El Economico Spanish American Restaurant

The traditionally Irish and Spanish Kingsbridge neighborhood has, in recent decades, been infused with Hispanic verve. One of the quintessential examples of the latter is El Economico, a Caribbean diner with a long counter flanked by red-leather-topped chrome stools, a faux-brick floor, off-white walls hung with large mirrors, and an enormous, backlit, red-lettered yellow menu board overhead. That final component lists (in Spanish and English) many home-cooked favorites from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico: slow-simmered savory stews, simply roasted meats, and seafood in assertive sauces. Of particular, golden-fried chunks of chicken—and the pulpo al ajillo with its sucker-less cylinders of octopus tentacles swimming in an intoxicating sea of olive oil, minced garlic, and parsley.