Quisqueya Latin Cuisine

Quisqueya Latin Cuisine (also called Quisqueya La Bella) specializes in Puerto Rican and Dominican dishes like sopa, mondongo (tripe soup), empanadillas, tostones, fried pork with plantains, camarones con mofongo, and stewed beef with rice and beans. It was located in the Clark-Fulton area for seven years, but moved to Denison Avenue a few years ago. It is one side street (east) down from W. 25th/Pearl Road (if you pass W. 23rd you just missed it). Ample parking is available. This is the side view from the parking lot. You can access it from the side road just to the right of the building or from Denison. I have heard a lot of Cleveland Indians – I mean Guardians – eat here because the food reminds them of their homeland. Owner Dulce Hunt is just the sweetest person and has greeted my groups twice now.

The first time I ate at Quisqueya I was part of a Culture.CLE Dinner Series dining event. Culture.CLE is a monthly dinner series that helps Clevelanders experience cultures and cuisines from around the world. Every month they visit a new country through a fun ethnic dinner series centered around highlighting local immigrant and refugee-owned culinary businesses. They met on a Wednesday, when the restaurant is normally closed. I decided to attend on my own without knowing anyone and sat with a friendly group of friends. We were introduced to the Dominian cuisine during this event.

During this event, we had our choice of 1 protein – stewed beef, stewed chicken or a fried pork chop with either a side of white rice + pinto beans or yellow rice + pigeon peas. I chose the stewed chicken with the yellow rice and pigeon peas. I had never heard of pigeon peas and was intrigued. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world. In English they are commonly referred to as pigeon pea which originates from the historical utilization of the pulse as pigeon fodder (f00d) in Barbados. Fresh pigeon peas offer a nutty taste and crisp texture, similar to edamame. The young pods will be bright green, maturing to a dark brown-purplish color, with brown splotching or striations. Everyone was pleased with how flavorful everything was.

We were given tastings of two national drinks: Morir Soñando and Parcha/Chinola, a cooking demonstration of an empanadilla (and samples), and enjoyed a conversation and Q & A with the owner and chef. I liked the Morir Soñando so much I ordered one from the bar. It is a cold drink that is usually made of orange juice, milk, cane sugar, and chopped ice. It was very refreshing. Parcha is passion fruit juice and was equally refreshing and tasty.

I later organized a dinner with my dining out group on a a Monday night. We had a group of 9 and were the only ones there. I had called ahead to warn them, so there was plenty of staff to fawn over us. Dulce also came out to greet us. My friends ordered various dishes such as Bistec Encebollado (steak and onions), Camarones al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce), Camarones en Salsa (shrimp in a tomato sauce) and Guisado de Pollo (stewed chicken). Several of my friends are huge fans of goat, so they tried the Cabro Guisado (stewed goat) and loved it. I ordered the stewed beef and mangu and really enjoyed it. One of my friends declared it “winner dinner” but liked the goat even more.

Each entree came with one side and a little lettuce and tomato. You can choose from Arroz Blanco y Habichuelas (white rice and pinto beans), Tostones (fried plantains), Maduros (sweet plantains), the previously mentioned Moro/Arroz de Gandulez, Mangu (boiled plantains that are then mashed with butter, margarine or oil in the water in which they were boiled, then finally topped with sautéed red onions that have been cooked with vinegar), Mofongo (fried green plantains that are mashed with garlic and mixed with pork cracklings, then shaped into a ball and served in a ball), or French fries.

One of my friends at the other end of the table ordered several different Empanadilla and raved about them (unfortunately I couldn’t take photos from where I was sitting). She is a huge empanada fan and quite a picky eater.

We also ordered the flan for dessert. One of my friends declared it was the best flan he had ever had. The menu depicts a circular flan, but we were served a proper slice as if it were a flan pie.

Contact info:

Quisqueya Latin Cuisine
2317 Denison Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44109
(216) 651-3410