El Castillo
145-19 Jamaica Ave., Jamaica
718-725-4233
Cuisine: Hispanic
Hours: 7 a.m. to 4 a.m.
There’s
a Hispanic restaurant on Jamaica Avenue where the food is good and the
times are better.
El
Castillo — a big corner property at 146th Street — is great fun.
Spanish
music plays loud all the time, and the salon at the back of the
restaurant has a lot of open space that’s perfect for dancing.
Up
front is a small but neat bar, stocked mostly with wine and beer.
The restaurant staff order from the bar almost as often as the
customers do in the easy-going, informal community joint.
The
place looks good; the 50 or so seats are surrounded with wood paneling
and mirrors. The
combination sounds tacky on paper, but it works here.
There’s nothing ugly inside El Castillo for the mirrors to
multiply.
The
hours are great, too — the restaurant opens at 7 a.m. for breakfast,
and closes at 3 or 4 a.m. With
hours like that, the party goes long into the night.
For
anyone interested in making a night at El Castillo — almost
guaranteed to be a memorable mix of good food, drinks and music—a
private affair, the restaurant rents out its salon.
For
anyone interested in bringing a piece of El Castillo home, there’s
take out service and free delivery.
There’s
a huge menu that makes it almost hard to choose what to order.
But
while there are almost 200 choices on the menu, the items are simple.
They have few ingredients, and descriptions are unnecessary.
While
the dishes are simple, they taste complex.
A simple order of baked chicken — no garnish, no sides, just
the chicken — is filled with interesting flavors and textures.
The
meat is soft and falls off the bone, but the skin is crispy.
The meat has a kind of neutral chicken taste, but the skin is a
strong, tart, almost tangy flavor to it.
Everything complements everything else nicely.
The
dish, just $5 as part of a special, is served with rice and beans,
another simple dish with interesting flavors.
There’s
an extensive breakfast menu, with a separate “Spanish Breakfast”
menu. The regular menu
has American classics like omelets, pancakes and French toast.
The prices are low, from $2.50 to $4.75.
The
Spanish breakfast menu is dominated by non-meat-based items; you can
order plantains, mango and cassava.
Most
of the lunch and dinner menu is made up of continental dishes; there
are burgers, sandwiches, heroes, and plenty of roasted, fried, stewed,
broiled and barbecued meats (we think no styles of preparation are
left out).
There’s
also a big seafood menu and pasta menu.
The
restaurant’s particularly Hispanic food includes “Camarofongo”
($11.95), mashed fried green plantains with shrimp, “Castillo
Steak” ($9.95) and steak with shrimp ($13.95).
If
alcohol isn’t up your alley, there are a lot of other fluid treats
at El Castillo.
There’s a range of natural juices, and
nine shakes available, including exotic kinds like papaya and tamarind
($2.75).
—
Shams Tarek
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