Kaq-ik at Guatemala Restaurant

3333 Hillcroft, N


For some time the turkey soup at Guatemala Restaurant has been beckoning to me. I've had some very good Guatemalan food in Houston at the now closed Lo Nuestro on Bissonnet (the last time I went, the kitchen had taken a big nose dive) and here at Guatemala and at the Chapinlandia Bakery, but nothing that really seemed to match the dishes discussed on Antigua Daily Photo, a very good Guatemalan blog. I've been following some fascinating posts on Chowhound by a San Francisco woman who is living in Guatemala with her new in-laws and writing about her culinary experiences and it has piqued my interest in Guatemalan cuisine. Recently when the temperature dipped down to the low 90s I thought it was time to have a big bowl of this hot and spicy soup.

According to some accounts, this was a dish reserved for Mayan kings and their guests. Ik is said to mean 'hot and spicy' or to be the word for the ground form of the dried chile cobanero, a key ingredient. Most recipes include several chile peppers and I'd judge from the taste of this one that there were at least 2 or 3 although I couldn't identify any of them as I'm not familiar with them at all.

I thought there might be some guisquil (chayote) in the broth - there's been some in every dish I've had at this restaurant - or plantain or yuca, which were present on just about every dish I had at Lo Nuestro, but this was just what you see, a turkey leg in a bowl of broth. Achiote is used for the coloring; other ingredients include garlic and coriander. There were sprigs of an herb floating in the broth that I couldn't identify; I thought cilantro, perhaps, but looking into recipes online there is mention of samat, another Central American herb, and peppermint.

Whatever was in it this was delicious and very spicy for Guatemalan cuisine. It was served just with the rice and three white tamales, the firm, almost gummy tamales I've had here before. It turns out this is the classic presentation. All you get for an eating utensil is a soup spoon - this is a soup you eat with your fingers (and I went through a wad of the flimsy napkins on the table). To break the monotony of spooning up about two and a half cups of broth, I cut one up of the tamales and dropped it in the broth; it absorbed the flavors the way tofu would but it did help make the process of consuming all that broth a little more interesting.

This is a very simple but very satisfying meal, among the 2 or 3 best Guatemalan dishes I've had; I was elated and the staff was as appreciative of the big smile on my face as I was of the big smile in my mouth from the heat.

Here's a post and discussion of the dish on Antigua Daily Photo.

My earlier review of the restaurant.

Guatemalan Mobile Vendors

It appears that third only to Mexican and BBQ we have more Guatemalan than any other kind of international or ethnic mobile vendor, at least in one neighborhood. I've been tracking these in the International Roll Call on the sidebar but that post is getting rather long and unwieldy so I decided to break this nationality out.

There is a cluster of Guatemalan mobile units along Windswept between the SW Fwy feeder and Hillcroft plus a couple north on Unity at Skyline and several other units in the neighborhood which may or may not be Guatemalan.

Update:  Most of the units listed here have disappeared, but other units have taken their places.  Gone is the most promising one judging by the menu, Antojitos San Miguel de Guatemala, which I could never catch open.  Still in opertion, apparently, is Las Delicias Guti, another one I've never been able to catch open.  It may only be open for breakfast.

There are two Guatemix units, one parked at 6362 Windswept labeled Tamaleria Guatemix and another just a half block east of Hillcroft, Taqueria y Tamaleria Guatemix.

In front of Pop's Super Market on Windswept right at Unity there is an Antojitos Guatemala and Antojitos San Miguel de Guatemala plus Refacciones Guatemala. The first and last of these are the Guatemalan units most often open and have very similar menus of street foods. I have only seen the San Miguel unit open in the evenings when that parking lot is a pretty lively scene.


At Antojitos Guatemala I tried the Plantano Frito. This was pre-cooked but good and warm. I'm guessing this was sauteed rather than deep fried, drizzled with a little bit of cream and sprinkled with sugar and delicious.

