There is no nail-biting stress for Liza Colón-Zayas in this restaurant. On a balmy June afternoon, she enters the homey, brightly colored space of Mofongos, a family-run North Hollywood Puerto Rican eatery, and instinctively begins moving her hips to the beat of Ángel Canales’ ” Sabor, los Rumberos Nuevos, ” which slaps the eardrums upon entering. In scheduling our meet-up, she had one request: shining a light on a small business akin to the one featured on “The Bear,” the hit FX series about the people working in the chaotic kitchen of a Chicago sandwich shop turned fine-dining restaurant.
It’s less than a week before the third season of the series drops — it’s now streaming on Hulu — and the Nuyorican actress, who plays no-nonsense cook Tina Marrero, has never been to this establishment yet quickly offers guidance on the dishes to the rookie in front of her. “You like pork?” she begins. “There’s also arroz con gandules, which is yellow rice, with the sofrito and pigeon peas.
Mofongo, as the name suggests, are fried plantains mashed together with crispy pork skin and they fill it in the pilon with whatever you want — shrimp, chicken or pork — and a sauce around it.” At just over 5 feet tall, Colón-Zayas seems smaller seated at this tabletop that’s glossed with a photo of Puerto Rican baseball icon Roberto Clemente. Unlike her character, she isn’t stingy or curt with her words and is more likely to insist you sample her order of mofon.