BEACH BITES: Punta Cana Dominican Grill
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — When you think of the wide variety of foreign foods up and down the Grand Strand, how often does Dominican come to mind?
While we’d all rather be in the Dominican eating it firsthand, there is a spot in Myrtle Beach serving up some authentic dishes.
“Dominican food is a large, a large combination of ingredients,” said Fausto Donastorg, operation manager at Punta Cana Dominican Grill. “A large combination of ingredients may be the same throughout all the Caribbean. That’s why a lot of people from the Caribbean, when they see us, they say, ‘oh, we can go there.'”
It takes a crew from several different countries to serve the restaurant’s authentic Caribbean cuisine. And it works at Punta Cana because Dominican food pulls from several different countries.
“But we got the stewed chicken and stewed beef that in Puerto Rico and Cuban people, Venezuela, Colombia, people from the Caribbean know it. Maybe they call it a different name but it’s the same,” Donastorg said. “We also got something called sancocho. Sancocho’s a soup. But it’s a very special soup because we got, at the same time, we got chicken, beef, and pork together. We take a lot of very good, we’re looking for food like mofongo. Mofongo is originally from Puerto Rico. But we take from there, too.”
Donastorg came to Myrtle Beach three years ago. And like the food he serves, comfort with some spice, this is more his style.
“The very first time I come to the United States I come to New York,” he said. “Usually, all Dominican people go there. But a lot of loud people, a lot of traffic. It was not what I wanted to seek out about [the] United States. I see here and say, ‘Oh man, this is what I’m looking for.'”
Being the only Dominican restaurant in town is one thing, but according to Donastorg, “this is the only one for maybe 100 miles.”
Having the market cornered helps, but it still takes more than that in this town.
“At the end, all that stuff, if you don’t love it, you can not do it,” Donastorg said. “For example, my people in the back, the people you usually don’t see, they love to cook. They are people that love to do what they do. And that’s a very good reason why we are doing good.”
They are doing good, and after having a meal at Punta Cana, you’ll feel good, too. Punta Cana Dominican Grill has a wide variety of menu items, and if you want to check it out, they’re off Robert Grissom in Myrtle Beach.