Casa Mofongo (A Review)

My obsession with mofongo is still going strong since my trip to Benny’s Seafood ignited it about 2 years ago.  Since then, it has actually surprised me how hard it is to find a decent plate of mofongo in South Florida.  I mean, short of flying to the Caribbean, where else in the country is there such a high concentration of Puerto Ricans and/or Dominicans?  Okay, fine…New York City.  But still!

I drove by Casa Mofongo on Miracle Mile one day while I was on my way somewhere else.  A dragged my friends there within the next few weeks.  Because, MOFONGO!

The decor is nice, and very modern for a restaurant that serves Latin cuisine.  Normally, they have an older, more traditional feel to them.

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And, naturally, plenty of salsa music playing to set the mood.  I kind of wanted to get up and dance, but I didn’t want to embarrass my dining companions.

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We started with the pork belly and maduros egg rolls.  I’m always a little bit apprehensive about combining salty with sweet, but this actually worked very well.  The smokey pork belly paired with the sweet fried plantains.  The dipping sauce was a little too sweet to tie it all together, but it was still good.

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Since mofongo what we came for, mofongo is what we got as the main course.  This dish is their signature Miracle Mile Island, which is a skirt steak stuffed with yuca mofongo and topped with shrimp and lobster in sauce.  The presentation had our mouths watering.  The taste, however, was somewhat disappointing.  Instead of a juicy cut of steak, what we got was incredibly dry and hard to eat.  The one person at the table that gets her steaks well-done was able to finish most of it, mainly because it was still flavorful despite the dryness. In contrast, the shrimp was cooked to perfection.  I had mixed feelings about the mofongo.  The flavor of the mofongo was great, but the texture was not what I am used to.  In addition, they did not remove the middle fiber from the yuca, which is difficult to eat.

I’m curious to try their plantain mofongo, but the food wasn’t good enough for me to make it a priority.  When I get around to going back, I will update my review.  Until then, there are better places to enjoy some quality Puerto Rican cuisine.  It seems like Casa Mofongo could be a fun spot with such a lively atmosphere.  If they can fix the issues with their dishes, they have a lot of potential.

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