Sabor Español

Living in Ecuador is wonderful, however, really good food is sometimes difficult to find. When we lived in Cuenca there’s more choices but on the coast of Ecuador, well, not many places I would classify as good, let alone great. We live in a very small fishing town called Puerto Cayo with Puerto Lopez, a little larger town catering to tourists being about 30 minutes south of our location. Occasionally we go to Puerto Lopez to the hardware store or other items we may need and to eat, usually to someplace on the Malecón. What we have found there is a jewel, even by city standards I consider it excellent! From the moment you walk up to the place you sense something different-it’s clean, I mean clean! The walkway is clean, the floors are clean and the restrooms are spotless. Probably the cleanest in Ecuador. Then there is the owners, Maria and Vincente. They make you feel so warm and welcome like you are family. Now about the food. Our first time there we tried the Paella con Mariscos because we had heard it was good. We were not disappointed, was delicious. We appreciated the complimentary shot of cacao alcohol. We really enjoyed visiting with Maria. My sister from Houston was visiting Ecuador for the first time and really enjoyed the evening. This week we returned to the same warm welcome but tried something different. My wife had the salpicado de pulpo that was delicious. I had fillete de corvina. This was a thick fillete that was grilled to perfection, moist inside with great flavor, accompanied by a generous portion of ensalada. We topped of the meal with chocolate crêpes and a shot of cacao alcohol. Looking forward to next weeks visit, maybe I’ll try the hamburger.