One block north on Unity at Skyline is Las Delicias Guti, Comedor y Cafeteria Guatemala, a trailer which has also only been open in the mornings and evenings and another trailer in the parking lot of that convenience store named Antojitos Las Delicias Guatemala which has only been open in the morning, plus a little hut called Tacos Pineda which has been open at various times pretty regularly.

Antojos Chapina, located on Windswept just east of Unity, in the parking lot of a washateria. The first time I saw this I could swear the menu included plantinas which should mean strips of plantain deep-fried like french fries but when I stopped in a few days later, they weren't on the menu. It looked a little like a couple of entries on the menu had been whited out and the menu is very brief.


I tried a chuchita, the snack tamale of Guatemala. It wasn't very warm and was rather dry, although still a little messy to eat out of hand. The filling was a good sized piece of stewed pork with a mild sauce. This weighed 7 oz and was about 4" in length.

East along Windswept there is also Taqueria Turitzio and Los Huaces at Greenridge, closer to the big flea market, both of which are probably Mexican, and there is a truck at the corner of Windswept and Hillcroft, Taqueria El Dolar, nationality unknown.

I've seen a couple of other mobile units identifying as Guatemalan around town. Antojitos Guatemala # 2 - Hillcroft @ Unity. I saw nothing uniquely Guatemalan on the menu such as chuchitos, garnaches, tamales but presumably the tacos, quesadillas, etc. are a la Guatemala.

Taqueria Maya Quiché - Tacos de Guatemala - This was the first Guatemalan unit I ever saw, parked by Pearl Bar on Washington, but I never caught it in operation as it seems it's only open in the evening and serves the bar crowd along the Washington corridor. The Quiché are a subgroup of the Mayans and there is a Quiché Department in Guatemala but as described by Guns and Tacos and others, it isn't authentic (al pastor is not a Guatemalan dish and Guatemalan tacos are rolled, like Mexican flautas, not folded) - it appears to be a pretty standard Mexican lonchera, although perhaps a very good one (drunks being such good judges of taste).

Guatemalan Mobile Vendors

While trying to get around a big traffic tie-up on Hillcroft I happened on a cluster of Guatemalan mobile units along Windswept between Hillcroft and the 59 feeder and at least one on Greenridge. There were at least five and maybe a couple of others.

I haven't tried any of them yet but plan to.

They have been added to the International Roll Call.

Chapinlandia Bakery (Variedades)

6711 Rampart, just north of Bellaire

This is a new place - a small convenience store and bakery with a steam table breakfast and lunch in a mostly unoccupied, very new strip center. Chapina is a nickname for the people of Guatemala. The business card says Pan Calientito y Pasteles Frescos todos los dias.

On my first visit everything on the steam table except the refritos negros looked pretty good - Pepian de Pollo, Guisado de Puerco and fajitas. I went for the first, a large, split chicken breast in the Mayan/Mexican mole Pepian, made with pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.


This was a take-out meal I wish I'd gone to the trouble to plate for a more appealing presentation, to do it more justice. It was a very enjoyable meal; the mole was a bit thin and the chicken not as tender as I would have liked, but the vegetables in the mole, carrots, potatoes and green beans, were very good. I could have eaten a vegetarian version of this with just the vegetables, I think. The vegetables in the rice repeated those in the mole, diced carrots and green beans, and, again, the second side, which was a real surprise when I got home and opened the container - more carrots and green beans, stewed but not overcooked, served chilled in crema. This was not on the steam table and actually the hit of the plate, partially because I was relieved not to have gotten any of the refritos.

I also got their version of a chuchita, a snack tamale. In 4 of the 6 Guatemalan restaurants I've eaten at in Houston, it's usually larger than a Tex-Mex tamale, as large as the Mexico City type tamales at Dona Tere, but this was the size of a roma tomato. It seemed baked rather than steamed and was dry enough to pick up barehanded and eat, more like an empanada than a tamale. The tamale as finger food - a new one on me. The filling was tender stewed chicken breast and potato in a mild red salsa.

