Borinquen Lounge - Chicago
A sibling to the Humboldt Park Puerto Rican restaurant where Juan C. "Peter" Figeroa created the newest in the pantheon of messy Chicago sandwiches, the jibarito (pronounced "HEE-bar-ee-toe), in 1996. Inspired by the Puerto Rican emparedado de platano, Figeroa created his "little hillbilly" steak sandwich using planks of hot, crisp, fried green plantain instead of bread and layering grilled steak, melted cheese, crisp lettuce, juicy tomato and garlicky mayonnaise inside. Today his original restaurant sells hundreds of them daily — with fillings including chicken, pork, ham and vegetables — but you can now also find this treat at dozens of Latin-American restaurants throughout the city.
