A friend and I went to Latin Sandwich Cafe last weekend. My friend is Chilean and so are the husband and wife owners, Eddy and Orietta Quijada. The
LSC website claims it is the only Chilean restaurant in the City of Chicago. In fact, we went to scout the location for an LTH event dinner with Chilean theme. LSC is also BYOB. Chile, Chilean red wine, a little Tango music. oh, I get it now.
My friend wanted me to try some of the dishes from her homeland, the most well known, of course, are the empanadas (website also calls LSC the House of Empanadas). Empanadas are stuffed pastry-like dough that is either baked (Empanadas de Horno) or deep fried (Empanadas Fritas). The traditional filling includes onion, olives, hard boiled egg, raisins and a type of meat or cheese. My friend also worked at the Bucktown Empanadas themed restaurant when she first came to the U.S.
We had the ground beef and chicken empanadas with the traditional stuffing. We also had ham and cheese that only had ham and cheese. We rounded this out with Queso Empanadas Fritas (fried cheese empanadas). These were all quite delicious, but I gave higher marks to the ground beef with traditional stuffing and the fried cheese all by itself, which was like eating a fried cheese curd the size of a small fist. (I'm from Wisconsin, what did you expect my point of reference to be?). The cheese was salty and gooey and a great counterpoint to the crunchy, crispy deep fried crust.
The empanadas are accompanied by a sauce called pebre, which is very much like pico de gallo. We also had Chilean salad with our empanadas, which consisted of tomatoes, onions, parsley and a light olive(?) oil dressing.
I would have liked to try a few more things, but after Irish oatmeal for breakfast, Middle Eastern Bakery meat and eggplant pies and falafels for brunch and Chinese dim sum at Happy Chef for lunch, my poor tummy was about to erupt into WWIII, or at least a heated UN debate.
The LSC menu covers quite a range of South and Central American and Carribe fare, including Mexican, Chilean, Cuban and Puerto Rican. I am sure most people (as I would have) would mistake it for just another store front Mexican joint.
In fact, it was quite funny that these two somewhat inebriated fellows walked in to order steak tacos to go, they were gracious enough to set their 'walking' beers on the floor while waiting. Anywho, they were speaking loud and slow so as to make sure Orietta got the order correct. 'Steeeeaaaaakkkkkk Taaaaacccooooooo comprendeye.'
I could have killed them, but chose to sheepishly wallow in humiliation for my fellow countrymen. Orietta just happens to be running a business during the day, tending to the needs of her family, going to college at night and a speaks fluent English. Oh, let's be generous to those fellows'about eighteen GED's higher in educational equivalency than those two put together.
I can't say the same for the guy who prints their menu's, but I do like the fact that one category is called Sandwishes-as a matter of fact, I wishes I had me one right now.
For those who have been to Latin Sandwich Cafe before and were turned off, a repeat visit may be in order. Eric and Orietta only took over the place about 2 years ago. At least according to my Chilean friend, the food is vastly improved over the previous absentee owner. My friend particularly raved about their Pan Amsado (home bread), I didn't find it had much flavor, but then some of the things I hungered for when traveling abroad were plain and simple home cooked items.
I will go back for the empanadas, but I would also like to give the menu further exploration. Perhaps we will have a BYOB event planned there soon. I know one guy who may show up just because they have tater tots on the menu.
Latin Sandwich Cafe
Mexican & Chilean Food
Cuban Sandwich & Jibarito
4009 N. Elston Ave. (just north of Irving Park)
773.478-0175
Unchain your lunch money!