The salsa in the separate container was a dark brick red color and rather bitter, with a heat that faded very quickly. I couldn't identify the taste but perhaps it was the chiltepe or chiltepin which is said to be the most commonly used chile pepper in Guatemala. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be used on, perhaps the chuchita, although it was in the bag with the combo plate and I didn't get any the next time I got chuchitas.

The tortillas were handmade, fresh, thicker than Mexican corn tortillas.


On a second visit nothing on the steam table looked very appealing so I went for a tamale. I asked if it was a tamale colorado or tamale negro and I thought the server said 'black,' (very little English is spoken) so imagine my surprise when I got home. I think what she must've said was blanca, meaning a tamale made from white corn meal. This had a filling of stewed chicken breast and was very good. Guatemalan tamales sometimes include vegetables, raisins and nuts in addition to meats; this one had one solitary raisin.

The signs and menu indicate tamales and chuchitas are available every day but there were no chuchitas left by the time I got there on this occasion. I also tried some of their cookies - meringues and a peanut butter cookie, which were good.

On a third visit I just tried more of the chuchitas (there were no full size tamales); they were not as good as the first time and a little messier to try to pick up as finger food.

The business card also says Desayunos y Platillos Differentes Todos los Dias and that's the problem - with the varying steam table menu you don't know what's going to be available any given day. I'd certainly have the Pepian de Pollo again and I'd like to try the Guisado de Puerco but other dishes have not looked that good. There are some small tables for dining in and apparently real dinner ware is used. Desayunos are $3.49, platillos $4.99, chuchitas $1.50, tamales $3. There is apparently a $.50 charge for take-out.

Communication has not really been a problem and the staff has been very friendly.

The Pepian de Pollo inspired me to revisit Restaurante Guatemala which I had been to only once, just before Ike. I liked the mole itself better at that restaurant but the sides were better at Chapinlandia. I've updated the Guatemala review with a picture on the side bar.

Restaurante Guatemala

3330 Hillcroft # N, just doors down from Jerusalem Halal Deli

I’ve been sampling the various Central and South American cuisines available in Houston for the past year or so and so far Guatemalan cuisine has proved to be the least interesting and adventuresome. This place may be the most accessible for those not familiar with the cuisine, however, it’s a bit more nicely appointed than your typical Houston hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurant, well lit and friendly. The menu is very simple and unthreatening.

One online source says there are more than a hundred different styles of tamales known in Guatemala. One I’ve encountered at every place I’ve tried is the chuchita, a snack sized tamale that can actually be quite large. The first time I had this at Lo Nuestro I loved it, the shape and size of a billiard ball, moist, with a nice chunk of very moist and tender pork embedded in it. Everywhere else I’ve had it, including revisits to Lo Nuestro, it’s been about the size of 2 or 3 Tex-Mex tamales and sometimes so firm as to necessitate a knife and fork. The chuchita at Guatemala was very dry with a very dry chunk of chicken breast inside; the best part of it was the gravy-like salsa which accompanied it. Guatemalan food is not at all spicy, however. Other Guatemalan tamales I've encountered can be as large as 6 or 7 Tex-Mex tamales and constitute a meal in themselves. It is said to be considered rude to order more than one tamale at a time in Guatemala.

The only other tamales on the menu here are rice tamales, also an appetizer, which I didn’t try.

All of the staff I've encountered here speak enough English that I've barely had to call upon my limited Spanish. On my first visit the waitress suggested one of the chicken dishes, Pollo en Amarillo, chicken in a Mole Amarillo, which turned out to include carrots and chayote and was accompanied by plain white rice. i thought it was okay but nothing special and I concluded I had been steered me toward something very safe and Americanized but I have since learned this dish is a staple of the country's cuisine. It came with three individually wrapped tamales, called tamalitas, which the waitress offered to exchange for tortillas but I opted to stick with the tamales to see what they included. It turned out they included nothing - they were just masa dough, very firm, firm enough to be used as bread sticks although a little chunky and slippery for that purpose.


