AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019WILLIAM HEREFORD (CHEF, ICE CREAM)
EAT IT
QUITO
At Quitu, chef Juan
Sebastián Pérez
(left) sweetens his
tasting menu with
chamomile ice cream.Buen
Provecho
Four ways to eat well,
from street food to
Novo-AndeanCafé Society
1
Quiteños drink coffee
all day long (and don’t
even think about ordering
decaf). Try the cafeterías in
Plaza Grande for people-
watching. Serious coffee
lovers should head to Café
Galletti Teatro Bolívar, a
family-run business that
works with small fincas. To
warm up on chilly nights,
select one of three popular
hot drinks: canelazo (made
with sugar cane alcohol),
vino hervido (mulled wine),
or chocolate con queso
(yes, with cheese). Sip
them with dazzling city
views at Pim’s Panecillo
or Cafe Mosaico.Getting Creative
2
Long overshadowed
by Lima, Quito’s food
scene is now making head-
way. Inventive chefs such
as Alejandro Chamorro
of Nuema are elevating
Novo-Andean cuisine using
products of coast, sierra,
and jungle and reinter-
preting indigenous and
Spanish colonial traditions.
At Chulpi, Carlos Saltos
dishes out fresh takes
on street food in a small
house in the residential
Las Casas neighborhood.
Don’t miss the pairing
menu at Quitu, chef Juan
Sebastián Pérez’s altar to
Ecuadorian gastronomy.Street Scene
3
For a dollar or two,
you can feast like a
king on Ecuador’s comida
callejera, or street food.
Different areas have their
specialties, so make like
a local and nosh on tripa
mishqui (chewy but flavor-
ful tripe) at outside stalls in
La Vicentina; quesadillas
(more of a pastry, nothing
like the Mexican dish) in
San Juan; candies from
Las Colaciones de la Cruz
Verde (try the so-called
caca de perro—”dog
poop”); and cookies made
by the Carmelite nuns at
the Carmen Alto convent
in the historic center.Hot Cocoa
4
Chocolate may well
have originated in the
Ecuadorian Amazon, but
only in recent years have
homegrown chocolate
companies refined and
developed the raw prod-
uct. The most well known
of them, Pacari, offers
a two-hour minicourse
in its historic downtown
store that includes making
and packaging your own
organic truffles. Other
chocolate houses worth
visiting: República del
Cacao, Chez Tiff, Hoja
Verde, and fair-trade shop
Tianguez (located under
San Francisco church).