La Bodega is a small Dominican store with groceries and prepared food. There are 3 small aisles of…read moregroceries - one with mostly drinks and refrigerated proteins, one with sauces and dry goods, and the last with some cleaning supplies. Towards the rear, there are racks of spices, a very small frozen food section (one freezer) and some produce. I'm guessing they don't actually sell any of the produce - it's probably just there as storage until they cook everything?
The real magic of the store is in the back, where there's a small counter serving all sorts of delicious goodies. On a Saturday for lunch, there was a steady stream of customers picking up orders and eating.
Just be aware that this is a family owned establishment that takes time to prepare food - lunch was supposed to start at 11:30AM, but they didn't have most of the menu ready until around 12:30PM. For people who are less patient, there is a prepared food counter with various meats and stews and a display with some fried foods. We opted for a couple of items:
Fritura Mixta ($18.50) - Wow, this is a giant plate of fried meat and tostones. Deep fried beef, pork, chicken, longanisa, each one seasoned and drained well. Not greasy or oily at all. This is seriously a meat overload, in retrospect, we should have ordered a couple of additional sides because, to be honest, we aren't huge meat eaters. Still delicious. It took about 20 minutes to come out because everything was fried fresh.
Cheese Bollitos ($2.50) - Think of a fried mashed potato croquette with a slightly different yucca flavor profile. These fried pastries aren't fried to order - instead they are probably fried in the morning and stuck in a heated display cabinet until they are ordered. They don't have the best crisp exterior and aren't exactly piping hot, but they are still good.
Chicken and Cheese Empanada ($3) - These were definitely differently shaped vs. other empanadas I've had. Quite a long half moon filled with well seasoned chicken and rich cheese. Similar to the bollitos, these are not fried to order.
We went back a couple of weeks later for some of the items on the dinner menu (only available after 5PM) that aren't served during lunch. It took around 25 minutes this time for the food to come out.
Chimi de Pierna ($13) - This sandwich consisted of pulled pork, red cabbage, onions, and tomato on a super pillowy bun. The ingredients were heavily seasoned with a sweet and somewhat vinegery sauce that was quite similar to a bbq sauce. Be careful eating this one - since the bun is so soft, the ingredients start spilling out with every bite.
Mofongo ($20) - Super garlicky, pretty classic mofongo mashed with chicharrones. Our meat of choice was additional chicharrones - super well fried with a great crisp and chewy fat. It came with two small containers of sauce that was not a normal mojo de ajo. It was limey, porky, very fresh, and paired perfectly with the carbs and proteins. I would definitely get this again.
As a side note - they charge a 4% credit card fee.
La Bodego is a great addition to the area. Definitely stop by to get some good Dominican food!
