El Flamboyan has recently opened the doors to it's small location on the southeast corner of Elmwood and Amherst. The space is simple and so is the Puerto Rican menu.
The portions are ample, as you knew they would be, the food hearty and good. Lunches include your choice of meat and one of four traditional rice dishes, three of which use yellow rice, a rice made with sofrito. (Sofrito is a sauce made of green peppers, onions, garlic spices and the yellow-imparting annatto seed.) At El Flamboyan you can order your yellow rice with pigeon peas, white beans, or chicken. Simple white rice is an option as well. Regarding the meat choices, there are five to choose from: pernil (pork), pollo guisao (chicken stew), bistec (steak), chuletas (pork chops) and pollo frito (fried chicken). The lunch size portion is large and runs $5.99, the dinner is even larger and only $7.99.
Other offerings include pastelillos ($1.50), plantains ($1.50), green banana patties ($2.50), and shrimp and chicken salads ($6 and $4.50 respectively).
I chose to have the pork with yellow rice and pigeon beans and a meat pastelillo. The rice was light and flavorful, the pork mild and exceptionally tender. The pastelillo, a spicy meat pie, was my favorite. At only $1.50, with well-flavored beef and a tasty crispy exterior, they could be addicting. I think it's also important to mention that the filling was far, far less greasy than almost all of the other pastelillos that I've had in the city.
Daily specials are also offered- Monday brings beef stew with rice, Tuesdays feature liver and on Fridays a fish saute with rice and onions is available.
El Flamoboyan makes family dining easy by offering a kids menu featuring chicken fingers, grilled cheese and a rice and meat plate ($4.99 ea).
There have been other nice businesses in this location, but on some level it seems to be a struggle to make a good one stick. Let's offer up our support to this little eatery. It's a good stop if you've got a hankering for some honest to goodness hearty Puerto Rican food.
El Flamboyan
1595 Elmwood Ave, 14216
716. 876.2600, call for hours