FOOD NEWS
The Jibarito Sandwich Oddly Has Origins In Chicago
BY CLAIRE REDDEN
No trip to Chicago is complete without enjoying a Jibarito, a juicy, flavorful sandwich. It's a creation completely indebted to the city's rich Puerto Rican community.
The sandwich features thinly cut steak with garlic oil, grilled onions, and white cheese, sandwiched between two fried and pressed green plantains.
It was created thanks to Juan C. "Pete" Figueroa, owner of the restaurant Borinquen in Humboldt Park, Chicago, home to the second largest Puerto Rican population in the U.S.
Figueroa read about a plantain sandwich served at Platano Loco, a storage shed turned restaurant in the Puerto Rican town of Aguada, in a Puerto Rican newspaper.
Termed the "sandwich de platano," Figueroa took the idea as inspiration, perfected it, and named it before putting it on his menu in 1996.