Cozy, authentic Ecuadorian restaurant La Toquilla moves into 21 Oak spot in Manchester – Hartford Courant

La Toquilla, an Ecuadorian eatery that makes a speciality of the meals of the coastal Manabi province, has opened in Manchester within the former location of the plant-based restaurant 21 Oak.

“There’s an previous saying in Ecuador: Disappointment for one particular person is happiness for an additional,” mentioned La Toquilla’s chef, Roberta Alarcon.

The pandemic ended the 6-year-run of 21 Oak, which was pressured to shut in December. However there nonetheless was potential and a totally constructed kitchen within the constructing. Co-owners Fabricio Macias and Luis Zambrano grabbed it, and three weeks in the past they introduced Alarcon right here from Ecuador to assist prepare dinner the genuine meals.

“It’s onerous in Ecuador now. It’s costly to stay and other people don’t have the funds for,” mentioned Alarcon, who speaks English from her years working at widespread vacationer spots in Quito, the nation’s capital. She studied delicacies in Quito at college, the place she met Zambrano, and has 17 years of expertise in all ranges of the restaurant business.

Alarcon mentioned when the house owners moved to the US and settled in Hartford, they appeared for a close-by restaurant that served the meals they preferred after they lived in Portoviejo, the capital of Manabi. They couldn’t discover one.

So that they opened their very own to convey these flavors to the capital space. They named it La Toquilla, after the palm bushes bushes frequent on Ecuador’s coast. Zambrano, who has labored at La Piolin Peruvian restaurant in Hartford and Rasham Pakistani restaurant in Windsor, was glad to return to his native delicacies.

“Manabi has the most effective meals in Ecuador,” Alarcon mentioned. “There’s lots of seafood as a result of it’s on the seashore. Plantains are utilized in every part. We use peanut, coconut, cheese, rice daily, even at breakfast.”

The comfy restaurant has a mural of a chiva, a colourful double-decker bus frequent in Ecuador, with individuals down beneath and produce and livestock up above.

“You see them all over the place. Now they’re used for events,” Alarcon mentioned. Music by Ecuadorian singers, particularly the late celebrity Julio Jaramillo, performs on a display screen.

The restaurant opens at 10 a.m. seven days every week, so breakfast is first on the menu. Virtually all breakfast entrees are made with mashed inexperienced plantains, with cheese ($10); pork ($12); cheese and pork ($14); cheese, eggs and beef stew ($16); chicharron, eggs and beef stew ($17); a mixture of all of them ($18); and the stew alone ($15).

Chuzos ($10) is a showy appetizer: three skewers of beef with bell peppers and topped with little chorizo hyperlinks reduce to resemble crowns. Empanadas are made with cheese ($7) or hen or beef ($8). Different appetizers embrace salchipapas ($7) and corviche de pescado ($8), which is a dough made with bananas, spices and peanuts and full of fish.

Skinny, crispy plantain chips are served with meals, with a tasty dipping sauce comprised of mayonnaise, lemon, mustard, relish, onions and cilantro.

Ecuadorian specialties are tuna soup ($18) and beef tripe stew ($18). Chaulafan, a fried rice dish with hen, beef or a combo, is $17 to $20 and is served with colourful flowers as a garnish.

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Coastal flavors embrace ceviche with shrimp ($19); fish ($18); shrimp and fish ($23); or fish, shrimp, octopus and crab ($25); seafood rice ($25), fried fish ($25); and fish filet ($18).

Moros — rice with lentils — are served with hen ($20), pork chop ($18), beef ($22) or pork rib ($22).

On the grill, Macias, Zambrano and Alarcon prepare dinner hen, steak, pork chops, sausage, shrimp, with dishes starting from $17 to $32 for the multi-meat platter.

Ecuadorian drinks embrace passionfruit and blackberry juices, in addition to Güitig glowing water from Ecuador. And naturally, espresso. Each Arabica and Robusta espresso beans are grown in Ecuador, and the inhabitants appreciates its native crop. Alarcon loves espresso a lot that in the course of her forearms are two tats devoted to espresso.

“Everyone loves espresso in Ecuador. You’ll be able to’t have a meal with out espresso,” she mentioned.

La Toquilla, 21 Oak St., Manchester, is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days every week. latoquillallc.com and 860-645-0398.

Susan Dunne might be reached at sdunne@courant.com.