37 replies to this topic

[Schneier]

Just returned from a trip to Quito and the Galapagos. (You can see about 200 of the 1500 wildlife photos I took here.) All meals in the Galapagos we had on our boat, but we had four dinners in Quito.

El Nispero. Equatorian nouvelle cuisine, if you can believe it. We liked the avocado and sea bass ceviche, and the corn souffle in a creamy crab sauce with sherry. The beef medallions in garlic and cilantro butter was very tasty, but the pork medallions in tangerine sauce was better. Several people we talked to considered this to be the best restaurant in Quito. Highly recommended.

Mare Nostrum. Delicious fish and seafood. We ordered the "mariscado" for two. It was a huge dish of seafood cooked in the oven with a light sauce: a lobster, two crabs, two large langostines, shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, octopus. Absolutely delicious. The rest of the menu looked good too. Highly recommended.

La Choza. This is supposed to be the best traditional Equadorian food in Quito, but we were unimpressed. The shrimp ceviche with tomato sauce, onions, and lemon was good. The empinadas were less impressive, and they weren't the plantain, yucca, and corn varieties that were promised. The entrees were overcooked, too salty, and not what was promised on the menu. Not recommended.

Swissotel. Great, and cheap, breakfast buffet. There is an Equadorian dinner buffet on weekends which looked better than our meal at La Choza. We ate at the Japanese restaurant in the basement, which was just okay.

All of these restaurants are cheap by U.S. standards; dinner never cost more than $20 per person. And they're all in "New Town," and probably near your hotel.

Bruce

[raxelita]

Heading to Quito tomorrow for a couple weeks. Would anyone kindly give me recs for great cheap eats in the city, particularly typical ecuadorian food? The Lonely Planet guide seems rather untrustworthy on this q.

[bigbear]

Raxelita..... Great, cheap, typical and you need a name right away?

For lunch, try La Tuca if you find yourself around the northeast corner of Parque La Carolina. It's near the Sheraton Four Points Hotel. It's on Finlandia, just off its southwest corner with Suecia. Suecia is 2 blocks long and runs between Av. De Los Shyris and Av. Rep. Del Salvador.

La Tuca is in a house. There is a sign outside. The nice people serve lunch from noon until 2 PM, if they don't run out of food first. You can sit inside or outside in the yard. IIRC, choice of soup or appetizer, entree of the day, either fruit juice or soda and dessert..... $3.00.

Did you look at all of this thread? See Cafe Mosaico above. Good caipirhinas and a hell of a view. Say "hello" to Alex.

Enjoy your trip.

[raxelita]

Fabulous. Thank you, Bigbear.
I can take suggestions anytime over the next two or so weeks, if anything else comes to mind. I have read the thread, but wanted to get an extra angle on good daily joints and "deals." La Tuca sounds like a perfect example.

I plan to visit Mosaico and Rusty's too. I will certainly pass on a hello.
Thank's much.

Rax

[bigbear]

Maria del Carmen and Rusty Miller invited us to have lunch with them at an Italian restaurant that they have been enjoying. It used to be located in the Mariscal area of Quito and now, it is in the town of Tumbaco. You have to know where it is because it’s not on a main drag. We enjoyed ourselves very much, but I will post about it later. I want to go back for some more dishes. I have to try the calamares, gambas y boquerones fritos con ensalda.

After lunch, Maria del Carmen and Rusty took us to see their latest edition of Hamburguesas de Rusty. It’s located outside of Quito in San Rafael in the fabulous, new San Luis Shopping Mall.

They gave us a full tour, even through the back of the house. Everything was spotlessly clean. The employees are a pleasure… very friendly and polite. Coupled with the great food and fast service, Maria and Rusty have another winner on their hands.

While we were there, we noticed many, framed groups of napkins hanging on the walls. The napkins displayed caricatures of Rusty drawn by customers. It all started with an eight year-old girl. She was sitting at a table doodling on a napkin one day. Rusty liked it and framed it. Now everyone sketches their own version of Rusty and his signature beret, glasses and handlebar mustache.

