Diminutive Dominican, Gargantuan Portions

blink and you'll miss this sliver of a restaurant. yet at lunchtime, stalwart latino men stand three deep behind the orange counter waiting for two harried women to serve dominican specialties like cow's foot soup and cuchifritos. standing outside i noticed a giant white board that seemed to price every dish at $2. "roasted fish for $2? incredible!" i thought.

once inside, it became clear that the first digit of each number had worn off long ago. a roasted fish was $12, well over my budget, but for $5.50* i got a heaping mound of acosta's pernil-pork shoulder roasted until the tender, juicy meat shreds at the mere prodding of your fork-white rice and red beans in a rich russet gravy. i shared this dish with my two children and ordered beef empanadas with crisp, blistery crusts ($1/ea) and a giant $2 side of "mangu"-mashed green plantains. an acosta patron told me the name came from a u.s. serviceman during the 1965 invasion of the d.r. he ate his plantains and said, "man this is good," hence, "mangu." to me it was, well, goo.

while the menu advertises "specials of the day," i noticed pernil is on offer every single day. man is it good (for real)! -- acosta deli and grocery 934 amsterdam ave. (at 106th street) 212-280-2130

*with this column, i up my price limit to $6 in order to include a wider variety of savory, filling snacks. -- got a snack attack to share? contact nbrand@aol.com