After dropping my wife off at the Amtrak Station in Providence this morning (10-12-250 I had…read moredecided to explore Restaurante y Tortilleria Guatemalteco (1282 Acushnet Ave.) in New Bedford--to pick up food for lunch and dinner. My single sentence review "A culinary wonderland of home-style Guatemalan dishes, in a large, pristine setting, which also contains a grocery, bakery, and lots of Latin American snacks, offered at extremely reasonable prices." Everyone else is invited to continue reading.
The heavy, double doors leading into Guatemalteco could use a make-over, but inside the restaurant is well-lit, spacious and clean, the fragrances from two large steam tables filled with dishes and the kitchen waft throughout the space, as did the sounds of many individuals and families enjoying a late morning meal (as I arrived at about 11:20 am). I took a quick look around and then walked back to the main steam table and asked if the young man who was one of the servers could tell me what the choices were. There is no written menu. This is a family-run place, making home-style Guatemalan dishes for locals and families. He took the time to briefly identify all the dishes and then I ordered--two of the large Guatemalan pork tamales, a plate with braised pigs feet on one side and pork rib stew in a spicy red chili sauce on the other with a huge portion of Guatemalan rice, and a fried pork chop. I asked if they had salsa, he said "yes" and asked if I wanted "mild or hot." "Hot please." He smiled and brought me back three containers of their home-made habanero sauce. Since there is no menu (I asked) and since I couldn't see anything which listed the prices of dishes I was stunned when for all this food he said "$23." Amazing. For all the time he took explaining everything to me I gave him $30, smiled, said "gracias," and was on my way.
Incredibly, everything was still hot enough to eat when I made the 35 minute drive home to the Cape. I decided to try the tamale, the salsa, and a Guatemalan "Lenguas" roll (similar to the rolls in Mexican cuisine used to make tortas--called a Telera) which I had purchased at Sara Bakery and Mini Market which is next door to Guatemalteco. [I popped into the Sara Bakery and thought I ordered four of these freshly baked, long rolls. I said "four" and held up four fingers. It's times like this I wish I spoke Spanish. The server filled up a bag with 12 freshly baked rolls. I asked how much? She said four and she held up four fingers . . . four dollars for 12 freshly baked rolls, talk about a bargain! The Sara Bakery has a wide assortment of other Pan Dulce, similar to what you might find in a Mexican Panaderia; so a bonus find for me since we have missed having access to a bona fide Panaderia since moving here from California.]
A Guatemalan tamale is wrapped in banana leaf (not corn hush) and compared to a Mexican tamale it is much lighter and filled with chopped potato, onions, peppers, and large pieces of pork. It was fabulous, especially with the habanero salsa--a mixture of sweet and spicy. The server at Guatemalteco, once seeing the large bag of rolls I was holding from Sara's, recommended that I eat one with the tamale and he was right. Pieces of bread helped capture the delicious chili mixture which was on the outside and inside of the tamale. Wow, what a culinary treat.
After I finished the tamale and Lenguas, I did sample everything else while still hot--though I will reheat everything for dinner. The pigs feet stew is absolutely unctuous, tender and lip-smacking good. The pork ribs in red chili sauce, which includes the rib bones to give the stew flavor, was luscious and mildly spicy (maybe very spicy for someone else). The meat itself was super tender. The Guatemalan rice was a surprise, it seemed to be a medium or short grain rice, compared to Mexican red rice which is made with long grain rice. As a result it was stickier than I expected and it was filled with delicious bits of fine chopped vegetables. Not quite like anything I've had before in a Latin dish. The pork chop, which I also sampled, had lots of flavor inside and out--I suspect it was brined before being fried. Just a wonderful treat.
Guatemalteco is open Mon-Sat 5 am - 9:30 pm and on Sunday from 7 am - 9 pm. Though my knowledge of Guatemalan food is wanting (I feel more capable with Mexican regional cuisines, Salvadorean, and Colombian cuisines), I thought the tastes of what I order to be on point and an authentic representation of home-style cooking. Visitation tip: There is lots of metered parking on Acushnet, so bring quarters. There is parking on the side streets (which is what I did today) and that's not metered. Go and enjoy something different, there's lots of tastes to explore here..
