"Nicaraguan Feast" at El Gallo Pinto

Last January, I set up a 12-course sampler dinner at El Gallo Pinto in Azusa and my oh my, was it delicious. We started off with their Mondongo Soup, which owner, Jose, makes himself every weekend. This particular dish is a Nicaraguan specialty and apparently, Nicaraguans will drive for miles to for this soup because it reminds them of home.

The Mondongo Soup is a hearty tripe soup with chayote, corn, yuca and other ingredients and after doing some research online, I found out that many Nicarguans value it because they feel that the soup has healing powers. I actually really enjoyed this soup and considering that it was a cold evening, it really hit the spot. The broth was rich and flavorful and just really warmed me inside and out. The only thing that put me off a bit was that the tripe. It could have been cut in smaller chunks. They were just too big to eat in one bite.

Following the Mondongo Soup came the Nactamale, which is basically a tamale that is steamed in banana leaves with about 14 different ingredients including capers, olives, raisins, rice, potatoes, onion, mint, marinated pork, jalapenos, etc. According to the owner, the banana leaves are more than just simple wrappers, they actually are important in adding flavor to the tamale. The Nactamale had a lot of different "tastes". There was sweet from the raisins, a little salty from the olives, a kick from the japalenos. It felt like an adventure eating it because you never got the same bite twice.

Following the Nactamale, came an appetizer platter that included fried marinated pork, green and ripe plantains as well as gallo pinto. Gallo Pinto is a mixture of fried rice with onion and sweet pepper and beans boiled with garlic and is a definite must have anytime you come visit El Gallo Pinto, this dish's namesake. Also with the appetizer platter came the Vigoron, which is yuca, cabbage, tomatoes and deep fried marinated pork. There's really nothing fancy about these dishes, but for being basically fried foods, they were good.

Mincemeat, the dish that followed wasn't anything to write home about. Basically, this dish is chopped boiled beef with bell peppers and onions. I had it before and wasn't too impressed with it the second time around. It still had the same problem. It's actually a pretty bland dish, even when you squeeze lime on it. It didn't really come to life until you mixed the Nicaraguan salsa with it and considering that the Nicaraguan salsa is a mixture of sour orange juice, onions and peppers, you can see why it added a lot of great flavor.

On to the chicken that was covered with an olive, caper and a tomato-based sauce. A very tasty dish which had a nice hit of saltiness from the capers and olives; yet, wasn't overwhelmed by them. Then then there was the whole boneless tilapia fish cooked with onions and bell peppers with a tomato-based sauce flavored with vinegar and bay leaf. The sauce was wonderful. I liked the acidity of the tomatoes mixed with the sour flavor of the vinegar.

Still we press on to the home stretch where we end with the fried green banana chips, the shrimp in special sauce and two desserts, the bunelos and the rum cake. I can't for the life of me remember what was in the sauce for the shrimp, but it was quite good. I remember it being a little spicy, but than I could be wrong. I'll have to go back and try it again.

As for the desserts, I really liked both of them. The bunelos are deep fried pastries stuffed with yuca and cheese with caramel sauce poured over them. You can never go wrong with caramel sauce plus with yuca and the cheese not being really sweet, the caramel made this dish seem more like dessert.

The rum cake was also really good. I honestly don't remember if I tasted any rum, but I just liked how moist the cake was and how the sauce just permeated its pores. Yummy!

Overall, there are definite things I'd try again and others I'd skip over, but in general, I'd say it was a pretty good meal and when you add that it's a family-owned, family-run restaurant where the owners really take care of their customers, I'm always very happy to dine there and recommend El Gallo Pinto to anyone who's interested in trying Nicaraguan Cuisine.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594511362488/

El Gallo Pinto
5559 N Azusa Ave
Azusa, CA
(626) 815-9907

Nicaraguan Mincemeat at El Gallo Pinto

Having previously eaten at El Gallo Pinto, a Nicaraguan restaurant in Azusa, I decided to check it once again during my lunch hour.

Before deciding on my entree, I ordered a drink called Melon Connaranja, which is basically a mixture of cantaloupe and orange juice. Wow, that drink was awesome. The drink was just really smooth and combined both the tart notes of the orange juice and the sweetness of the cantaloupe juice for a very refreshing drink.

After looking at the menu, I settled on mincemeat. When asking about mincemeat, I was told that it was beef, onions and chili peppers that are blended together in a food processor. Upong being served, I noticed that the appearance and the texture of the meat reminded me of ground pork. When tasting, I thought it had a very interesting texture. The meat was soft, but a little chewy, which makes me think that the meat was boiled perhaps?

For being boiled, I actually found the meat a little dry even when I squeezed lime on it per the waitress' suggestion. Perhaps that moisture was lost because of the food processing. It had good flavor because of the onions and the mild chili peppers, but it wasn't really a wow until I poured the restaurant house salsa into the meat and mixed it all together.

That Nicaraguan salsa is just to die for. It's made up of sour orange juice, onions and chili peppers and the sweet tartness of that salsa and the moisture of the orange juice really gave zing to that mincemeat. After that, I really enjoyed that meal.

