Saturday, July 4, 2009

Latin Lunch Spot

We had another L2E Meeting last week. One of the member is moving to a different job so we had to have a proper farewell lunch. I found this place on the Internet.

Zaguan Latin Cafe
2604 Oak Lawn Avenue
Dallas, TX 75219-4020
(214) 219-8393
http://www.zaguan.com/

Price: $

I love Latin food so I was very interested in checking it out. Also it had been voted one of Dallas's top Latin lunch spots so it sounded pretty perfect.

It was a nice little cafe and business was pretty good. After extensively looking through the menu (which I found to be kind of confusing) I decided to do the Make Your Own: Arepa (Savory corn turnover cooked on the grill filled with 2 choices of ingredients). $5.39~ I picked vegetables (tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms) and shredded beef as my 2 ingredients. I saw the Food Network episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" with the Arepa cook off and I've been wanting to try an Arepa ever since. The Arepa was pretty good. The shredded beef was tender and the vegetables were very flavorful. The corn turnover was nice and crispy...although I thought it was a little too thick. It might not look like much food but it was plenty for me. It wasn't exactly what I imagined when I saw the Throwdown episode but it was definitely good. I would order it again in the future.

J ordered the Cachapa Lunch Special (Sweet corn turnover cooked on the grill, filled with beef/cheese), served with plantain chips. $8.95~ It's basically like a corn omelet...not the same texture, but the look. The turnover was a little sweet and it mixed well with the saltiness of the beef and creaminess of the cheese. It was very tasty and very filling.
K ordered the Hallaca (Venezuelan tamale filled with beef, chicken, pork, raisins, and olives topped with corn flour and wrapped in banana leaves), served with salad. $9.45~ I'm not really a fan of regular tamales because I don't like the texture of the outside layer. This one was no different. But I did like the filling inside. K really liked it, so if you like tamales maybe give this a try!

They also had a bakery so of course I had to try something!! I ordered the Maria Cake (chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge icing, and chocolate fudge whipped cream; topped with chocolate fudge icing and shredded chocolate). $1.99~
The cake was super moist and yummy. It wasn't a very big piece so it was good for lunch. It would go really well with some coffee or tea or maybe a glass of milk! :)

Overall we had a good time at lunch. The place is not the cleanest and the service was not the best, but the food was tasty and different. For a casual lunch I would recommend checking out this place, but for a nicer dinner, I would say check out La Duni (which is AWESOME and way better). :P

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

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