Recently after trying the Pepian de Pollo at Chapinlandia and being impressed by the dish, I decided to return to Guatemala and try their version. Pepian, or Pipian, is another Mayan/Mexican mole; it is based on pumpkin and sesame seeds. I found the mole at Guatemala to be more flavorful that that at Chapinlandia and the chicken - all dark meat here, white meat at Chapinlandia - tenderer and more flavorful but the sides at Chapinlandia were more satisfying. The vegetables in the mole were the same as in the Mole Amarillo - carrots and chayote, tender but not overcooked.

This time I opted for the tortillas as the bread side. They came wrapped in foil and very hot and falling apart from the steam. Even after they had been delivered the waitress asked if I wanted to exchange them for the tamalitas but I slightly preferred the tortillas.

Besides this place and Lo Nuestro I’ve had pastries and tamales from El Quetzal Bakery # 1 on Gessner and # 5 on Hillcroft, and # 1 Xelapan on Longpoint at Bingle, which used to be an El Quetzal location, and now at Chapinlandia Bakery on Rampart. Of those, the tamales at Lo Nuestro and Xelapan were superior while the chuchitas at Lo Nuestro and Chapinlandia were the best.

The desserts at Guatemala include Chocobanana and Chocopina plus Nuevo Tres Leches that are touted on a table card but I have not tried any of them. One dish I do want to return to try is the Kaq-ik de Pavo, a traditional turkey soup of Guatemala.

Note: this article was updated and revised 10/9/09 after a second visit.

Restaurante Guatemala

International Mobile Vendors Roll Call

The majority of Houston's mobile food vendors purvey Mexican food, hence the common name Taco Trucks. Okay, there are numerous bbq wagons or trucks, a few Cajun, a few shaved ice, but mostly it's tacos, tortas, quesadillas, etc.

Then there are a handful of vendors offering the cuisines of other nations. Here's a list of the ones I've encountered or heard about with international fare.


CHINESE

The Rice Box Truck


COLOMBIAN

Cholaos Kitchen - a Colombian/Mexican truck
Perrida de Mao - I've just seen this one parked (at a repair shop), not in operation, but from the name and the pictures on the side, it's a Colombian hot dog cart.

Los Perros, Houston - this one operates in a strip center parking lot at 9411 Richmond and serves hot dogs and kabobs according to a guy I talked to once. It's open only in the evenings.


FRENCH - L'es-Car-Go - review here. .


GUATEMALAN - see a separate report here.


GREEK

Papou Jerry's


HALAL/MIDDLE EASTERN

Abu Omar - Hillcroft @ Pagewood, Mexican menu during the day, Middle Eastern menu in the evening.


HONDURAN

Antojitos Hondurenos - 7171 Fondren, just north of 59, and 9713 Airline - the Fondren location has been reviewed on this blog.

Comida Tipica Hondurena El Caracol - first seen on Beechnut at Club Creek but now parked on Bissonnet @ Hillcroft. A smaller bus than any of the other Honduran mobile units I've seen but what looks like a larger menu, reviewed here.

Jennifer's Food - Comida Hondurena - a truck spotted rumbling down Bissonnet but location of operation not known.

La Polera Colora - 2435 Wayside, just NE of 45, noted by Alison Cook in the Chronicle but I haven’t checked it out. As Alison noted, from the name it was apparently at one time a Colombian vendor. I have made several trips and never found this truck.

Sabor Catracho - a big bus, similar in appearance to the Antojitos Hondurenas bus, one block east of 59 on Bellaire.


