Instagram-famous chef opens Casita RD in Baldwin

Long Island claims not one but two Dominican food pioneers. And the latest one, Stephen Rodriguez, is making the rounds during a recent evening at his new spot, Casita RD, visiting every table in the small space. The Baldwin restaurant is decorated to the nines with a colorful photographic mural and deep couches where people drinking fruity cocktails snack on wooden platters of fried salami. 

The menu flirts with Japanese, Italian and Mexican flavors in the context of Rodriguez's Dominican upbringing. Rodriguez was born in Queens and grew up in a family of bodega owners. He started leaning into Instagram food mashup trends around 2017. In Brooklyn, he was credited with inventing Dominican pizza, a breadless pie featuring mashed plantain as a crust that's topped with fried salami and fried cheese.

Also known as Chef Papi on Instagram, where he has close to 85,000 followers, Rodriguez impressed Massiel Medina with his vodka sauce when he catered her daughter's 25th birthday party. The two partnered to open Casita RD in a space that was previously the kitchen of her family's supermarket, Ideal Food Basket. 

Dominican pizza ($19) is slicked with Rodriguez's signature vodka sauce and stacked with fried salami and fried cheese. It's a saucy extravaganza of a dish that works better than you might think. The mashed plantain base is just firm enough to hold the bevy of toppings, but retains its soft and pliable texture that creates a seamless bite. 

But there is also Dominican sushi, pioneered by another Long Island figure, Mitsuhisa Nishio, a Japanese-Dominican chef who's behind the sushi program at La Terraza in Lindenhurst. Casita RD has two sushi rolls on the menu, named after Dominican Republic locales. The Sajoma roll ($17) has skirt steak, bacon and two types of cheese stuffed inside a thick outer layer of sushi rice that's topped with sweet plantains and smothered in sauces. Sushi purists, look away. This is rich.

But Rodriguez also gets creative with seafood. The sleeper hit is grilled Spanish octopus ($25) with a sweet corn purée, chimichurri and eel sauce. The tentacle is perfectly cooked — but who knew that the buttery mollusk pairs so well with creamy corn? Shrimp mofongo ($24) is another banger, the twice-fried dome of green plantain mash topped with plump shrimp drenched in his untraditional alfredo sauce. Even something as basic as salmon ($30) arrives with an interesting coconutty Creole sauce. Again, beautifully cooked and flaky to the fork. 

Business has been so good that Rodriguez says they've already outgrown their space, which isn't large enough to host private parties. But there's something charming about this little casita. And maybe part of that charm is because it doesn't feel like forever, but right now.    

Casita RD, 866 Merrick Rd., Baldwin, 516-600-9079, casitard.com. Open 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. for steam table lunch, and 5 -10 p.m. dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. for steam table lunch, and 5 -11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; closed Monday.

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.