Food Spot Review: Punta Cana Dominican Grill (Westbury)

Punta Cana is what Pollo Tropical wakes up in the middle of the night screaming about. Your rice doesn’t get scrapped from the bottom of the pan here. Employees are never scrambling to throw a couple of raw chickens on the grill as they see a flock of uniformed-workers roll up to the drive-thru window. It feels and tastes like someone kissed it after they finished preparing it. Of course, health-inspectors ruined that reality but you get the gist. Empanadas here feature perfectly-proportionate morsels of ingredients blended together and tucked into a wonderfully-crispy shell. Overbuy on these and I promise you will end up eating what you think of as excess anyway. Sauce offerings are simple. A traditional red hot sauce and your run-of-the-mill spicy mayo. Except instead of slathering that spicy mayo on the depressed California roll your aunt insisted she orders as an appetizer at your local sushi spot, the receiver of said spicy mayo is actually tasty. Pour some of that pink goodness onto your fried selections and heaven seems a bit closer. And dare I type my next statement? Fresh vegetables here are a must. WHAT?! I came here to read about food that will put me into cardiac arrest at 56, what are you, the Surgeon General!? Simmer down. Rice is abundant here. Mounds and mounds of it are given out like Halloween candy in wealthy areas. So get those vegetables. They provide much-needed balance to this meal. You can go back to all the things your doctor warned you about tomorrow. As I conclude I will refrain from using that dreaded A-word to describe this spot (it rhymes with “Hellenic”) and just say that Punta Cana makes real food for people who like…man I don’t know the review just ends here.