A young waitress carries two steaming plates of rice, red beans, vegetables and meat a few steps from a backroom kitchen into the cozy, small seating area of El Rinconcito, a new Latin Restaurant at 254 E. 204th St. in Bedford Park. She gracefully places the food on a table in front of two customers, turns to go back to the kitchen and returns with two creamy batidos—smoothie-like drinks. The customers waste no time digging in to their plentiful meals.

That’s just how Elvis Saen has always imagined it happening, in his mind.

“It was a dream of mine [to open a restaurant],” said Saen, one of the partners who owns El Rinconcito. He previously worked in a restaurant in the Dominican Republic for five years before moving to the United States and pursing his goal of opening up his own restaurant. “It is a good experience.”

El Rinconcito opened its glass doors to the public around six weeks ago. Since then, the restaurant has been serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and delivering quality Latin food to the surrounding Bedford Park area.

Exposed brick walls, upbeat Latin music and a never-ending array of colorful dishes provide a lively, yet comfortable atmosphere to the small restaurant.
Although there are only about five tables in the one-room restaurant, the extensive menu appears as if it was prepared for a 200-seat eatery. Saen said that his favorite dishes are those with steak and lobster, but the most popular dishes are the grilled chicken with red beans and rice and plantains.

The chef, Rafael Pichardo, said that he can whip up anything from octopus mofongo to broiled oxtail to spaghetti carbonara. Even American favorites such as fried chicken and barbeque ribs find their way onto the endless menu.

Noteworthy mentions on the menu include the sweet fried plantains, which were crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle, along with the fruit batidos. These sweet-but-not-too-sweet creamy drinks will have customers slurping down to the very last drop.

All dishes have large portions and are reasonably, if not cheaply, priced. However, customers might have a problem ordering these dishes if they do not speak Spanish.

In the future, Saen hopes to obtain his alcohol license and expand his restaurant’s popularity across the Bronx.