Comida Tipica

As is our usual practice, we stopped in at the tourist information office on our first day of Ibarra. We still have not tried cuy (guinea pig), and we thought they might know where we could get it in Ibarra. The helpful young woman did not have any suggestions about that, so we asked where we could get the comida tipica (typical food) of Ibarra. She give us a tourist map and marked the El Apargate restaurant and absolutely insisted that we go there. I was a little reluctant because it was about a half mile away from the "centro" and would be a long walk. Again, she insisted we take a cab and go there.

We were glad we did. There was only one thing on the menu. The "comida typica." Sold. It started with an interesting salad of those peculiar fried but unpopped popcorn kernels they love here, beans and tomatoes. Add a squeeze of lime and a little salt and maybe some of salsa and you have a delicious appetizer. Next came the entree, which was a combo plate: small chunks of beef in a chili sauce, a bit of some kind of vinegary sausage, small Andes potatoes, and an empanada filled with some kind of squash, hominy, tomato, onion and a very good little slab of fresh goat cheese. For dessert we had "helado de paila" a local specialty sorbet. Thanks to the tourist bureau for insisting we come here to have such a great meal. BTW, the cost was only $7 for all this.