Cleveland, OH
16 restaurants for Puerto Rican mofongo in Northeast Ohio
CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s never a bad idea to explore Cleveland’s Latin culinary cuisine any time of the year. Cleveland is a melting pot of a city and that is reflected in its food. One major cultural influence on the area is from its large population of folks from Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is known for many dishes, one of the most labor-intensive being mofongo. Mofongo is made from a mash of fried green plantains mixed with garlic, pork (like bacon or chicharron, which is fried pork skin), and other seasonings. It’s an ultimate comfort food as well as versatile — mofongo can be eaten on its own or with other dishes like meat or broth.
Here are 16 Northeast Ohio restaurants where you can try Puerto Rican mofongo
This is the first in a series of Hispanic Heritage Month dining guides to Greater Cleveland’s rich Latin-American food scene.
Cleveland Mofongo opened its dining space in July. (Photo by Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com)
Cleveland Mofongo
111621 Lorain Ave., Cleveland
Cleveland Mofongo takes the Puerto Rican dish so seriously, that it’s in its name. The restaurant serves up several iterations of the meal featuring meat options like roasted pork (pernil), fried chicken (pollo frito), and sauteed cod (bacalao in criollo). The mofongo base takes fried and mashed plantains and mixes in garlic oil and pork cracklings. The dish comes with a green salad on the side to cut through all of the richness of the dish.
Cleveland Mofongo opens dining space after five years of takeout, with second location on the way
Quisqueya La Bella
2317 Denison Ave., Cleveland
Another Denison Avenue spot is Quisqueya La Bella, a Dominican bar and restaurant. The menu features many Latin plates including a side of mofongo. It’s an ideal way for customers to make their plates loaded with plantains, meat, beans, eggs, and beyond just the way they like it.
Latin flavors can be found at Twisted Taino.
Twisted Taino
5633 Pearl Rd., Parma
Twisted Taino’s menu is all about celebrating the vibrancy of Carribean cuisine. The classic mofongo is made like it is in many Puerto Rican homes with garlic, oil, and bacon and topped with more meat. For a smaller portion, the mofongo bites provide the same great flavor as their entrée counterpart. The star of the show is the Trifongo rice bowl. It starts with mashed plantains, yuca, bacon, and sweet plantains stuffed with rice and beans (Arroz Mamposteao), meat, queso blanco, potatoes, sweet and spicy BBQ, buttermilk ranch, cheddar sauce, and avocado-based Jaramillo sauce. It’s a dish to eat when your hunger is insatiable.
RELATED: Twisted Taino’s Parma location to open in August; Ohio City location to close
The Blue Palm Restaurant and Lounge
5517 Memphis Ave., Cleveland
Many people frequent the Blue Palm for its fun vibe and lively Latin music, but the food menu isn’t to be overlooked. The Blue Palm offers mofongo with fried pork (carne frita), flavorful skirt steak (churrasco a la criolla), shrimp (camarones al ajillo), sauteed chicken (pechuga al ajillo), and lobster (langosta a la criolla). The portions are massive, so it can even be a good plate to split with a fellow diner to try more menu items.
Mi Casa Sabor
2229 W 21 St., Lorain
Lorain is full of good Puerto Rican food, including the dishes served at Mi Casa Sabor. The enticing menu, which includes fun flavor mashups like BLT tostones, also sells mofongo. Customers can get the mashed plantain dish on its own or with pork, steak, or stewed chicken. Mi Casa Sabor also has a mobile food truck that can be found parked around Northeast Ohio.
Jibaro Latin Restaurant
6152 Broadview Rd., Parma
It feels like you’re arriving in Puerto Rico when you walk into Jibaro Latin Restaurant, if not for the smells alone. Jibaro serves both mofongo and trifongo, the latter of which is mashed plantains, yuca root, and sweet plantains with garlic. The meat options are vast as well, including options to top it with mixed seafood like octopus, shrimp, and conch.
