Third visit to Ecuador. This time with a text blog as well as videos. The video site had been removed due to lack of interest. All pages have at least one photo. If you don't see them you may have an ad blocker on or need a cache purge. (Firefox Win)
Steaks at the Parrillada Entrefuegos
Dad's birthday today. Happy 92nd Dad. Here is happy birthday in Spanish. Part of a concert in 2013 in Salinas.
This evening we decided to go out for a nice meal. The Salinas Stuff Facebook group had some proprietors pushing their restaurants so we decided it would be one of those. We spent a couple of hours looking at reviews to make the choice. It's amazing how some places can hope to exist and yet do not post their address. Assuming everyone knows where you are is not good for business in a tourist town where new people arrive each week. Just my opinion.
We chose the Parrillada Entrefuegos because it had an address we could walk to after dark. Amazing enough though we walked right by another one that had been poorly promoted in the Facebook group and we did not know where it was. With better advertising it could have been our choice.
We ordered T-bone steaks medium well, chorizo, baked potato, and a beef cut that the phone ap could not translate. We suspected a problem when the chef could be seen salting on the BBQ with a restaurant sugar dispenser. The t-bones were rare but the other cut arrived on its own small griller so we were able to use it to add more cooking to our cuts. But that third chunk of meat was so salty it was sent back. It literally was like putting a spoonful of salt in your mouth. There was a ring of dried white salt around it on the grill. Terrible.
Anyway we received a new one without salt. We sliced it like fillets to get it thin enough to cook on the small grill as it arrived quite blue rare.
The wine was good enough for this town and they seem to be knowledgeable about the Chilean liquid quality as hundreds of empties are displayed on the wall as if in a cellar.
The Parrillada bills itself as a place for those with a passion meat, and it uses imported Argentinian beef. But this place needs to try and help itself. Try offering some BBQ sauce, even black pepper could help. Oh yes, even the salad was salted before it arrived at the table! Marginally achieved, but the best meat on the table was the chorizo.
It is a good thing there were many locals eating there because word will travel in the expat community. This will not be a popular spot for expats used to seeing these same prices on a good tasting piece of meat. Too bad this is as good as the locals can buy.
