Imagine my surprise then, when a coworker took me to Tango Restaurant. Seattle has more than one Argentine restaurant and we don’t have any?! Not fair. The blow was softened by the fact that there is no actual dancing at Tango, and the food is not truly Argentine:

The tango dance was flavored by ingredients of dance from Spain, Cuba and South America. At Tango Restaurant we use the history of the tango as a guide for our latin infused food and drink.

The food, however, is delicious. We were hungry so we ordered a paella – the meat one, Con Carnes Rioja – with veal stock, peppers, onions, paprika, linquiça sausage, pork tenderloin and I think ours had lamb even though it’s not mentioned on the menu. It is a huge mess of food and takes some time to prepare. While we waited, we sipped a decadent pinot noir and were systematically tortured by the man sitting beside us at the bar, reading a kindle. Boquerones, traditional Spanish tapas including sardines, stuffed cheese, cured meats, spiced pork and more came parading past and small plates piled up around him while we drooled and I made a mental checklist for next time.

But the paella did not disappoint at all. It is a huge mess of a meal, under no circumstances to be attempted by a solo diner and comes out piled high with fragrant rice, peppers, sausage and meat. What I had assumed was chorizo while I was eating it turned out to be linquiça when I went back to look at the menu online. And, not being able to find a suitable definition on the internet, sent an inquiry to Tango. They called back within minutes to explain that linquiça is a cured Portuguese sausage made with garlic and paprika. I was so very impressed and now I’m planning a trip back down so I can try it (along with all the tapas) again. Given that it is meant to feed 2-4 people and we barely made a dent though, I’m going to have to bring an entourage or stay somewhere with a fridge so I can make sure nothing gets wasted.

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Tango
1100 Pike Street, Seattle

I was going to write about Baru Cafe next, for a South America fusion feel, but it’s been 2 months since I wrote about Peru and I was at Cobre for an event during the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (itself a long time ago) so here we go with that one.

I don’t love Cobre (or Baru either, for that matter). South America is a big place and it seems like a chef that tries to take on “a style of cooking that blends the passion of Argentina, with the exuberance of Cuba, the sultriness of Brazil and the joy of Mexico” is up for an impossible task. To top it off, I don’t like the way they deconstruct ceviche and spread the fish across the plate, and I think their most recommended item – chicken taquitos - is greasier and heavier than it needs to be.

But for the wine fest, they pulled out all the stops and created a five course menu paired with Argentine Familia Zuccardi wine.

There was pan roasted sablefish with serrano ham wrapped in melon which was tasty, if not particularly Latin. This was followed  by a prawn ceviche in coconut milk with mango and fruit pieces mixed in. These were paired with the Zuccardi Serie A Chardonnay Viognier and the Santa Julia Organica Torrontes wines. The ceviche was interesting – and I was happy to note, not deconstructed – and reminiscent of Brazil or humid coastlines.

For the next course, the wines were the Santa Julia Magna (the best blend each year) that in 2008 brought out notes of chocolate, black fruit and dirt and the Q Malbec, which was sweeter and redolent of cherry and plum. Both brought out the richness of the Yarrow Meadows duck breast and chicaron – the skin removed and re-fried. This turned out to be my favourite dish of the evening.

The next wines were even better – a 2006 Zuccardi Q Tempranillo and a 2006 Zuccardi Zeta – positioning black fruit and spice in the first against more cherry in the latter but the pork tenderloin didn’t stand up the the flavour as well as it could have. Fortunately, there was goat milk panna cotta and a Malamado Viognier. Literally translated as “bad lover”, it’s a play on words meant to invoke the tango and its sad, romantic stories and finishing the evening with bitter-sweetness.

The duck (as well as the wild prawn ceviche) is available on their regular menu, so you don’t have to wait for next year’s wine fest.