Las Villas Deli and Pastries brings Puerto Rican fare at Its finest to Cleveland. From the Almuerzos menu: Mofongo with shrimp. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.comDavid Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
Las Villas Deli and Pastries
3216 W. 41 St., Cleveland
Las Villas might sound like a place for Latin pastries or sandwiches on fresh bread, but the restaurant offers ample entrée options, including mofongo. It’s not always available but when it is, it’s a necessity to try. Usually, Las Villas tops its mofongo with proteins like shrimp, chicken, steak, or ribs, and every rendition is delicious.
RELATED: Las Villas Deli and Pastries: Puerto Rican fare at its finest in Cleveland
El Turpial True Flavors
4914 Main Ave., Ashtabula
El Turpial in Ashtabula has a rotating menu, so there’s always something special cooking. Often, those offerings will include mofongo. Sometimes, the folks in the kitchen get creative by offering a burger with mofongo as its bun, or a “mofowrap” which uses mashed plantain instead of a tortilla.
Gually’s Bakery & Restaurant in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
Gually’s Bakery and Restaurant
6201 Denison Ave., Cleveland
Gually’s will have lines out the door for its loaves of fresh bread on the weekends, but it’s far from the only standout on the menu. It’s a reliable spot for mofongo made the authentic way. Gually’s offers mofongo with shrimp, octopus, fried pork (chicharron), steak, and chicken for a complete meal.
Gually’s Bakery & Restaurant opens today in Cleveland
Nono’s Happy Kitchen
1663 Pearl Rd., Brunswick
Nono’s Happy Kitchen brings Puerto Rican flavor to Brunswick with its menu of empanadas, rice combo plates, and more. Mofongo is always on the menu made with plenty of garlic and topped with either pork or chicken.
Lorain Pastelillo House
1700 E. 31 St., Lorain
The Lorain Pastelillo House is known for its pastelillos, the Puerto Rican version of empanadas. They also sell larger entrees like mofongo regularly. The plate comes with a choice of meat with basic options like pork chops (chuletas), roast pork (pernil), and fried chicken.
Lots of items to choose from at Rincon Criollo Take #2 located at 7403 Denison Ave.
Rincon Criollo
6504 Detroit Rd., Cleveland
Rincon Criollo is the Detroit-Shoreway district’s tried-and-true Puerto Rican restaurant. They serve all of the classic dishes, including mofongo. Customers can opt to top the mashed plantain base with chicken, pork skins or chops, beef stew, or steak for a hearty and filling meal. Rincon Criollo has a second location on Denison Avenue, but its menu is less extensive and changes daily.
RELATED: Rincon Criollo always looking for new ways to bring flavors of Puerto Rico to Northeast Ohio: Best Caribbean Restaurant
Guaterriquena Bakery
4239 Fulton Rd., Cleveland
Guaterriquena Bakery is another Latin restaurant with Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, and American influence that tends to put mofongo on its special menu for customers lucky enough to catch it. Like everything from the restaurant, Guaterriquena makes its mofongo with just the right amount of garlic, spices, and oil to complement its rich meats.
Tropical Bay
8130 Broadview Rd., Broadview Heights
Tropical Bay’s menu is a mashup of Puerto Rican and Dominican dishes, including mofongo bowls. Customers can choose from traditional mofongo, yuca mofongo, sweet mofongo, or different combinations of the three. The meat options are pretty typical, aside from the mofongo bowl topped with chicken cordon bleu that’s an absolute explosion of flavors.
Empanadas Latin Street Food located at 5543 Ridge Rd., Parma, OH 44129
Empanadas Latin Street Food
5543 Ridge Rd., Parma
Empanadas has its home base in Parma, but the Latin food concept also has an on-the-go food truck to try its empanadas and entrees outside of the city. It’s required to try one of the restaurant’s namesake empanadas, but don’t overlook the mofongo meals. The dish comes with mofongo, a choice of meat, rice, salad, and mayo-ketchup.
El Cibao
3553 W 117 St., Cleveland
Another Puerto Rican and Dominican concept on the west side is El Cibao. The menu includes a few ways to eat mofongo, both traditionally served under meat or as small balls that act as more of a side dish. El Cibao uses plenty of bacon in its mofongo mash to amp up the flavor. They also offer “duofongo” which contains green and sweet plantains and is served with proteins like tilapia, garlic shrimp, and steak.
