Dominican dining on Clifford Ave

The recently-opened MamaJuana is going to need a larger
parking lot. From the outside, it looks like a small, unassuming mom-and-pop café
across Clifford Avenue from Savoia Pastry Shoppe. Upon entering, I pleasantly
realized how wrong I was. The first thing I saw was a mural of Dominican musicians
Joseito Mateo and Juan Luis Guerra. Directly to the right is a brightly lit
L-shaped bar, primed and ready to be stocked (when the liquor license comes
through). Elvis Crespo’s “Suavamente” thumped throughout the restaurant. I
wasn’t sure if I wanted to dance or eat, or both.

MamaJuana
owner Marcos Lopez showed me around the place, which is three times the size it
appears from the street. The dining area has plenty of seating for both large
and small parties, and to the back is a small stage for a DJ or live band. The
large center area is perfect for dancing. MamaJuana is primed to be a favorite
weekly merengue spot. The entire area has a modern-yet-cozy feel, with its deep
red and dark brown hues pulsing throughout, accented by bright tin panels on
one wall and muted fluorescent lighting on another. It looks as much like an
upscale lounge in Flushing as it does a family restaurant. Again, I am
conflicted as to whether to dance or dine.

But Lopez
says his main focus at this point is for people to eat. MamaJuana is meant to
bring Latin Fusion to Rochester. There are plenty of restaurants in the area
that focus on one style of Latinx cuisine, and they are delicious. MamaJuana’s
goal, Lopez says, is to merge the traditional with the
contemporary and make a new culinary palate for the city to enjoy.

This is proven
by the fact that you can order not only the signature MAMAfungo (plátanos smashed with choice of
chicken, pork, or seafood, $10.99 to $14.99), you can also try their take on
sushi rolls. The Flower City Roll ($14.99) is good for a healthy appetite. Like
a Rochester plate in sushi form, it’s a rice roll with salami, fried potato,
bucatini pasta, ground rib eye, and smoked Gouda, topped with Rochester meat
sauce, diced onions, ketchup and mustard. The MamaJuanaRoc Roll ($13.99) is a
white rice and sweet plátano
roll with tempura chicken, avocado, and cream cheese, and it is topped with
onions, tomato lime aioli, and cilantro.

As
delectable as those choices were, I opted for the Olla de Camarones al Ajillo
(the Garlic Shrimp Bowl, $15.99) and a side of Plátanos Maduros (sweet plantains $4.99). The plátanos were fried precisely the
way I like them: the crisp of the outside was nearly paper thin, yielding to
the warm, soft, and sweet center that melted on my tongue. The shrimp were juicy
and larger than I expected, and the garlic oil they were cooked in was not
overbearing. It took all my willpower to not take the remaining oil in the bowl
to the head, but I settled for using it as a dip for my remaining plátanos.

Lopez opened
MamaJuana in mid-December after nearly a year of planning and construction. His
background is in concert production, first producing small shows at venues, and
eventually he put on large functions with both live acts and DJs. This explains
my constant urge to dance.

Lopez says
his family came together to help him in all aspects: his younger brother is the
head chef who designed the menu, his older brother is an architect who designed
the interior, and many family members helped with construction. Lopez says he’d
like to expand throughout the city in the next few years. If he puts as much
effort into the next venue as he did into MamaJuana, Rochester will be blessed.

This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2019.