Of course, the gallo pinto, which is the fried rice and beans that came with the meal and something I had before, was again quite tasty. The beans that are boiled with garlic really add lots of flavor to that rice.

Overall, it was a good meal. I don't think I'd go out of my way to order the Mincemeat again, but at least I can say that I tried it. One interesting thing though is that a couple of weeks later, I was at an El Salvadorean restaurant and mincemenat was on the menu there, too, so perhaps, it's more of a Central American dish in general and not just a Nicaraguan specialty.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594352720447/

El Gallo Pinto
5559 N Azusa Ave
Azusa, CA
(626) 815-9907

El Gallo Pinto in Azusa

A couple of weeks ago, I had the fortune to check out El Gallo Pinto, a Nicaraguan restaurant in Azusa. Amazingly enough, I have been driving past this restaurant for years and never knew about the treasure that has been near my hometown all this time. Of course, the fact that it's not very visible from the street and is hidden in a mini-mall probably contributed to why I hadn't really known about its existence until just recently.

Upon entering El Gallo Pinto, you'll notice that it's not a fancy place, but it's still very welcoming with its orange walls, brown booths and assorted paintings and photos hanging on the walls. The wait staff was also very friendly and quite willing to answer any questions about the food.

When ordering my drink, I asked for a typical Nicaraguan drink and was given Cacao. It was like a chocolate version of a Horchata and when asked about the ingredients, I was told that along with chocolate, there was also cinnamon and vanilla mixed in. I found it quite refreshing.

Since there wasn't an appetizer section in the menu, our group ordered 3 a la carte items to start off with. One was a pork and yucca dish topped with cabbage and tomatoes. I was actually surprised to see the cabbage. I've done other Central and South American dining before, but this was the first time that I saw cabbage so frequently used. We were also served small side cabbage and tomato salads, which I think everyone gets with every meal and is also what topped the pork dish. The pork was tender and flavorful while the yucca was nice in that it wasn't overcooked and the combination of the two with the crunchy cabbage and acidity of the tomatoes worked well for me.

We also ordered fried green plantains and fried cheese. With those two items came what I personally refer to as Nicaraguan "salsa" which was made up of sour orange juice, onions and either green bell peppers or green chilies, I'm not quite sure. The flavor was citrusy-tangy-sweet and onion-y. I liked it. It was unusual. We were told to dip or top our plantains and/or cheese with this mixture, but our waitress also told us that she'd also pour the sauce over other food items as well. The plantains were addicting and I actually liked the fact that they weren't ripe, which means that they weren't as sweet. The fried cheese seemed a little salty to me, but adding that "salsa" cut that down.

For my entrees, I wanted 3 a la carte items just because I wanted try some specific dishes that I read were typical Nicaraguan dishes. One was Vigoron , which actually was the same dish as the Pork and Yuca we shared as an appetizer, but chicharron was used instead. Still a good dish and I actually prefer the chicharron version.

I also ordered the gallo pinto, which is a staple rice dish that generally comes with every meal. Gallo pinto is a mixture of fried rice with onion and sweet pepper and beans boiled with garlic. This is a great rice dish and I prefer it to Mexican rice. I think it's the beans that are the draw and the fact that it's boiled in garlic. It adds a great flavor to the rice plus the beans adds some moisture to the dish. Generally, I don't care for Mexican rice because it always seems dry, but you definitely do not have that problem with the gallo pinto.

My last a la carte item was the nactamal. The owner told me that one of the great things about Nicaraguan food is that it isn't greasy, which I found to be true in everything I've had so far, but the nacatamal is a little different.

The nactamal is made up of a dough that is prepared with ground corn and butter. This is then filled up with small pieces of pork or chicken, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, sweet pepper (all in slices). This mixture is packed in leaves of plantain trees (not edible), tightened with a small thread that makes it look like a tiny pillow. It is then cooked inside the leaves and boiled during five hours.

They must put a lot of butter in that dough because it was definitely true that the nacatamale had more of an oily taste to it than any tamale I've ever had. Even with all that, I really enjoyed it. Yes, it was oilier than I would have liked, but the fact that it was also buttery made a difference and also because of it being boiled, it was also a moist dish. Tamales can sometimes err on being too dry, which this nacatamal definitely was not.

Ordering a la carte meant a lot of food, so I ended up eating a bit of everything and boxed the rest for home. To end the meal, we had bunelos, which were yuca and cheese fritters drizzled with syrup. Yum! This was a delicious dessert and luckily, we only could get one each or else I would have had the whole plate.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at El Gallo Pinto and am very happy to know that it's a restaurant close to home. The food was great. The wait staff and the owner were very friendly and I enjoyed my experience so much that I'm going to be hosting a sampler dinner there in January as part of my "Feast Series." It's a restaurant that's a little hidden away, but it's worth finding and hopefully, some of you will venture out looking.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594273770386/

El Gallo Pinto
5559 N Azusa Ave
Azusa, CA
626) 815-9907