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Cobre
52 Powell Street, Vancouver

Around Vancouver in 52 Restaurants > Americas > Peru/Colombia

They say that if you go to dinner with food bloggers, you can be sure to be eating cold food. I don’t know about that, but when I was late for a dinner with fellow food bloggers Kim, Elaine, Annie, Mijune, Jessica, I just headed for the table with all the cameras on it. They were gathering El Inka Latin Deli in Burnaby to sample some Peruvian/Colombian fare and the timing fit in perfectly with my project of reviewing restaurants in a “world tour” kind of format.

There was fried cassava, tamales with olive and chicken and BBQ beef heart to start, with a mouth-puckering pickled hot sauce that I put on everything. Kim, who lived in Panama for a lot of his life, did the ordering and I was grateful to him for pulling out the specialties. The first courses were devoured and then came fried seafood, sausage and pork rind and a fried whole tilapia fish on fried plantain with coconut rice. Latin food is heavy in starches and fried foods and this dinner was no different although a token salad of lettuce, tomato and avocado did serve as a bit of a palate cleanser.

The tamales were quite good and we learned from Kim that they are almost always made with cornmeal here, but in Panama they are actually made by grinding whole corn kernels, which makes for a much smoother finish. I was looking forward to the beef heart and it had some nice flavours in it, but the favorite dish ended up being the picada criolla, a bowl of pork chop, pork sausages, fried plantain, fried cassava and potato, although the fried cassava and red onion relish that seemed to accompany every dish did get a bit tired by the end of the meal. At some point we ordered a chicha morada drink which translates as “purple” something. And so it was. It arrived at our table in a pitcher with the explanation that its colour comes from purple Peruvian. The rest of the flavours in the drink (pineapple, clove and unfortunately a lot of sugar) must have been handed down from Inca mix-masters resulting in a concoction somewhere between Christmas and Kool-Aid. I quite liked it but after dinner we were offered some mazamorra morada – purple corn pudding similar to the drink – that I liked even better.

Some of the dishes weren’t to my taste (the tilapia in particular I could have done without) but mostly the food was prepared well and offered an authentic look at a culture that can be hard to find in places like Baru and Cobre. The Spanish telenovelas playing on the TV just added to the authentic experience.

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El Inka Latin Deli
3826 Sunset Street, Burnaby

When I posted about El Rinconcito, Kim had a couple more places for me to try, so as soon as the Olympics were over, I headed over to Victoria Drive to check out El Caracol. Admittedly, this one has been on my list for a while (since I first drove past it on my way to Doña Cata) and now that I finally made it in, I’ll be back for sure. Specialties from across Central America dot the menu, from Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras.

I started off with an avocado milkshake, creamy and rich without being sweet. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I’ll definitely have this again (although next time I might check out what the “oat” flavour is all about). The photos on the menu are deceiving – or at least they were to my tired, end of week eyes – because I ordered the Honduran tacos AND the sopa de mariscos (seafood soup) and it turns out they’re both huge. You’re set for a great, cheap dinner here if you’re starving, but if you’re not a big eater you might want to scale back a bit. The tacos – ground beef, tomato and red onion on a hard corn tortilla – were flavourful and tasty but the soup was a marvel. It had mussels, fish, prawns and a crab leg in a fragrant broth with Mexican rice on the side, as well as a stack of tortillas (although how you’re supposed to wrap soup in a tortilla is beyond me). I was so full I could hardly move, but I was still able to have a last look at the menu and plan for my next visit.

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El Caracol
5190 Victoria Drive, Vancouver

Photo Credit: ecstaticist.

So I’ve dedicded to start a new project for dining in 2010. The tagline of this site is “Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver” and so instead of of traipsing around Vancouver’s culinary delights in the random way I have been for the last (almost) 2 years, I am going to present my finds country by country.

I still have a bit of a backlog of reviews, so I may post those interspersed with the project and if I feel really keen, I may even post some recipes.

First stop on the grand tour: North America. Got any favorites you’d like to recommend?

I’ve been meaning to post about the Tequila Kitchen for a couple of weeks now, and in the meantime, instead of posting, I keep going back and eating there again. So I’ve had a few things from the menu…especially from the fantastic margarita list. Allow me to elaborate.

