I was in NYC. Almost didn’t make it cause there was a cluster of muck just as I was heading out the door. Tree on the roof, work chaos, power out, small boys and pizza everywhere! Breath in, breath out, pack your bag, make your phone calls, lock the door, hit the road.
Wasn’t really enjoying the spectacle of the lodged tree, folks wandering by snapping pix and gawking. So good to step over the roof shingles and *poof* be gone. Walked away with the sound of the generator humming behind me. Out here beyond rural electrification, off the grid and all.
It’s a true friend who will venture to Queens for a chivito. A Chi-What-O?!? Janie Barnett whispered, “Beware the rogue rhinoceros,” and pressed through the steel-barred turngate to the subway. Our destination…Mi Tio, Steakhouse.
We didn’t really like the sandwich. Can’t even say for sure that it was good. As a babystep toward a chivito, yes, good, but nothing to mount on the library wall. I had heard of amazing chivitos in its country of origin and wanted to make initial contact. We got a hint, a clue, a vapor of authenticity. Uruguay sieved through a New York kitchen.
Red = Hot. Green = Chimichurri. To the best of my knowledge.
I was happy to have a vehicle for garlic, oil and parsley. It sure was pretty. Steak AND ham AND cheese AND egg. If it could be fried, it was. And they stamped my passport too. Can’t say with certainty that the bread coulda and woulda been better in Uruguay, but a girl can dream.
Clearly, we didn’t not like the sandwich. It had potential. Anything with an egg in, on or over it has potential. An egg is the crown of glory.
Saturday night, same weekend, at the first church of rock n roll I gave thanks for life and limb, genuflected to the force of mother nature and the omnipresence of sandwiches, then kissed the hem of safe return.
(While writing this a storm blew over. Did not see hail the size of pennies, as predicted, but the generator coughed, choked and stoked. That 63 db box is my new bff. Time to circulate, resetting clocks. An LED walkabout, watching the periphery for rogue beasts.)
The Lunch Encounter 
Well, for the record for any of you who care, it was a very tidy restaurant and clearly a favorite for some local (larger) groups, who ordered huge metal servers of various kinds of meat.
My skirt steak was actually very enjoyable. And the company was divine. JB
I agree. It was a lovely occasion and a very nice restaurant. Ditto on the divinity.
Well, wouldn’t you know I googled “chivito long island” and through a couple of combined posts your website popped up. I’m looking through and thinking “I know this woman…that’s Lisa!” So I called my aunt Jano and told her your site popped up in a search for the sandwich I was dying to try, only to learn that she was with you on the hunt! So glad I found this site– it’s great!
Hi Kate! What a nice message from you. Let me know what you find out about a chivito. Always looking for sandwich sleuthers. L