INDIAN

Ashka's Dhaba - Beechnut, just east of Highway 6 - originally located in the Heights, this trailer has relocated to the far west side, outside the city limits. Far back from the street it's easy to miss though there is a big street-side sign. It is open 7 days, evenings only. There are covered tables.

Bansuri Indian Food Corner - Wilcrest, just north of W. Bellfort, vegetarian street food of Mumbai, reviewed on this blog.

Tandoori Nite, 7821 Hwy 6 South, Sugar Land, at a 66 Station, 7130-852-7642; open evenings, 5pm - Mid except Tuesdays, reviewed here.


Desi Grill and More - an Indian truck serving tandoori chicken and the like at 12672 Veterans Memorial Drive near Bammel-North Houston at a Valero station.

Wally Wally - Indian street food for the streets of Houston. Facebook, Twitter.


MIDDLE EASTERN

FezExpress


NIGERIAN

There is a Nigerian food truck at Bush Intercontinental reportedly that sells mostly to cab drivers.


PUERTO RICAN

El Mofongo Boricua - 1925 Hwy 6 S, by the Mayflower Center (about 1/2 mile south of Briar Forest). Reviewed on this blog.


SALVADORAN

Pupuceria Ramirez - Salvadoran - S. Post Oak, just north of W. Orem, mentioned in Quick Bites IV on this blog. but missing from that location for some time.

Taqueria y Pupuseria Esmerelda - See for a long time on Highway 6 @ Bissonnet @ a 66 Station, Sugar Land, but recently missing. They advertised tamales on weekends.

Taqueria y Pupuseria El Invasor, formerly found on Bissonnet but current location unknown. Reviewed on this blog.

I have seen numerous other taco trucks around that also serve pupusas but they usually don't have 'pupuseria' in the name.

THAI

The Pad Thai Box


VENEZUELAN


Arepas y Empanadas Dona Maria - 1960B east in Humble. UPDATE: The cart is no longer in operation but there is now a restaurant at 1315 E. 1st Street.

El Punto Criollo - now located next to the parking lot for World Foods, on Beechnut, just west of Highway 6. A table and awning are also provided for customers now; reviewed here.

Sabor Venezolano - parked in a filling station driveway at Crossview and Westheimer, one block east of Fondren (713-780-2663). According to their card there is another unit at 5130 Hwy 6 N (281-859-2324). I've never checked that one out but did happen across another unit on Fry Road in Katy, about a half mile north of I-10, in the parking lot of a Gulf station.  Arepas, Cachapas, Empanadas, Patacones, Pastelitos, Tequenos, Pabellon, Venezuelan hot dogs and hamburguesas, Pepitos, Tacos, Quesadillas, Burritos and Tortas are listed on the business card which also says they're open til 4:30am Friday and Saturday.


On a visit a couple of years ago I had the Patacones here, a Carne Mechada (shredded beef) sandwich using mashed, fried slices of plantain instead of bread. It was no where near as good as the one I had had at the short-lived Pana's Cafe on Scarsdale. More recently I tried the Venezuelan hot dog here and an empanada carne mechada. Houston is not a town for great hot dogs and this one did nothing to change my view on that; the empanada unfortunately was made ahead of time and had been sitting in a glass case but the filling was very good, rivaling the best empanadas at the Original Marini's.



On another visit I had the Empanada Pabellon with carne mechada and black beans and an Arepa Pelua with more of the carne mechada and queso amarillo. The empanada in this case was much fresher and warmer and also included some plantain. The arepa was freshly made; apparently I could have asked for a different cheese. The arepa itself was very tough.


VIETNAMESE

Givral's Vietnamese Cafe, located on Bellaire in New China Town, has launched a Banh Mi truck that appears regularly at Jones Plaza. Keep up with the schedule on Facebook.

And Les Givral's Kahve has the BanhMieria.

Phamily Bites - pho cups, banh mi, Vietnamese egg rolls, etc. Picture here.


See also the list of Specialty Vendors and other taco truck (Loncheras) reviews on this blog.