You have got to see the San Luis Mall if you’re a shopper. It’s quite a place. And while you’re there, get your hamburger fix at Hamburguesas de Rusty. They are open till 10 at night… 11 on Friday and Saturday.


The outside entrance to Hamburguesas de Rusty.



A small piece of the inside of San Luis Mall, decked out for Christmas.



The entrance to Rusty's from inside the mall.



Maria del Carmen and Rusty.



Some of the framed napkins with caricatures of Rusty.



More napkins. The first one ever drawn is bottom center.



Rusty, then and now.

Edited by bigbear, 15 December 2006 - 08:49 PM.

[bigbear]

I wanted to go back to Trattoria Al Portico (Orellana 1130 y Eloy Alfaro – Tel: 237-3659) in Tumbaco and try some more dishes before posting about it, but it wasn’t to be. I did enjoy the one time that I was there. It was raining that day, so I put off taking outside photos. They have a large, covered, dining area in the back yard, that mostly has no walls. What walls there are, are unique. They are made out of stacked, split logs. That’s where we ate during the rain. I tend to rely on just a couple of dishes to help me form an early opinion of restaurants. For Italian restaurants, I rely heavily on fried calamari. Al Portico’s calamaretti fritti was very good. I also had their fresh cannelloni stuffed with ham, mushrooms and mozzarella and served with a bechamel/tomato sauce… very good also. Their house wines were from Tarapaca. All the prices were reasonable. The service was friendly and attentive. I’ll go back.


Owner, Siro, Maria del Carmen and Rusty.



Inside Al Portico.



Inside Al Portico.



Siro's bar and a couple patrons.



Another Italian restaurant, Luki (Av. Republica del Salvador y Portugal) in Quito, didn’t float my boat. The service seemed to be too busy with paperwork or something to tend to us. Twice, I ordered a bottle of wine from their wine list. Twice they brought out something other than what I ordered. The wines were also overpriced. Although the pasta dishes were good, I won’t go back. Oh yeah… the fried calamari tasted salty to me.

Fourteen of us decided to get a beefsteak fix on a Sunday afternoon. After asking around, we made reservations at Los Troncos (Av. de los Shyris 1280 y Portugal – Tel: 243-7377) in Quito. It is a steakhouse in the Argentinean tradition… all kinds of meats… grilled over coals. I was hoping that someone would order the parrillada at about $15, but nobody did. It comes with everything… beef, pork, chicken… to kidney and blood sausage. Most of us opted for the “Bife de Chorizo Los Troncos”, a 1¼ pound boneless beefsteak… top loin, I think. They were $13.90 with a side of potatoes. Access to the good looking salad bar was $3.80. The delicious desserts were $3 to $4. The bottles of Trapiche wine were priced at about 2½ times retail. The glasses of Sambuca Romana were $4.10 each.

Being a large party, they seated us in our own room. The rolls and breadsticks were plentiful and good. We were served complimentary empanadas… very good. The aji (hot sauce) was excellent, as was the chimichurri. The steaks are cooked to ¼ (rare), ½ (medium), ¾ (medium well) or full (order the chicken). I ordered mine at ½ and it was done perfectly. We are not talking about “Peter Luger” grades of beef here. It was a little tough, but tasty. I enjoyed it. I think they also serve imported (Argentina?) meats, but at dearer prices. One camarero, Juan, took care of our service. He was friendly and anticipated our needs. I heard no complaints about anything. I’ll go back.

[bigbear]

As Easter nears, I crave Fanesca. Served during the week before Easter, it is definitely my favorite of all the Ecuadorian soups and quite possibly my favorite of all soups, period. I had to dig out my wife's recipe to make a shopping list. While I had the recipe out, I added it to RecipeGullet.

Click here to have a look.

[rmillman]

We are going to Quito before a galapagos trip.
Anyone have any update on food in Quito?

Thank you