Enlarge Dallas Rodriguez shares a dish at El Rincon Latino.

Posted: October 4th, 2010 Greg Lacour

PHOTOS BY JAMES WILLAMOR

The Crossroads Correspondents will be previewing restaurants for the Oct. 7 Taste of the World. For more info and to make a reservation, click here.

El Rincon Latino (“The Latin Corner”), it turns out, is a description as well as a name. It’s on a corner, occupying a wedge-shaped section of a building that also houses a tax office and convenience store, next to a Firestone and across the street from a warren of government offices.

“Yeah, it’s a triangle,” said Dallas Rodriguez, the garrulous 49-year-old owner, who started up in June. “I’d been after this spot for eight months … because I know it’s going to be a good corner once (the economy) gets going again.”

It’s a cozy space, with a karaoke machine for Friday nights, a disco ball for Saturday dance nights and a grill behind the bar where Rodriguez – a former police officer and contractor from Havana by way of California and Florida – prepares all the meals.

The food is, if you will, pan-Latin.

“If you’re Mexican, I’ll serve you Mexican. If you’re Colombian, I’ll serve you Colombian. Cuban, Puerto Rican. ‘Latin’ covers everybody,” she said. “People don’t know the taste of Latin food until they come here. Then I’ve got them for life! Everything is done to order, fresh. I don’t own a microwave. I don’t believe in them.”

The menu, appropriately decorated with the flags of assorted Latin American nations, features what you’d expect – gorditas, tacos and enchiladas – alongside what you might not: Bistec de Palomilla, Cuban-style steak with white rice, black beans, plantains and salad, and Costillos de Puerco, pork chops prepared on the grill with the same sides.

Rodriguez also has extensive lunch specials and a list of eight Tortas Cubanas, Cuban sandwiches, each named after a Cuban actor or musician; you can get an El Andy Garcia, a steak sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and shoestring fries, or the more traditional Cuban sandwich with ham, pork, swiss cheese and pickles, El Willie Chirino.

The road to the Latin corner went up a hill, with switchbacks. Rodriguez’s family left Havana when she was 4, a few years after la Revolución. After a childhood in New Jersey and school at UCLA, she became a cop in Los Angeles but was severely beaten on the job. She left law enforcement and went to culinary school, then moved to Florida and started a contracting business. She moved to Charlotte hoping to take advantage of the construction boom. Then the boom died.

“So,” she said, “I went back to my roots.” 

El Rincon Latino
5933 Albemarle Road
(704) 369-3909

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