My first visit was at lunch, so I hadn’t anticipated dipping into the tequila and instead ordered the Special Lunch Platter (pictured) which is an utter feast. Guacamole and Salsa arrive with some chips for dipping and a small green salad with tangy citrus dressing. That spread of zing and spice gets your palate warmed up and thinking of Mexico and primed for the second course; a crispy chicken tostada, two pulled pork tacos in a spicy sauce, 2 poblano chili tacos topped with corn and onions and a nod to traditional Mexican rice and beans.

We were stuffed and happily sated but my crush on this place fully blossomed when our waiter, hearing my chagrin at our tequila-less meal, brought over a hand-muddled cucumber and serrano margarita on the house. Even given the rule that free drinks are automatically tastier than any other ones, this was still the best margarita I’ve had in a long time. Possibly the best one ever outside of Latin America. I don’t have much of a taste for sweet, syrupy cocktails, so the freshness of the ingredients, the mild taste of the cucumber punched up with the spice of the peppers and the quality of the tequila all make this a winner.

The only liquor served at the Tequila Kitchen is tequila, so you can be sure it’s done right. And after the cucumber serrano margarita, I knew I needed to go back and sample the other flavours. Hibiscus Rose (handmade hibiscus syrup and rose water) was the choice on a subsequent visit, followed by several Watermelon margaritas on another summer evening. Both were delicious, and while clearly sweeter than the cucumber, not even close to cloying. 

Most of the responses I’ve heard about the Tequila Kitchen is that it’s not as authentic as Salsa & Agave around the block, but so what? It’s a fun and sophisticated place in the midst of Yaletown’s frippery, the service is impeccable and I for one will certainly be back. Often.

UPDATE: Tequila Kitchen is now closed.
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Tequila Kitchen
1043 Mainland Street, Vancouver

There are times when I just can’t deal with a red wine reduction or an entree with more than 10 ingredients. In fact, one of my happiest meals was at a roadside shack in Belize, eating rice and beans and strips of fried bread drizzled in hot sauce. This is the simple food, oftentimes comfort food, that simply feels good to eat. On the drive, comfort food is made daily after 4 PM at Rinconcito Salvadoreno. It comes in the form of pupusas, an El Salvadoran dish consisting of a corn tortilla stuffed with a variety of different ingredients.  There’s a choice of bean, and cheese  cheese, chicharrón (pork), or revuelta (mixed) and they arrive accompanied by a delicious vinegary coleslaw and hot sauce.

My favorite by far is the bean and cheese, but I usually get at least one pork pupusa as well, just to mix things up a bit. At $2.75 per pupusa,  you can afford to experiment a bit and still be full and flush at the end of dinner.

If you feel for something a bit fancier, there is a wide range of Mexican style dishes, such as fish tacos and the Rinconcito Special also merits a try. A thin-sliced, carne asada steak with peppers and onions comes with rice & beans on the side for $10.

This place is always hopping on the weekend, and sometimes the service can be a bit slow, but last night I literally snuck in and ate while my laundry was in the machine next door and regardless, you will always be served with a shy smile…almost always by the same guy.

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Rinconcito Salvadoreno
2062 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

A couple of weeks ago while snowshoeing I put myself in charge of hot chocolate, but instead of using my new power to influence the winter drinking habits of those around me for good (rich, creamy cocoa) and not for evil (Carnation Instant Hot Chocolate mix), I promptly forgot about it. That is until a friend and I stopped in for gourmet Mayan hot chocolate at the Chocoatl Chocolate Boutique after healthy sushi last week.

Now I can fully command any situation that calls for hot chocolate expertise because not only does Chocoatl have a fine selection of thick and rich hot chocolate from around the globe, but they also have several specialty infused hot chocolates in flavours such as chili, rose, lavender, cornmeal, etc. I went for the Caramel concoction, a mixture of dulce de leche, vanilla and chocolate mixed with milk and although I was a little bit hesitant (because I don’t like anything overly sweet), this was a match made in heaven. Sweet without being cloying, rich without overpowering and arguably most important when dealing with hot chocolate – something warm to wrap your hands around on a cold day.