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Cleveland, OH
GCSC Summer Golf Classic | Greater Cleveland Sports Commission
![GCSC Summer Golf Classic | Greater Cleveland Sports Commission GCSC Summer Golf Classic | Greater Cleveland Sports Commission](https://www.clevelandsports.org/files/events/1440x685-summer-golf-classic-cleveland-2022-gcsc-header-3.jpg)
Golfers of all abilities are invited to play in GCSC’s Summer Golf Classic presented by First National Bank on Monday, August 5, 2024 at Cleveland Metroparks Sleepy Hollow.
Join us for a day of 18 holes with cart featuring beverages, contests & prizes, lunch and a buffet dinner.
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Cleveland, OH
Fatal shooting on east side after reports of large fight: Cleveland Police
![Fatal shooting on east side after reports of large fight: Cleveland Police Fatal shooting on east side after reports of large fight: Cleveland Police](https://gray-woio-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/4LBKPZA7HVCAHIDEQAJE4LASYQ.jpg?auth=db71fe4303aec025c445fbd356ae9b32f5e8db296e84adc4ed2d2d24d814f0e5&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – One man is dead after a shooting following reports of a large fight on the east side, according to Cleveland Police.
Police got reports of a large fight around 2:50 a.m. on Saturday in the 1000 block of East 71st Street.
While officers were en route, they learned that two people were shot.
Police located a 22-year-old man and a 24-year-old man who were both shot, according to a release.
Both of the men were taken to the hospital by EMS.
The 22-year-old man later died at the hospital.
The condition of the 24-year-old is unknown.
Cleveland Police homicide unit is investigating, according to police.
Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Cleveland, OH
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Results: Winners And Grades On August 3, 2024
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WWE SummerSlam 2024 results
WWE SummerSlam 2024 from Cleveland, Ohio advertised six championship matches. Among them was Solo Sikoa challenging Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship, LA Knight challenging Logan Paul for the WWE United States Championship, Sami Zayn defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bron Breakker and GUNTHER challenging Damian Priest for the WWE World Championship.
This week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.412 million viewers on SyFy after being preempted by the Olympics.
WWE SummerSlam Results | August 3, 2024
- Liv Morgan def. Rhea Ripley | WWE Women’s World Championship
- Bron Breakker def. Sami Zayn | WWE Intercontinental Championship
- LA Knight def. Logan Paul | WWE United States Championship
- Nia Jax def. Bayley | WWE Women’s Championship
- Drew McIntyre def. CM Punk
- GUNTHER def. Damian Priest | WWE World Heavyweight Championship
- Cody Rhodes def. Solo Sikoa | WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Ticket Sales
- WWE SummerSlam 2024 Venue: Cleveland Browns Stadium (Cleveland, OH)
- WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Distributed: 55,858
- WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Available: 807
WWE Money In The Bank 2024 Winners And Grades
Liv Morgan Def. Rhea Ripley
Despite all the talk of The Judgment Day competing by themselves, Dominik Mysterio accompanied Rhea Ripley to the ring.
Michael Cole noted the last time Rhea Ripley lost a singles match was 26 months ago. To Liv Morgan.
This match started as a cat-and-mouse as Liv ran away from Ripley. Fans became frustrated and booed Liv loudly.
Rhea dominated this match until Liv Morgan dodged a charging Ripley and followed up by throwing her, shoulder-first, into the turnbuckle. Ripley could be heard (kayfabe) saying “it’s out, it’s out!”
Fans were split as they made dueling chants of “let’s go Rhea/let’s go Liv!”
Liv Morgan (kayfabe) popped her shoulder back into place by running herself into the announce table and fans went crazy.
Ripley hit the riptide, but did not pin Morgan. Instead, she grabbed a steel chair that Morgan brought into the ring. Mysterio grabbed the chair from her, which was the wise decision because she would have gotten herself disqualified. This led to an Oblivion for a nearfall and “holy s—t” chants.
Dom distracted the ref, leading to an Oblivion on the steel chair for the win. After the match, Dominik Mysterio kissed Liv Morgan and they left together.
