Nearly four years after serving mofongo at their first pop-up at Findlay Market, friends and MashRoots owners Guillermo Vidal and Arnaldo Vazquez will officially open their brick-and-mortar spot in College Hill this month. For the uninitiated, mofongo is a traditional Puerto Rican dish of mashed fried plantains with garlic and olive oil, typically served with protein and sauce.
The duo, previously engineers by trade, designed their concept as a Chipotle-style assembly line of root (plantain, yuca, or sweet potato) as the base, topped with protein (skirt steak, pulled chicken, roasted pork, or black beans), and sauce (ketchup and mayo, a.k.a. “pink mayo,” sriracha mayo, or garlic cilantro). But the twist is the addition of veggies (pinkslaw, vinagrete, citruscarrot), which infuses with elements of Vidal’s Cuban and Brazilian background.
To get the classic experience, try plantain, pork, pinkslaw, and pink mayo. The pinkslaw adds a pleasant crunch, and the tangy pink mayo cuts through the richness of the plantain and pork for a well-balanced flavor. For a Brazilian-style bowl, get yuca, steak, vinagrete (similar to pico de gallo), and sriracha mayo. New to the College Hill spot are taro and seafood as root and protein options respectively, plus other rotating ingredients from Latin America, along with new sides and desserts. Wash it all down with refreshing cocktails made with rum and harder-to-find spirits, and you have a real fiesta.
MashRoots, 5903 Hamilton Ave., College Hill, (513) 620-4126
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