Tondero does wonderful things with chicken as well. The Peruvian-style tamales, light and almost sweet with the scent of corn, are studded with strips of shredded chicken of dried red chile, and topped with the ubiquitous onion salad. Another Peruvian specialty, aji de gallina, features shredded chicken in a velvety, chile-laced sauce. Peru's large Chinese population has also left a mark on the nation's cuisine. One of the most notable and perhaps unexpected items on Tondero's menu is fried rice. It is as good as, perhaps better than, any I've had elsewhere.

If Tondero is the place to share a large plate, Miss Saigon is the place to have one all to yourself. The restaurant boasts an extensive list of Vietnamese fare, the star of which is pho, the traditional soup of beef, beef broth, rice noodles, and fresh herbs. Served in a bowl the size of a small hubcap, orders of pho start at around $6. From there, you can add different cuts of beef, including flank and brisket, or other meaty bits such as tripe, tendon or Vietnamese-style meatballs. Skeptics may scoff at the idea of a $6 bowl of soup, but Miss Saigon's pho is as filling anything else you'll find on the menu.

The ritual that accompanies eating pho is satiating in itself. When you begin, your bowl contains only noodles, broth and whatever cuts of meat you requested. While some cuts are previously cooked, others are left to finish cooking in the highly aromatic and disfiguringly hot broth that is the true star of the dish. The pho broth, which has clear beef flavor with overtones of star anise, acts as a blank canvas for whatever the diner chooses to add to their bowl. Accompanying every bowl of pho is a platter of Thai basil, lime wedges and slivered chiles. Along with the fresh components, there are also several sauces such as hoi sin sauce and sri racha-style chile sauce. You adjust the soup to your liking, and, as the meal goes on, the broth gains complexity; the subtle tones of beef and anise become punctuated with the fresh, immediate flavors of herbs, lime and red chile sauce.

Although pho is the standout value on Miss Saigon's menu, there are a host of other reasonably priced entrées including stir fries, sandwiches, and rice vermicelli dishes. Most meals are priced well under $10 and portions are more than substantial.

As with Tondero, cross-cultural influences are also apparent in Miss Saigon's food. French influences show up on the menu in the form of banh mi, toasted baguettes piled with grilled pork and cucumber slaw, or shrimp mousse wrapped around sugar cane skewers and grilled.

Vegetarian diners should be aware that many dishes contain fish sauce, a flavoring that figures heavily in Vietnamese cuisine. Even if a dish appears to be vegetarian, it's always best to ask. The kitchen has accommodated my vegetarian dining companions in the past.

A straightforward Colombian/Cuban diner, Mi Tierra has a menu that caters to both the adventurous and the timid. For the latter there are the ubiquitous rice and beans, fried plantains, fried pork chops and roasted chicken. However, the traditional fare also includes items such as morcilla-Colombian blood sausage, shiny and dark, plump with pork, rice, and spices.

I had overlooked the morcilla on my first few visits to Mi Tierra. Only on my third or fourth meal did I notice the man at the table beside me with a plate of the unmistakable garnet-colored sausage.

"Is that blood sausage?" I asked.

"Uh huh," he replied, still eating away, hardly even looking up from his plate.

"Is it pretty good here?"

"Uh huh," again, nodding to his dinner.

I had already turned back to my own table when he qualified his last answer with, "If you, uh, like that kind of thing, yeah, it's good."

I've been ordering it ever since.

Another item for the "if-you-like-that-kind-of-thing" category is Mi Tierra's tripe soup, or mondongo-a milder Caribbean cousin of Mexico's menudo. Tripe is a fickle thing to prepare, and Mi Tierra does well in making it tender and satisfying.

Equally satisfying: More than 20 of Mi Tierra's dinners or dinner-sized soup specials are under $10. The $5 daily specials, such as boliche or arroz con pollo, are not to be missed, either. Most meals also come with a variety of sides, such as rice, beans, plantains, arepas (corn cakes) or salad.