Chilean Comida

humita

Ahhhhhh sorry for the huge delay!! The process of leaving a job and starting a new one 2 days later is highly stressful and I was too busy/tired to blog. I will try to hurry and catch up now! 

cutely decorated

For some reason, despite the predominance of Latin food in the bay area and SF, there is apparently only one Chilean sit-down restaurant in like all of NorCal. After many failed attempts due to poor timing with meat-fasting Lent days, Carlos was finally able to take me to Berkeley to check Cafe Valparaiso out :)

pastel de choclo

I wanted the most authentic experience possible, so I let him do the ordering for me. We started out with a humita. Humita is a corn based appetizer that looks like a tamale as it is wrapped in its own husk. As a big fan of corn, I really liked it.

carlos con comida

For a meal I got the pastel de choclo. This is another traditional dish that is unlike anything I have eaten before. It too is heavily corn based, and then contains a variety of things inside such as beef, spices, raisins and egg <3. The consistency is pretty casserole-esque, and it kind of confused me while I was eating it. Carlos ended up getting a weird Chilean-trying-to-be-Indian dish. The sauce was all curry coconutty, but tasted a bit off. I think he was jealous of my dish ;)

Dessert was what I was most excited for because Chileans are super huge on manjar- their version of dulce de leche. We each got a dish to split. I had nino envuelto which were like caramel filled crepes, and he had torta milhoja which was a "thousand" layer cake. Both were decent, but I think I liked his better. It kinda of reminded me of baklava in its consistency, but it had a great variety of sweet flavors.

mmmm dessert!

The place was decorated all cute and the wait staff is from Chile. My only complaint is that the food is kind of expensive for what you get, and they are missing a few of the key dishes that I've been dying to try :(. At least it's something Chilean though! <:D

Bieber Fever

chica morada

I don't think it's any secret that Eugi is in love with Justin Bieber. Sure, it all started out innocently with downloading the catchy tune "Eenie Meenie," but it grew to something much deeper. He mourned with all the female youth of America with the haircut incident last week, and of course can't wait to see the 3D experience in theaters. Being the super amazing roommate I am, I promised to accompany him to the movie as long as a nice dinner was involved. Luckily for me, he's been all sketchy with his business lately, so food was on him ;)

By his choice, we ended up at Mochica, a highly acclaimed Peruvian restaurant in SOMA. As you enter you notice numerous awards and merits lining the walls, so expectations are high. It is a small place with nice mood lighting and Peruvian paintings on the walls. Would be a great date spot. Our waiter was really cute :) a young, tan peruvian guy with an accent!

The menu is actually pretty extensive, and it was difficult to pick. Trying to get the full South American experience, I ordered a "chica morada." This is a traditional beverage made of purple corn, a bunch of spices and some apples. It was cinnamoney and a bit sweet :). They also give you a free appetizer of fried chick pea things with onions and spices. It has extremely loud flavors, and will def give you hardcore onion breath. Delicious and worth it though.

For food, we ordered a couple appetizers and entrees. To start, we had (chicharones) fried chicken thighs with a yummy dipping sauce. I REALLY loved the other small plate: Pastelito Choclo. This  was basically a large, round potato, corn, and cheese hashbrown with extra spicing. It was rich and filling, but highly addictive. Our favorite part was the ridiculously large kernels of corn in it! Which of course led me to the question... do they come from really big ears of corn with relatively small kernels, or really small ears with giant kernels?! Insert Lori Beth Denberg "All That" reference here 

My main course was a braised short rib with spicy sauce and mashed and sliced potatoes. It was incredible! Like everything else in the meal, I was amazed by how flavorful everything was!! I wish I knew what kind of spices and cooking techniques it takes to create such bold flavoring. The meat itself was also extremely tender and melted in my mouth. The potatoes were very creamy and delicious, and there were 3 or 4 different sauces splashed around the plate giving different accents to the various parts. Eugi got a pollo dish that resembled some type of thai curry. He seemed to really enjoy it as well. 

Even though we were stuffed, we had to grab dessert when we saw FRIJOLES (alfajores) on the menu. These are my new favorite discovery thanks to my sudden obsession con latinos ;). SO SO SO good. Of the 3 I have tried haha, these were the best. I freaking love dulce de leche. They also came with one (caliente) cafe con leche, (put $20 on today's lottery~~). I hate coffee, but appreciate any "In the Heights" references.

<3

Each course took a really long time even though the restaurant was almost empty. It might have been annoying if the dishes hadn't been so perfectly cooked and obviously freshly made. It was well worth the wait. Also, we had a mix-up on our appetizers, so we were given a coupon for a free one on our next visit which was a nice gesture :). The dinner took so long that we actually ended up missing the movie!! No Bieber for Eugi ;p tear

Great place to try some amazing food that you can't find every day. Definitely check it out

Empanada Barn

i had my first foray in to the exciting world of (non home-cooked :) ) Chilean cuisine today. it was AWESOME!!!

adorable store front with fun, historically culturally relevant pictures

Among the 5 million delicious and exciting ethnic stops in the Mission lies a mini storefront of amazing: Chile Lindo Empanadas . It's on 16th street (like everything else) between Capp & Van Ness and easy to miss. The shop (and by shop I mean small window) is run by a cute Chilean woman and has a very simple menu of 4 different types of empanadas with a few extras (like authentic alfajores). they are $5 (cash only) and really filling

mmm uber quesidilla. so cheesy. so awesome.

 We picked up two types: queso & jalapeno and pino (onions, olive, egg, meat, sauce, etc) and apparently (according to a highly knowledgeable source) they are extremely authentic to the street foods of Chile :). They were so delcious! The attendant cooks them fresh for you meaning you walk away with steaming little meals of portable yumminess.

Chile in a crust

Despite the pouring rain, lack of shower, makeup, and appropriate clothing... this lunch endeavor was an :D experience and i can't wait to go back again and try more flavors. :)

highly highly recommend!