Chicas Latin Heritage Foods

We are having a little difficulty with writing new posts, being occupied and all. So, I found one already all written up and rarin' to go. ;)

If anybody has more information on Latin American foods, please feel free to share.


8722 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6P 5A5
604-568-6778

(dined June 21, 2008; yes, it was that long ago)

[js]
This is another one of those "difficult" Saturday lunches.

We debated where to go and ended up here at Chicas because it was close. Plus, it seemed to offer interesting food.

Formerly, the space was occupied by a supposed Mexican restaurant. We tried those supposed tacos a couple of years ago -- and, well, suffice it to say that I've had better tacos coming from an El Paso boxed kit.

So, we were actually quite glad to see a new place has opened up. We went in and there were only a couple of tables seated. I did not find that at all surprising, considering the location of this place.

The owner, or the lady who seemed to be owner, was busy making rice and beans, and the smell permeated the place. It was a comforting smell.

[ts]
Looking at the menu, we were once again confronted by our lack of knowledge regarding Latin American foods. For example, different kinds of empanadas! We were whispering among ourselves: "What's Colombian style? What's Venezuelan style?"

But first, a ceviche.



[ts]
I believe the menu noted that this was a Peruvian ceviche? But I don't recall now. I learned a little bit about the different kinds of ceviche (after the fact) from Laylita's site.

Whatever kind it was, it was delicious!

I drank the juice! =)

I had the lomito and JS had the Colombian-style empanadas. (Details on the menu below.)







[ts]
This was the first time I've seen empanadas encased in a corn dough! Of course, with me and my cornmeal-love, I definitely liked that.



[ts]
The meal here was definitely satisfying. Will return.

We leave you with this conversation we had after our meal.

We entered the store beside Chicas where there were a couple of guys eating sandwiches. Upon noticing that we came from Chicas, one guy asked us about it.

guy: "How was it? Good?"
ts: "Yeah, it was good."
guy: "It's Mexican food, right?"
ts: "Oh, no. That was the place before. Now they don't have tacos or burritos or anything like that. It says Latin American food."
guy: "Yeah, but it's based on Mexican food, right?"
ts: "Well, actually..."
[I started thinking back to the menu, trying to remember.]
ts: "They have Peruvian food, Colombian, Venezuelan... [slight pause] oh, and Nicaraguan food."
guy: "Yeah, yeah." [in an yeah-yeah-yeah-I-know tone]
guy: "But they're all based on Mexican food, right?"

[js]
I saw TS wanting to reply again to his comment, so I just ended this conversation by saying loudly, "Yeah, sure."

There really was no point in pursuing the conversation further, given that the guy didn't even know his continents and countries.

And so we left.