My Kitchen My Country - An Ecuadorian restaurant on 43rd Ave. and Bell.
For my birthday dinner, my family and I went to this small restaurant that I have been to a few times before. There are only about 5 tables, and I have only ever seen working there the one waiter who is also maybe the owner. There are other people in the kitchen, but I have never seen them. The food is really cheap, less than $10 for most plates, with healthy portions.
Everything I have eaten there has been delicious. Most of the meats are semi-sweet and seem to have been slowly braised until they are tender and full of flavor. They serve complimentary chips and salsa before the meal, and the salsa is hottest thing I have eaten there. That is not to say that it is super hot; it is only warm with lots of flavor.
Here are a few of the dished we ordered:
This is my plate: ceviche de pescado. Fish cold cooked in lemon and lime juice with spices. It was a massive plate with onions, cilantro, and lettuce. Instead of a main dish, I would next time get this as an appetizer between a few people.
Our actual appetizer: tamales combination plate. 3 different tamales, all yummy. The lightest colored one on the top had cheese, egg, and a large pepper in it. The middle was the official ecuadorian tamale with tomato, peppers and pork wrapped in a banana leaf. The reddish one on the bottom tasted more like a traditional mexican tamale. NOM!
My moms plate: Mi bandera, my flag. This one has a little bit of everything on it and is one of my favorites. Fried plantanes, roasted pork, a potato pancake with a cheese and peanut sauce, hominy, pickled onions, avocado, fried empanada with a creamy filling, and a spicy pico de gallo made from aji chillies which is the same source of heat as the salsa
My Dad's: Sobrebarriga Bogotana. A big ole plate of slow cooked beef brisket with carrots and onions with a side of potatoes and cream sauce. This is half way through eating. It is super tender and rich as hell. The potato side is mild and gives a good palate cleansing between bites of the beef.My sister ordered the pollo de seco, a chicken stew, that we didn't get a picture of. It comes out in a large bowl with an island of yellow rice sitting in the middle of a flavorful stew with pieces of slow cooked chicken. I've had this before and when I ate it I first eroded the island away with my spoon. The rice then soaked up most of the liquid of the stew and it was like eating a delicious paella.
Another thing we didn't get a picture of was my drink. I ordered the chicha morada. A unfermented, and so non-alcoholic, black corn juice tea thing with some spices. It tastes like sweat pineapple-grape juice with some mild spices. Spices that might be found in an eggnog. This recipe here might be accurate.
I have also found, online, one of my favorite dishes from the place: sango de camarones. A shrimp stew in a spicy sweet peanut sauce.And as I said, this place is cheap, filling and most importantly delicious. GO THERE!
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on Sunday, September 7, 2008
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