La Hacienda - St Paul, MN

CLOSED

Sibley Plaza
2467 W. 7th Street

La Hacienda competes with a few other restaurants in this strip all. It brought back nostalgic memories of Toronto. La Hacienda as their menu says is "Your place for traditional Peruvian, Mexican, and Salvadorian Food". This is the type of place I treasure.


I've had Peruvian and Salvadorian food before in buffet style setting but this would be my first opportunity for a sit down meal with control over the choices. It was difficult deciding what to order because the menu, while having pictures of certain entrees, was written in Spanish with English translation but not much in the description of the dish contents.

For our Salvadorian choices, I chose the Carne Deshilada aka Shredded Beef and Eggs ($8.95), pictured above, and Pupusas ($2.50 each, we ordered two).

The Carne Deshilda was our favorite dish. The shredded beef, eggs, green peppers and onions combined had next texture and surprisingly a flavor overtone of a certain Cantonese dish (can't quite put my finger on it). There was no discernible heat/spiciness to the dish. The Deshilda was accompanied by warm soft corn tortillas, some of the best that I can recall having. The refried beans and the rice were bland.

Pupusas, the national dish of El Salvador, is like a pancake with filling - a thick corn tortilla outside with a choice of various fillings. I chose the cheese and beans. The warmth, freshness, the creamy filling and a hint of sweet banana made this a wonderful treat. The Curtido was a different taste consisting of red cabbage, jalapeño peppers, and some small flecks of cilantro.

We saw a daily special offer on the storefront window and asked what that special was. The waitress pointed out the Tallarin Saltado Con Res or Beef Pasta (normally $10.95 but on special for $6.99!), which then by default became our Peruvian choice. I'm not sure what made this Peruvian. The beef chunks was cooked in some form of a mellow tomato based sauce, again with no hint of heat. The beef was not fork tender but neither tough. Its texture was just right in context. The fettuccine style noodles came right, not overcooked.

I expected the vibrant freshness associated with the best Mexican food to be present with Peruvian and Salvadorian foods but it was absent. The waitress was very friendly and attentive, and that tempered how I felt about the food. Overall, the food was good  but lacked a Wow factor.

5/1/2008. Always eager to try something different, I chose the Cau Cau ($8.95), beef tripe with white rice, boiled potatoes and spices. What is the spice? To me, it tasted a bit like curry. The tripe was surprisingly tender so my jaw muscles didn't get a workout. The potatoes were cooked to perfection. The rice was also cooked to perfection and the cilantro enhanced the taste of the rice as well as the entire dish in a fresh, pleasant, and unexpected way. This was a very simple but comforting dish, eliciting childhood memories of good home cooking.

I'm not sure what it is about this place. Not only does the food bring back good memories, somehow I feel that when I'm here, I'm back home.