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This venue is closed.

Affably holding its own among the fresh-faced fusion eateries of Ninth Avenue, this timeworn Puerto Rican restaurant serves up robust fare from the mother isle just like abuela used to make. Choose from plantains in all their variations: Maduros are ripened to just shy of rotten, so they’re bloated with their natural sugars, then panfried into golden, satiny nuggets. Mofongo—the island staple rooted in African influences—is shaped into a dense, starchy snowball of mashed plantains with pork cracklings. A topping of red Creole sauce gives it a piquant lift. The winning appetizers cost little more than subway fare—try the cassava pasteles stuffed with crumbly pork. Argentine steaks round out the menu, but they can tend toward the dry, so swab on the chimichurri (chopped parsley and garlic steeped in olive oil). The sedate dining room, with its cream tablecloths and peach walls trimmed in dark wood, seems at odds with the feisty menu, but you’ll catch glimpses of Caribbean character: a poster of the island’s rain forest; salsa beats (“Le-lo-lai!”) piped in overhead; the bartender rolling his hips to the music while pouring piña coladas. Still, it’s the belly-warming barrio eats that give this place all the island flavor it needs. — AnneLise Sorensen

Mofongo with pork $12.95; Puerto Rican pasteles $3; maduros $4