Midtown Lunch

I can’t say I’ve ever actively searched for a way to combine chorizo and ground beef into one delicious lunch, but when I saw the frita on the menu at the Bongo Brothers truck (which is at Old Slip & Water today), I knew it must be mine. This monster melds those two types of meat into a patty, and showers them with those shoestring potatoes that come in a can and sauteed onions and then adds some ketchup so you don’t have to. This all sounded marvelous, but how would it taste? Was this going to be too much meaty goodness to handle?

I’d previously tried the ropa vieja platter here and was pleasantly surprised. When I stopped by to place my order for the frita ($7), I was warned that it would take 7 to 10 minutes to cook because the patty was thick. You may want to take that into account if you don’t want to stand outside for that long once the weather turns ugly. I also ordered some tostones ($1) because twice fried plantains with lime salt just sounded good.

The burger tasted good, but even with fatty meats like chorizo and ground beef involved, the patty was a little dry. There was plenty of ketchup on here to distract from this issue, but since the patty was so thick it was hard to take a big bite without feeling like you needed a glass of water afterward. That being said, I liked the added taste of chorizo and thought the $7 price was fair for how large it was.

The tostones were great – not super dry like I’ve had them elsewhere and the lime salt was a nice touch, plus they’re a good deal at $1. If you are tired of the burger options downtown and want more chorizo and potato sticks in your life, this is an interesting sandwich to check out.

Bongo Brothers truck, (908) 591-5216 for take out orders, on Twitter, and the Web