Every country has a late night sandwich, the one people crave after a party or a long day. In the Dominican Republic, that sandwich rolls up on a cart with a sizzling flat top, and it is called the chimi.
The anatomy of a chimi
A chimi, short for chimichurri burger, though it has nothing to do with the Argentine herb sauce, is the Dominican street burger. The build is specific and beloved:
- The patty: seasoned ground beef or pork, mixed with Dominican flavors like garlic, peppers and oregano, pressed thin and cooked on a hot griddle so the edges char.
- The bread: pan de agua, the Dominican water bread, crusty outside and soft inside, sturdy enough to hold everything together and light enough not to fight the filling.
- The vegetables: shredded cabbage and sliced tomato and onion, often warmed briefly on the griddle. The cabbage is not optional. The cabbage is the point.
- The sauce: salsa rosada, the pink mayo and ketchup blend that ties everything together and inevitably ends up on your hands. That is part of the experience.
The result is smoky, juicy, tangy and crunchy at once. It looks like a burger, but the first bite tells you that you are somewhere else entirely.
Street food with a schedule
Chimis belong to the night. In cities like Santo Domingo and Santiago, chimi carts light up in the evening and serve into the early morning, feeding everyone from families on a stroll to crowds leaving parties. The vendors, called chimicheros, each guard their own seasoning mix and sauce recipe, and every Dominican has a favorite cart they will defend with their life.
That street corner energy is a big part of why the chimi matters. It is not fancy food; it is food that brings people outside, gathers them around a griddle and sends them home happy.
Chimi flavors, Dominican table
We will be straight with you: the chimi lives on the streets of the Dominican Republic, and our kitchen in Jamestown focuses on the home style side of Dominican cooking. But the flavors that make a chimi great, garlic and oregano in the seasoning, crispy edges off a hot surface, that balance of rich and tangy, run through the whole cuisine.
You will find that same spirit in our picadera trays built for sharing, in the crackle of chicharron and longaniza, in a Cuban sandwich pressed until crisp, and in pork seasoned the Dominican way. Different format, same soul.
Come taste the source
La Cocina de Mama is a family owned Dominican restaurant at 1002 Gardner Hill Drive in Jamestown, NC, minutes from High Point and Greensboro. Everything is made to order, and if reading about street food put you in the mood to eat with your hands and stay a while, come by on a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday night for domino nights from 7 to 10 pm.
Browse our menu to see what the kitchen is doing with those Dominican flavors, or call 336-285-8242 to order takeout tonight.