One of our best meals was at Yambo, a 24-hour Nicaraguan restaurant with a décor to compete with TGIF. English is not spoken here so we tried our best to just follow the natives. Similar to a fast-food counter in the mall, you can see most of the pre-cooked food upfront, behind a glass window, for easy point-and-ordering. I ordered a plate of tacos de pollo, a side of plantains, and said “Si” to any question they threw. The heavy plate came with a good dose of cabbage salad and sour cream, rice, beans, and three “tacos,” which turned out to be what I usually think of as big taquitos. Boy, was it tasty and much too much for me to finish! The sweet fried plantains were heavenly.
Drinks, we discovered, are purchased at another window. Don’t make the mistake that we did, thinking that the restaurant would carry aguas frescas – those are Mexican, not Nicaraguan, and the restaurant workers will be quite confused if you try to ask for those! Instead, try out one of the Nicaraguan fruit drinks.
Crowded, small tables are outside but covered. Colorful signs, murals, and plain ol’ what my Mom would call junk, decorate the walls and ceiling. Regardless, the restaurant is as close as you can get to Nicaragua without actually going. Locals hang out, get loud discussing their homeland’s politics, enjoy the familiar foods at good prices.
Bonus point: They’ve got an original Ms. Pacman video game there.