La Pena, Ecuadoran

Hi,

I couldn't find a dedicated La Pena thread, (if one exists, feel free to merge,) so thought I'd start one after spending a very enjoyable evening there last night. It was our first visit to a place that we've passed by countless times but never stopped in. We started w/ a Humita and a Tortilla de Papa. Of the two, the Humita made a stronger impression on our palates - it came to the table very hot, the masa had great texture and flavor, and the cheese inside was perfectly melted and creamy. The potato pancake was fine, but nothing special - very mild, a bit boring. Husband's entree was Lomito Saltado. He described it as "comfort food" and pretty much cleaned his plate. The dish is ribeye strips sauteed w/ onions, peppers and tomatoes, served over french fries w/ a generous side of rice. Gotta love a double starch entree. After a couple of really good octopus experiences in Mexico recently, I decided to see how La Pena's would compare. I had their Pulpo a la Parrilla. It was grilled octopus, served w/ avocado salad, white rice and fried sweet plantains. The portion was huge! I'm having cold octopus salad for lunch today. There was a nice char & flavor to it and while not quite as tender as what I'd had in Mexico, it was certainly not overly chewy. The avocado salad was seasoned well and contained big chunks of perfectly ripe avocado. All of the side dishes (rice, plantains, avo salad,) complimented the pulpo very well. We were stuffed, and passed on dessert.
Service was friendly and efficient, despite the fact that a large group (about 25 people,) was taking up half the restaurant celebrating some occasion that involved bringing balloons to the place. Couldn't tell if it was a birthday, or what. Kitchen didn't have a problem keeping up though. The live Andean music really enhanced the experience for us. The band was great and created a fun, lively atmosphere. There were only one or two open tables the entire time we were there (8pm-9:30.) We'll definately be back.

La Pena
4212 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago IL 60641
773-545-7022
http://www.lapenachicago.com/foodmenu.html

Today I had the chifles which were better than I remember. Fresh, sweet and earthy while still having the savory character of a good potato chip these were delicious. Was also able to try the fish soup which is only available on Sunday. The soup is traditionally made with Tuna and yucca or cassava. In this instance I believe the soup contained casava and while I am certainly no authoritative person I have to guess that at least some of the fish used for the soup was not tuna. The soup had a pungent fishy quality that I would guess generally comes from a fattier fish. In any case I ended up squeezing a little extra lime in the soup end enjoying it, really is a nice comfort food in the vein of many good fish stews.
Next up was the vegetarian Llapingacho with humita, rice, salad, egg, and avocado.
This dish was certainly more than the sum of it's parts. While the llapingacho was a little underformed and undercooked from what i am accustomed to, it resembled a pile of polenta as much as a pancake, it was tasty and had a healthy amount of peanut sauce that anchored well the other foods on the plate. The humita was nothing special but certainly edible. The egg was perfectly cooked, the salad fresh and the generous full half of an avocado was ripe and tasty.
All in all a large plate of solid comfort food that made almost not notice the fantastic platters of grilled squid and meats a nearby family had ordered.

Last night I enjoyed a post-holiday get-together with some of my staff and a couple of their spouses at La Pena. This place is crazy busy on Friday and Saturday nights, but they did a fantastic job taking care of us while simultaneoulsy handling several other large tables. If you are noise sensitive, I recommend coming on a weeknight or very early - 4pm-6pm. The live music starts out mellow, but really revs up after 10pm. Our group was aware and prepared for the atmosphere. I had stopped in on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks prior to make our reservation. We were to be a party of 10 and we all wanted to keep our budget at $20-$25 per person for food/tax/tip/non-alcoholic bevs. They assured me it wouldn't be a problem and we agreed on family-style service. Our reservation was for 8pm and when I arrived at 10 to 8 our table was ready and waiting. Most of us arrived separately and it was probably 8:30 or so before all of us were there. They were not fazed in the least and very generously didn't pressure us to start ordering food in advance of everyone's arrival. Chifles and salsa were brought to the table. I asked our server to select what she recommended as appetizers and she brought out a nice assortment of humitas, beef and chicken empanadas, and fried yucca stuffed with cheese. We opted for a platter of assorted grilled seafood and 2 platters of grilled meat (as third coast foodie had mentioned seeing.) They brought everyone a plate with rice, and then a few bowls of salad and plates of their tortillas de papas. The seafood, especially, had a nice char and yet the octopus, squid, shrimp and scallops I had all remained tender. This was a ton of food! We wound up being 9 people. The menu says each platter serves two, but our server had told me each would easily serve three and she wasn't kidding. We finished all the seafood, but got some doggie bags for the meat. The only complaint I heard was that some of the chicken was a bit dry. I had to leave at 10:30, so we asked for the check. Wound up being $20 per person (we handled alcohol separately.) My staff moved to the bar area as I was leaving, so who knows what they then spent on shots of tequila....

My food pics didn't turn out well, but I think you can tell from this one that we certainly had a good time. I'd recommend it as a fun place to gather with a lively group.