Cachapas y Mas

Here's what we love about Cachapas y Mas: todo! We love the patacón (above), a shredded chicken sandwich that replaces ordinary bread with pounded, fried slabs of plantain. We love the more sweet than savory cachapa (immediately below), with its thick, barely melted hunk of Venezuelan cheese folded into a large corn pancake. And we love the yoyo (far below), not only because it's almost more fun to say than to eat, as the puffy plantain tends to fall apart after a bite or two. No matter --- that's what forks are for. We love the roast of the roasted pork. We love the pink dipping sauce, the result of mayo marrying hot sauce. We love how crowded the dining area of this Washington Heights institution gets. We love how said dining area has two flat screens that always seem to be showing Animal Planet, no matter when we're there. Like we said, we love it all.