Tricia chose the Champurrado, a modern take on a traditional drink made with cornmeal, chocolate, vanilla and milk (soya milk and water are also available), which had a earthy, grounding taste underneath the sweetness, which we were also in favour of. On other visits I’ve had both the Aztec hot chocolate (with chilis and peppers) and the lavender one, and none of them have been too sweet for my liking – something that really surprises me because the trend in chocolate really seems to be to make it sweet enough to make your jaw hurt and that really leaves no room for the flavour to shine through. At Chocoatl, the balance is perfect, although I’m not sure I could have drank more than the small size.

I also took home a sampling of truffles for a mini-chocolate tasting, and since I am not the choco-holic that a lot of my friends are, I made them all take notes. After trying such obscure flavours (for chocolate) like Cuba (tobacco), Olive oil, Kalamata (fig), Matcha and Chipotle as well as the more traditional varieties of Espresso, Vanilla, and Dulce de Leche, we sadly concluded that we didn’t really like them. Whereas the flavour/sweetness balance in the hot chocolate was perfect, here it was overwhelming. Either the truffle was pure sweetness with only a trace of flavour, or else the flavour was overpowering and didn’t taste enough like a chocolate. Also, some tasters said they preferred a creamier ganache. The more suble flavours were the winners here. Olive oil was surprisingly good, as was the Matcha. Cuba didn’t taste anything like tobacco, Vanilla was too overpowering and Dulce de Leche just made my jaw hurt with sweetness. With lots of untried flavours, however, there’s bound to be a few more winners in there and I definitely know of a few people who are happy to keep tasting chocolate until they find them.

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Chocoatl
1127 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

We were sitting by the window with sunshine streaming in, people and dogs lounging outside, snippets of Spanish coming from the kitchen…and plates of tasty food on the table in front of us. It wasn’t Mexico, but it sure felt close. Instead, it was right around the corner from the office, at the Salsa and Agave Mexican Grill in Yaletown. A cute little Latin eatery on Pacific, it seems like a secret tucked in amongst all the Canada Line scaffolding.

The last time my coworker and I were here we had the mixed tacos – pastor (marinated pork), carne asada (grilled beef tongue), barbacoa (lamb), chorizo (sausage) and vegetariano (green pepper, onion and mushrooms) and were intending on sampling something from the South American section of the menu, only to find out on arrival that the culinary dishes have now been restricted to Mexico. No matter, the tacos – regular style or rolled – are an excellent choice and since one of my favorites last time was the carne asada, I decided to try the Carne Asada plate with chilaquiles verdes. This is a tender grilled beef dish made from a thin cut of steak and served with fried slices of tortillas soaked in green salsa. At Salsa and Agave, like most traditional Mexican eateries, it also comes with rice and refried beans. Tortilla chips and fresh made salsa are provided at the table in case, like us, you have been thinking about lunch since 8 AM and are about to gnaw your own arm off.

I’ve not had chilaquiles verdes before, but they were delicious and complemented the relatively bland flavour of the rice and beans. Tangy, starchy, and spicy make a delectably simple meal taste well, but the addition of the beef threw me off. It was cooked to a desired tenderness, but it was so bland as to taste like meaty pulp and I got tired of it before I was finished. I much prefer a carne asada that has a bit of spice to it and to compensate, I forked over a lot of my salsa verde onto the meat and that tasted pretty good. This could easily be a matter of personal preference, however. It’s definitely authentic.

To drink we had tamarind soda, but there is also a wide variety of tropical juices and pops available, and they also serve homemade horchata, a milky cinnamon, sugar and vanilla drink. They don’t have a liquor license, so dreams of sitting in the sun drinking Coronas will unfortunately be quashed, but it does make it a little easier to get back to work.

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Salsa & Agave Mexican Grill
1223 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver