For Latin lovers

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

There's nothing glitzy about the simple, plant-filled storefront that looks out onto the main plaza of the Villa Victoria. And there's nothing chic or fancy about the Latin American dishes Don Ricardo's serves. It's just good (sometimes very good) homey food. Yet among the upscale restaurants that have crowded the streets of the South End in recent years, the little spot stands out.

Don Ricardo's opened on West Dedham Street 21 years ago, owner Ricardo Villon explains in Spanish, and while he changes the menu periodically, he concentrates on Peruvian, Brazilian, and Mexican cuisine. The courtly Villon is a native of Peru.

Nuggets of yucca fried to a light gold crispness outside and soft and mild inside ($3.95) are served with a zingy, garlicky carrot sauce that could make almost anything that gets dipped into it taste good. It definitely helps the flavor of fried green plantains or tostones ($3.75), which are a little dry and bland.

Maduros, or fried ripe plantains, ($3.75) have a sweet, fruity flavor and the slight crisp film of caramelization caused by frying contrasts nicely with the softness of the cooked plantain strips.

Pollo guisado ($9.25) is a dish of chicken legs and thighs stewed with onion, tomatoes, and spices, served with white rice and red beans. The tender dark meat and soft, earthy beans make for a deeply satisfying meal.

Tallarin in green sauce ($9.95) is a Peruvian dish that's new to Don Ricardo's. "We like to have interesting things on the menu," Villon says, and the tallarin certainly is. It consists of pasta in a pesto-like sauce of basil, spinach, garlic, and Parmesan, which acts as a bed for a lightly breaded, fried chicken cutlet. The pasta is flecked a vibrant emerald green, which makes it stand out among the earth tones of most of Don Ricardo's food, and the sauce, lighter and livelier than a basil pesto, works surprisingly well with the chicken.

There are several dessert options, but bypass everything else and go directly to the flan ($3.50). The caramel custard is house-made in ramekins, and the soft, creamy, eggy custard is just firm enough to hold its round shape. Covered with caramelized sugar and a bit of shredded coconut, it's the best example of flan I've found in Boston in years.

When I was a child in Colombia, we added the word Don to someone's first name to show respect and affection. Don Ricardo deserves both from the neighborhood he has been a part of for so many years, serving such good food.