Allan Appel photo
Maria Espinal with malanga in the right hand, mangu in the left
Humberto and Maria Espinal tried out serving home fries at their home-style, Dominican cuisine-inspired new restaurant on Orange Street in East Rock.
But they quickly learned that customers wanted “the real stuff”: malanga, which is pureed root vegetable different if similar to taro root and having a kind of deep nutty taste; and mangu, a puree of green plantains.
“We gave it a two-week chance,” Maria said about the staple American-style home fries. But malanga and mangu, to customers’ delight, have won out.
The Espinals own and run Sabor Sajoma at 486 Orange St.
When they launched their restaurant in August, they wanted to continue the predecessor eatery’s (Oriental Pantry) thoughtful setting aside of serious shelf space for college student essentials — like that well-known combo: peanut butter, Advil, and hot sauce.
They also wanted to introduce some typical flavors and dishes from their homeland, the Dominican Republic.
After just a couple of months of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at Sabor Sajoma, the verdict is in: Home fries are out, malanga and mangu are here to stay.
Now these simple but filling and hearty mashed up vegetables are the major side dishes at Sabor Sajoma accompanying beef and roasted pork entrees (the latter called pernil), and also the increasingly popular breakfast centerpiece, los tres golpes, which is a plate of salami, cheese, and fried egg.
SOM student Servando Cervantes, a happy customer.
After a busy lunch hour on Wedensday, Maria told this reporter that they add a little butter to the malanga, and for vegan customers they also offer to substitute olive oil for the butter.
To the taste buds of this reporter, a little salt had also been added, but no sugar. The earthy sweetness that the ole buds detected was entirely natural.
“It goes with almost anything,” said Maria.
She’s serves their malanga to customers along with the various meats, of course, but also as a companion side to curried vegetables and even, she said with a touch of amazement, to a plate of beans. As if to say it’s up to the beans and the malanga to fight it out among themselves as to which is the side and which is the main show; or perhaps it’s that two great Dominican sides an entrée make.
“Most people think that fried beans” is the most popular side in the cuisine, but, no, she added. “They [customers] want malanga or mangu.”
All the versatility and increasing popularity means that the Espinals every week buy a 50-pound bag of the tuber, and then go through the very labor-intensive job of peeling, boiling, and mashing to create the malanga that sits, among other offerings, on the restaurant’s inviting steam table.
That’s why Servando Cervantes made a bee-line for it when he entered Sabor Sajoma on Wednesday. He’s a student at the nearby Yale School of Management (SOM), and he was looking for lunch.
He chose to make a plate of the rice with pork, beef with vegetables, and a side of the mangu.
Cervantes said that he comes frequently to Sabor Sajoma, in part because of the convenience. It’s close to the school, just a couple of blocks up the hill on Whitney Avenue, and yet there are other reasons that run deeper.
As a native of Mexico, Cervantes said he also enjoys speaking Spanish with Maria, the food feels traditional and reminds him of the flavors and spices of home. Actually, he asked for a little extra container of spice to go along with the lunch, and Maria smilingly provided.
And, he added, the price is right.
The connection of the restaurant to SOM runs deep. That’s where Humberto Espinal has worked as a chef for the last eight years. Click here for a story in the Register on how during his walk to work Espinal frequently passed by the Oriental Pantry over many years. When he saw a “for sale” sign in the window last summer, then, well, the rest appears to be part of New Haven’s ongoing many-cultured restaurant history, with Sabor Sajoma as a new and successful chapter.
Maria reported that her husband continues on with his chef’s work at SOM to support the new family enterprise, and, of course, also just in case.
While most of the business continues to be point-of-sale local foot-traffic customers, and the customers by and large Yale-connected students and staff, future plans include Sabor Sajoma’s signing up with a range of food-delivery services, Maria reported.
New dishes are also going to be added to the menu, but it’s a fair bet that there will always be malanga and mangu.
“We’re happy and the customers are happy and we’re pleased to be bringing something new to town,” she added.
Great food, and lots of it! Also the grocery section is really fun -- lots of good stuff that you wouldn't necessarily see elsewhere (like all the weird Chinese Oreo flavors!)