El Castillo de Jagua

El Castillo de Jagua is the kind of place where neighborhood softball teams settle in and enthusiastically loosen their uniform drawstrings, awaiting monster portions of delectable, down-home Caribbean cooking (Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican). Rotating daily specials cover classics like sancocho soup and goat and chicken stews; salty bacalao is served on Fridays. The easy feel extends to the restaurant’s comfortable interior, with stools along a lunch counter, twin rows of tables topped with burgundy tablecloths (sensibly covered in wipe-down plastic), and a window full of artificial greenery. Morning, noon, and night, the kitchen turns out solid savories: At breakfast, eggs meet mangu, a mound of mashed plantains, and are served with superlative café con leche. Midday and beyond, the Cuban sandwich matches a wad of moist pulled pork with cheese, mayo, pickles, and ham. Battered steak features a crunchy, slightly sour golden crust. Red beans and yellow rice are the preferred accompaniments, except with the roast pork, which comes with cristianos y moros (white rice and black beans, respectively). White stucco walls adorned with tiles and crustacean-themed crockery evoke a look that seems about 1,500 miles and, aesthetically speaking, light-years away from the hard-edged, glass-box boutique hotel next door. It’s one of the last places in the area where you can sit down for a meal and spend less than $10. Leave the money you’ll save in the tip jar.