Backstage, Damian Priest was furious with Dominik Mysterio for his actions. Finn and the rest of the Judgment Day vowed to go find him. I don’t trust them.
Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan Grade: A-
Bron Breakker Def. Sami Zayn
Bron Breakker hit his always impressive Breakkensteiner early on, then he proceeded to scream “quit!” at Sami Zayn.
Bron Breakker cut Sami Zayn off with a Spear, then he hit ayn with another Spear for the win. This wasn’t necessarily a squash match, but it was definitely a dominant win for Breakker.
Bron Breakker vs. Sami Zayn Grade: B
LA Knight Def. Logan Paul
Logan Paul wore a Cleveland-inspired American Flag vest and greeted two security guards on his way to the ring. One of hte security guards turned out to be Cleveland’s own MGK.
LA Knight shattered the glass on Logan Paul’s Prime vehicle before making his way to the ring.
Paul cleared the table, but LA Knight got the better of him with a modified TKO, though the table didn’t break.
Paul won these people over with a springboard moonsault on LA Knight. Though they cheered the spot, they eventually came to their senses and chanted “you still suck!”
After jumping up on the top rope, LA Knight hit a scary looking superplex. Fans chanted “this is awesome” after a nearfall.
Logan Paul borrowed brass knuckles from MGK. After a shot to LA Knight, Knight countered with a BFT.
Logan Paul vs. LA Knight Grade: A-
Nia Jax Def. Bayley
Bayley relentlessly knocked Nia Jax off her feet early in the match.
Nia Jax took control of the match, to the point where she hit the Annihilator, but Bayley kicked out.
Jax called herself “reckless” and “clumsy” while trash-talking Bayley on offense.
Bayley hit an awesome power bomb on Nia Jax from the top rope. The fans were fervently into a match that struggled to follow Logan Paul vs. LA Knight.
A Tiffany Stratton cash-in was thwarted by Bayley, but the distraction led to two power bombs and two Annihilators for the win.
Nia Jax vs. Bayley Grade: A-
Drew McIntyre Def. CM Punk
Seth Rollins walked out in a long cloak, and what was under the jacket was certain to be even wilder.
WWE used ref cameras on the referee’s ear, and there were never more ref cam shots than during Seth Rollins’ entrance.
Rollins’ referee outfit were baggy, bedazzled pants and a cutoff shirt similar to Shawn Michaels.
Fans chanted “CM Punk” to start the match as punk donned pink gear in homage to Bret Hart.
Rollins did a great job working the fans into a frenzy before ringing the bell. When the bell rang, Punk and McIntyre brawled like crazy.
Instead of counting to 10 while Punk and McIntyre were outside of the ring, Rollins instead chose to tie his shoes. Rollins also took immense pleasure in seeing Punk and Rollins beat the hell out of one another.
During an Anaconda Vice on McIntyre, Punk secured his friendship bracelet and the entire stadium celebrated.
Punk stopped his GTS on McIntyre dead in its tracks and confronted Rollins about wearing his bracelet, which Rollins picked up off the ground did wear, but out of no malice.
After a ref bump and a nearfall (followed by a second visual pinfall), Punk and Rollins got into a heated argument. Punk hit a Go To Sleep on Rollins and took his bracelet back, but it cost him the match.
Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk Grade: B+
GUNTHER Def. Damian Priest
Finn Balor wished Damian Priest luck before the match. Famous last words.
GUNTHER already had chop marks on his chest before the match even started.
GUNTHER and Priest chopped the hell out of one another to the point where GUNTHER was bleeding from the chest.
Finn Balor hit the ring, presumably to save Priest, but he ended up costing Priest the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by putting GUNTHER’s leg on the bottom rope.
After this match, Jelly Roll, The Miz and R-Truth took out A-Town Down Under.
GUNTHER vs. Damian Priest Grade: B+
Cody Rhodes Def. Solo Sikoa
Cody Rhodes ran into Arn Anderson backstage, and Anderson said he called in a few favors to a few allies of Cody Rhodes. Some of whom he knows, some he doesn’t.
For a full recap of Cody vs. Solo Sikoa in Bloodline Rules, click here.
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