Jibarito
The jibarito is a sandwich originating from Chicago’s Puerto Rican community. It is made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread, aioli, and a filling consisting of meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sometimes onion and crushed garlic. The original jibarito had a steak filling, and that remains the predominant variety, but other ingredients, such as chicken and pork, are also common.
History
Chicago restaurateur Juan "Peter" Figueroa introduced the jibarito at Borinquen Restaurant, a Puerto Rican restaurant in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, in 1996. The twice-fried plantain chip used as the base of the sandwich is inspired by Venezuelan patacones, also known in Puerto Rico as tostones. The name is a diminutive of jíbaro and means "little yokel".The sandwich's popularity soon spread to other Latin American restaurants around Chicago, including Mexican, Cuban and Argentinian establishments, and jibaritos now can be found in some mainstream restaurants as well.