At the 1-month-old La Parvita Bakery & Restaurant in Hicksville, a shiny new bakery counter displays a world of sweet treats next to a wood-fired brick oven hosting multiple rotisseries, flames jumping and spits a-spinning with plump chickens. Pale brick walls up to a high ceiling and gleaming chrome tables and chairs offer a casual yet comfortable setting.
Word is already out and the room is bustling all day, with mothers sipping hot coffee and their babies munching on cakes. Those chickens are juicy ($8/whole; $4.50/half) and that marinade that seems to work as well for Peruvian poultry is finger-licking good. A Colombian Hotdog ($4.50) on the menu with the long identifier Perro Caliente Estilo Colombiano, sits in a roll slathered with “pink sauce,” dressed with pineapple bits and filled in with crushed potato chips. The grilled frank, being on the small side, almost takes a back seat to all that jazz on top. It’ll stop you in your tracks, the combo of sweet and salty, changing your assessment with each bite. The Colombian Style Hamburger gets dressed up the same way if you like.
Stewed Pork Loin ($12) sounds a lot better than it is. Sliced into thin strips and covered with peppers and onions, it’s tough going. Much better, for the same outlay is Carne Asada ($12), well-marinated, pounded thin but succulent, replete with perfect sweet plantains and the requisite rice and beans.
At breakfast, as I munch on a Ham And Cheese Roll ($1.75) picked out from the counter and sip Colombian coffee with steamed milk, I wonder if we North Americans are the only barbarians still putting ice cold milk in our java. Order eggs any style ($5.60) and according to how well your waitress understands English, (mine understood little to none) any style could be the scramble I received with onions, tomatoes and cheese—even though I asked for over easy. It comes with rice and beans and an arepa, which is to say a tasteless corn cake. Much better and worth a trip is the Sweet Corn Arepa ($1.50), a larger patty made with whole corn, addictively sweet. Add melted cheese on top and go crazy. Finish with a slice of custard-y delicate Flan ($2.50). I could have had a sweet fruit smoothie, but I wash it all down with a very sweet, pink-colored apple-flavored Postobon soda.
La Parvita
Bakery & Restaurant
251 W. Old Country Rd., Hicksville
516-433-1681
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