

Your enthusiasm warrants another visit... I was ready to dismiss it as a place that was trying to be all things to all people..and making up for quality with quanity..but I thank you for your report, and I'll let you know about visit #2.

[Rail Paul]

Rich -

nice report. finding a place like that on a horrible night like Friday is a real blessing.

did you order / converse in spanish? I've noticed that in some places, native speakers get the benefit of the doubt on spicing and ingredients. The house doesn't make any money on returned dishes

(when =Mark ran the eGullet dinner at Mie Thai in Woodbridge, even =Mark's skills weren't sufficient to get the staff to turn up the heat. They came out and watched the chileheads eat the soup before they prepared the dinners to the desired HOT.)

Paul

[Rich Pawlak]

did you order / converse in spanish?  I've noticed that in some places, native speakers get the benefit of the doubt on spicing and ingredients. The house doesn't make any money on returned dishes

Paul

I didnt order in Spanish, and my dining companion, who can speak Spanish, is not an adventurous diner, so that didnt help--or hurt--matters. A few weeks back Joan Belknap reviewed the place in the Trenton Times (I was shocked she would venture to such a place. She is less adventurous than my dining partner) , and raved about several of the dishes. Had we been with a few others, I would have surely tried one of the fish dishes, like the Kingfish. But I was tickled to death with the mofongo (secret ingredient, as told to me by Jose Diaz---a little yucca), just a spectacularly earthy dish.

Edited March 4, 2003 by Rich Pawlak (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Rich:

Gary and I tried this place last night and it was fantastic! We got there pretty late (about 9:30 PM) and were the only customers there. We invited Stella Diaz (the chef), her brother Jose and his fiancee Yvette to join us for a glass of wine. What a wonderful meal! We tried one each of the seafood and meat empanandas. The dough was just right and they were delicious. We also tried the mofongo with mixed seafood. The mofongo was molded into a lovely little cup that was over-filled with chopped shrimp, conch and octopus. We also shared the meat and shrimp kabobs and thought they were quite tasty as well. The marinade on the meat and shrimp really gave both items a unique flavor. Huge portion of yellow rice with calamari and beans on the side and we were almost too stuffed to get out of our chairs. We were treated to getting to watch Jose and Yvette practice some of their mambo and salsa moves while we were eating and chatting with Stella. What fun! Of course Stella insisted on having us taste her etherial Coconut Flan (made a believer out of Gary who likes neither flan NOR coconut!) and a sliver of a very tasty chocolate cheesecake with Oreo crust. YUM! The bill for this feast? A whopping $36.00 with tip! Of course having the chef give us tastes of dessert was wonderful, but it was a lot of food for the money, even before that.

I really hope this place succeeds, because it couldn't be owned by nicer or more dedicated folks. This is solid Puerto Rican and Island cooking at it's finest. I'll be delighted to go back and try some of the fish entrees as well.

[Rosie]

Thanks for the info. Do you have a phone #? Are reservations necessary and are they open on Sunday? BYO?

[KatieLoeb]

Thanks for the info. Do you have a phone #?  Are reservations necessary and are they open on Sunday? BYO?

Rosie:

I've got the business card right here in front of me so I will merely re-type the info for you.

Hours: Tues-Thurs. 11:30 AM -9PM; Fri. & Sat. 11:30 AM-10PM; Sunday 11:30 AM-8PM. Closed Mondays for dining. Jose Diaz gives mambo & salsa dance lessons from 7-10PM Monday evenings while the restaurant is closed for dinner!

The restaurant IS BYOB. We brought a bottle of my favorite "grab-it-and-go" $7.00 Spanish wine (Osborne Solaz 2000- 80% Tempranillo/20% Cabernet- delicious and always in my wine rack in multiples) and shared with the owners and had a lovely dinner. I can't comment on the "usual" reservation policy as we had called at 9PM on a Saturday night to see when they stopped serving. We were told 10PM and we wouldn't need reservations. Perhaps the crowds had already left?

The address is 550 South Clinton Avenue, Trenton, NJ. Phone # - 609-396-1517.

I hope you get a chance to check this place out. It really deserves to succceed.