It’s night and hunger knows it. The commercial movement in Totoracocha is tempered by the aromas and flavors of popular gastronomy. Each local keeps a secret recipe that has evolved with memory.
Smoke, aroma and flavor attract the attention of the hungry nocturnes and gourmands who travel the streets of Cuenca looking for the best popular gastronomic option. Many already have their holes and others go ‘crazy’ for the various culinary alternatives.
It’s 9:30 p.m. and the weekend is intense. The streets surrounding the avenue Suáre Gonzálezz, in Totoracochaleave their evening environment full of commerce to become a Gallery gastronomic popular.
The menu is varied. From chuzos, passing through hamburgers, ‘salchis’, dried, roasted…everything can calm the hunger in the cold nights of Cuenca.
If we talk about popular food, the ‘Meat on toothpick‘ will never go out of style. In ‘The Chuzos from Here‘, on General Artigas avenue, diners ask for this and other new delicacies. This is one of the largest businesses in the area. But it was not always like this.
It took Cristian Pindo 15 years to build his culinary venture. At only 16 years old and recently arrived from his native Nabón (Azuayo canton located south of Cuenca), he learned this trade together with his brother. He took his first steps in the company of a small cart.
This grew when he included in the “menu” rice y stew. How everything changes, he was forced to move from the intersection of González Suárez and General Artigas to another space a few steps away. In the place where he now has his main premises, it was a vacant lot that was used as a car mechanic.
“We settled here and that’s how we grew,” he said. Today he has several employees under his control and already has a branch. The flavors remain. The meat chuzo, the chicken, the paisa (with chorizo) and the corn with cheese. And today he has invented new dishes.
He greater movement is nocturnal and lasts until midnight. Costs range from $1.25 to $4.
A few meters from this business, inside a trailer installed in a parking lotthe best are cooked “sauerkraut” from the area. María Lorena Pelaez Prepare these popular treats in addition to burgers. The 51-year-old merchant has dedicated 15 to the food business.
One of the regular customers is Marcos Ibarra who, at the end of his salchipapa comments: “I am fed by ‘Doña Suquita’”. Like him, taxi drivers, workers, neighbors, friends and dozens of clients call her that affectionately.
He assures that one of his secrets is the pink sauce, the most successful dressing in his business that has become a neighborhood tradition. Irania Jaramillo ate in the “Doña Suquita trailer” when she was single and now she does it together with her son Juan Diego.
‘Doña Suquita’ is open from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and on weekends on Saturdays until 4:30 a.m.
In the same sector, in the roundabout of González Suárez and Paseo de los Cañaris avenues, stands another of the ‘temples of flavour’. It is Mrs. Carmita Sarmiento’s business who receives her clients with a wide smile.
He wears a red outfit with details of his local. At the time of visiting her, she was roasting five chicken tenders. While she was doing it, she comments that 15 years have passed since she started her gastronomic activity.
The 45-year-old from Tronca learned to create flavors “out of pure curiosity.” She is now an expert in the preparation of seasonings for each meat. “The seasoning for preparing chicken meat is not the same as for making broster”.
His fame crossed borders. Doña Carmita comments that diners from different latitudes, including international ones, come to her business. “Several times people have come to me telling me that they have recommended my seasoning… recently they came from the US.”
This is how they already comment in other countries, how good roast chicken, meat, chop, rib and broster taste. This is another of the nightlife meccas in Totoracocha that wakes up selling popular delicacies.
Family
The development changed consumption habits. The traditional “crouched” spaces became more formal spaces. On Los Andes and Los Shyris avenues, María Espinoza’s family collaborates in ‘Los chuzos del vecino’.
This business, almost ten years old, is one of the most visited in the area. Doña María, her husband, her sister and her children are part of the business. The traditional chuzo has meat with potatoes and maduro. All seasoned with the delicious sauce made with cilantro, parsley and other “all natural” herbs, says Doña María. They finish their work around midnight.
This is how the night goes, in the midst of flavors and aromas that make popular food a tradition of Cuencan nights. (YO)