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Typically, when locals seek out traditional Dominican fare in Washington Heights and Inwood they find their favorite dishes at a Caridad or steam-plate restaurant. These are the Dominican equivalent of the all-American diner: not very hip but delivering a satisfying level of comfort.
Sazones, which opened recently on Broadway in northern Inwood, is trying to redefine that experience.
Sazones looks, sounds and feels like its menu should be a smorgasbord of fusion: Dominican this paired with Asian that mixed with a dash of European other. The furniture and trim are all dark wood. One wall is exposed brick, and the whole front of the restaurant opens up onto the sidewalk ready to join an outdoor café if its owners choose to apply for one. It reverberates with a trendy vibe like its sister restaurant Café Tabaco y Ron a few blocks away on 10th Avenue.
The menu, however, is down-home Dominican.
Take the waitress-recommended pepper steak and white rice – the special of the day. The plate came quickly, offering the benefit of a steam-plate restaurant for people with a limited time for lunch. The presentation was beyond what you’d expect at a Caridad or El Conde Steak House. The rice sat on the right side of the rectangular plate in a perfect pyramid. On the left side the skirt steak was sliced into bite-sized pieces, drizzled in its own juices and cooked with green and red bell peppers.
The saltiness of the steak and peppers was balanced by the rice. It was accompanied by a cup of tasty bright red, red bean soup.
The rest of the menu – breakfast, lunch and dinner – follows the lead of the pepper steak. Traditional Dominican dishes like sancoho, las tres golpes – eggs, cheese and salami – and rotisserie chicken assert Sazones’ bona fides. Stop by on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday for goat stew.
The fish menu has various options. The grouper comes grilled or fried, finished Creole style or with a garlic sauce. Appropriate options for a restaurant whose name translates to “seasonings.”
Sides include – what else – mangu and tostones, as well as black, pigeon or red beans and rice. Mashed potatoes and French fries offer more Americanized options for carbo loading.
There is a fresh juice menu as well.
With Sazones’ downtown look you’d expect to pay downtown prices. But the pricing is in line with other local eateries.
The combos on the back of the menu can feed two but generally cost under $20. The most popular, according to the staff, is the whole rotisserie chicken, with rice and beans, salad or sweet plantains and two cans of soda for just $15.95. The most expensive combo, the two grouper filets with side dishes, is just $21.95.
The best part of Sazones, however, might be the lunch special. While a sandwich, bottle of soda and bag of chips will run you at least $6 in the neighborhood, at Sazones the pepper steak, rice and bean soup with a can of soda costs just $4.99. That beats a plain old sandwich any day of the week.
Sazones
5085 Broadway near W. 216th Street, 212-567-5767, www.sazonesny.com
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