Jibaritos are a Puerto Rican-inspired staple in Chicago

• The influence of Puerto Rican cuisine and culture in Chicago led to the creation of the jibarito, a delicious fried-plantain sandwich.
• It was reportedly created in Chicago by Juan Figueroa at the restaurant Borinquen in 1996.
• The jibarito has become a staple at Puerto Rican restaurants across the city, but Jibaritos y Más has gained a reputation for having one of the best jibaritos in Chicago.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Medha Imam: Fresh plantains fried, smashed, and fried again to crispy perfection topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and thinly sliced marinated steak that melts in your mouth, finished with American cheese and a heaping spoonful of garlic. It's the way this tender steak and fresh ingredients are sandwiched between crunchy plantains that makes the jibarito a legend in Chicago.

Medha: The jibarito is a Puerto Rican-inspired sandwich, but it was created here in Chicago, which is home to one of the largest populations of Puerto Ricans in the mainland US. Throughout the city, you'll find plenty of restaurants serving jibaritos, but the local favorite is Jibaritos y Más.

Yelitza Rivera: In one regular day, we can prepare around 200, 250 jibaritos. In one weekend, maybe 350 or more jibaritos in a single day. The important thing is that no one leaves with an empty stomach.

Customer: It's delicious. It's crunchy, it has a lot of flavor. I love it.

Customer: You can find Puerto Rican restaurants up and down Fullerton, but my favorite is Jibaritos y Más.

Medha: This is one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life.

Yelitza: It's a sandwich, but it's not like a traditional sandwich because every sandwich is made with bread. The jibarito is something uncommon that's made with plantain, and the texture is very different. You feel an explosion of different flavors in your mouth; it's an explosion of Puerto Rican flavors.

Medha: Jibaritos y Más offers several versions of its jibarito, like pork or shrimp. But the most popular version is the steak jibarito.

Yelitza: You can make a jibarito with anything you can think of, anything you can think of, and whatever you fill it with, it's going to be delicious.

Medha: To start off, the meat is stewed for 30 minutes in a mixture of garlic, onion, adobo, and seasoning.

Yelitza: Most Puerto Rican dishes are cooked with adobo, the spices, sautéing them in a sofrito.

Medha: In a way, is it a secret?

Yelitza: Something like that. It's a secret, exactly, it's a secret.

The steak is very thin and very soft, and it doesn't need that much cooking. After you cook it, you want to chew this meat and have it dissolve in your mouth.

Medha: What flavor does it give to the meat?

Yelitza: What flavor does it give? It comes out very tender, very juicy, and it gives it a flavor of, perhaps it's a little sour because of the vinegar, a little salty because of the marinade. There's a combination of flavors.

Medha: Next comes the plantains.

Yelitza: The jibarito is usually made with green plantains, which are easier to handle. You put it in hot water for a while so that it's not so hard to peel it. After this, we cut it. This is to make it thinner and make the texture very crispy.

Medha: The plantains are fried for seven minutes, pressed into a flat sheet, then fried again in order to achieve that crispy texture.

Yelitza: It comes out like this. For the plantains, to cook the plantains, you only need the oil that you'll use when frying it. That's all you need.

Medha: After frying the plantains, it's time to assemble the jibarito.

Yelitza: We add mayonnaise. Some lettuce. Tomato. And then we add the main thing.

Medha: The next layer is your meat of choice and American cheese. Finally, the jibarito is topped with a large spoonful of garlic.

Yelitza: It's because garlic is the distinguishing flavor. It's the flavor that can stand out among all other ingredients. Garlic is the highlighted flavor.

Medha: Many people think that the jibarito is like the Venezuelan patacón.

Yelitza: Yes, it's the same thing. It's the same patacón of the Venezuelans.

Medha: Is it the same, or is there a difference?

Yelitza: The difference is that the patacón is filled with many more ingredients.

Medha: Which one is your favorite, the patacón or the jibarito?

Yelitza: The jibarito. The steak jibarito is definitely my favorite. When you join both cultures, we realize that the cuisine is very similar, the dishes are similar.

Customer: I go for the steak, always. I mean, like I said, I've tried the pork. I love it. But for me it's the steak.

Customer: It's got great taste. You can smell it down the block.

Producer: And is this your favorite spot for a jibarito?

Customer: Yeah, 'cause it's right down the street from my house. [all laugh]

Medha: Jibaritos y Más makes all types of jibaritos. The one that I have today is the shrimp jibarito. The first thing I immediately smell is the garlic. Here I go. It's gonna get messy. [crunching] This is fantastic. That's magnificent. So good. Twice-frying the plantain really does make this crunchy and crispy, exactly what you would want. And also, also, the garlic that really hits you with all that flavor. Ugh. For me, I love that there's a variation in different textures. There's the crunch of the plantain, there's the soft, supple shrimp in between, and then you have the crunch of the lettuce, the cheese that's melting just right.

Yelitza's passion for the jibarito started 20 years ago when she first arrived in the US and started working in local Puerto Rican restaurants.

Yelitza: I'm Venezuelan. I was born in Venezuela, but my heart is split in two; my heart is half Venezuelan and half Puerto Rican. Ever since I got to this country, my first job was working at a Puerto Rican cuisine restaurant, and I loved the whole process and the dishes.

During my commute, I would pass this place, this corner, the restaurant at the corner here. In my thoughts, I would say, "One day, that corner will be mine." I got the chance to do it, so I made the decision, and here we are: Jibaritos y Más.

A lot of our customers have been in the United States for 20, 30 years, and they've never been able to return to Puerto Rico. We try to provide them with a tiny bit of what's in their island. We try to bring it here so that they feel cozier with their food, with their Puerto Rican culture. That's what we try to do.

Yelitza: I have an anecdote. I arrived here, and I started working as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant. After three or four days, the cook quit and left, and he left me alone. I didn't know anything.

Then, they called somebody. The restaurant owners called somebody who knew how to make the rice, and I learned the recipe by phone, and I never forgot it. I never, ever forgot it.

Medha: Was that the jibarito?

Yelitza: The jibarito with the rice.

Medha: Oh, wow.