Bistec encebollado. photo/Hannah Joyce McCain

Tipico Dominicano Restaurant
539 Deering Ave., Portland
773.9000

Anything but typical

Tipico Dominicano Restaurant is the scenic turnout that appears out of nowhere on a long drive, or that first date that’s actually awesome. It’s a beautiful thing to have no expectations and be greeted with greatness.

I’d never eaten Dominican food before I walked into this little place next to The Bayou Kitchen, where Deering Avenue meets Forest. I just had a vague idea there would be plantains. I discovered that Dominican food — at least the style made here, with Puerto Rican influences sometimes tossed into the mix — is damn good.

Fried plantains (tostones), available as a side order, are an excellent starting point for a meal at Tipico. Sliced thin and fried golden brown, they’re the perfect canvas for any of the jumble of hot sauces available. On weekends, Tipico serves its “Saturday and Sunday Soup,” which changes from week to week with the exception of the last weekend of the month. That’s when you can get sancocho, a traditional national soup prepared here with eight meats, five vegetables and a slew of seasonings. My friend and I missed the sancocho on our first visit, but we both adored a sumptuous chicken stew ($4 for a generous small). We scooped up every last savory bite with the fried plantains and earned an approving nod from the woman behind the counter. “That’s just what I do,” she said. “Very good, no?” Sí. Very good.

Also very good: the house-made, family-recipe sofrito, a blend of oregano, cilantro, adobo, sazón, and numerous other herbs and spices. It shows up in most dishes Tipico serves, more pronounced in some than others. The bistec encebollado ($11), thinly sliced steak topped with translucent sautéed onions, was awash in sofrito, to excellent results. Served with a delicious, riotous mess of yellow rice and black peas, the portion could have been a meal for two.

On a return visit with more companions, the mofongo divided our tribe into two camps: those who could live without it and those who could not. Mofongo is a staple of Dominican cuisine, made by mixing fried and mashed plantains with garlic, chicken stock and butter. The mixture is then pan-fried and served in a sturdy mound, accompanied at Tipico by your choice of shrimp ($13), salami ($7) or chicken ($11). I was smitten, and couldn’t help stealing bites even after I was full to bursting. The shrimp — pale crustaceans swimming in a brothy tomato sauce alongside strips of red and yellow pepper — played a distant second fiddle to the flavorful mofongo.

The bacalao (cod fish, $10) and pollo gusisado (stewed chicken, $9) were less divisive, but also less loved. The fish, probably frozen, tasted like it, and both dishes relied on a monotonous tomato broth for flavor. Go for the pernil ($10) instead, another dish in which the meat — juicy pulled pork, in this case — is exuberantly marinated with the flavorful sofrito. For less adventurous souls there’s fried or rotisserie-style chicken. The crispy/tender dynamic of Tipico’s fried chicken ($8 for three pieces) is especially satisfying.

All the main courses (platos principales) come with either the aforementioned yellow rice and black peas or white rice and pinto beans. I recommend the former. I also suggest you wash everything down with a cold beer (my friends and I drank Modelo), though Tipico also offers an enticing selection of natural fruit juices, including passion fruit and tamarindo (made with tamarind). Bring cash for a tip (the credit card machine isn’t set up to process tips), an empty belly and an open mind. You’ll leave a believer.

— Hannah Joyce McCain