Santiago Café takes its name from Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican city founded in 1495, and the kitchen cooks largely the way households there do, which is to say guisados. Chicken, beef, ribs, goat and salt cod all arrive stewed over rice and beans, with sancocho and mondongo covering the longer-simmered end of the repertoire. The rest of the menu leans social. Parrillita platters are portioned for two, four or six; the fritura de la calle piles pig's feet, carnitas, salami and yuca in onion vinaigrette onto one plate; mofongo comes stacked under a crown of chicharrón.

Menus are printed in Spanish, French and English, and the room absorbs birthday parties and business lunches with equal patience. Weekday specials rotate through breakfast plates, mofongo, chimi and yaroa, and pasta, with drinks running two-for-one in the early evening.