My Guatemala Restaurant

This place has to be the pride of the guatemalan immigrants in Rhode Island. I know the Guatemalan looked very pleased we were so impressed with the place. You walk into a wood paneled room with a large topographical map of Guatemala, a large Guatemalan flag, pictures from el Peten and other Guatemalan sites. The bar has Quetzales coins glued to it, nice touch. The place is big, not huge, but probably 35 tables or more. There wasn't a lot of people there, just one gringo as we walked in and a large table in the rear room with about 10 people. Mostly gringos, except for a woman that was explaining the food to the others, so she must've been from Guatemala.

The Gringo said it was definitely a family type restaurant, covered in Guatemalan knick-knacks, dolls, posters, etc. Half the tables are booths and half regular tables. It didn't smell that great as we walked in, but it didn't smell in the restaurant area. It had like 5 TVs showing the Red Sox game and the mexican soap opera.

The menus were just brilliant. Extra colorful, chock full of pictures from the 80s of the most beautiful places in Guatemala. The Gringo said it felt like a travel brochure, like you could just hop on a plane after eating. It was both in English and Spanish.

The food is similar to mexican food, that is if you're familiar with mexican food. Lots of meats, pupusas, tamales, chicken, stews. We ordered a gigantic dish called a "Parrillada" and a "Pupusa". We also wanted to have Guatemalan beer, called "Gallo Famosa", but they were out of them, so we settled for the closest thing, Corona. The Guatemalan noted that the beer was really cold and they gave you frosted mugs. Sweet.

As we were waiting for our food, we got the usual chips with salsa. They tasted homemade, yellow and red. 2 salsas. The spicy one was made of Chile de Arbol, which has an earthy taste, strong, but fades away. The other one was a mild tomato based one, very mild.

We also received complementary broth bowls before our meal. Sweet tasting broth, not beefy at all, with a chunk of corn and Chayote. Very tasty. The Guatemalan said that the broth comes from a gigantic pot where they may cook chicken, beef, vegetables like celery, corn, chayote, onion, and a lot of other stuff.

PARRILLADA
A parrillada is traditionally a large amount of food that is split between 2 or 3 people and mostly consists of items that have been cooked in a parrilla, which is the same as a grill. This one was served on a cutting board about 18" x 10", just huge. It had soft supple skirt steak, an intense tasting serving of pork in achiote, a tender chicken drumstick and thigh, one piece of strong and slightly spicy chorizo, a piece of the best longaniza I've had in a long time, a small serving of black beans, white rice, guacamole, and a salad made with lettuce (iceberg of course), beets, cream and crumbled soft cheese. Damn, everything was just outstanding. The skirt steak had nice grill marks and it was just so tasty. The pork tasted like it had marinated in the achiote for years, it was a knockout. The chicken had grill marks, but it was very moist inside. The Guatemalan asked and the waitress said they par-boiled it first before grilling, probably in the broth we just had. All in all, it was so much food we didn't finish it all.

PUPUSA
A pupusa it's a thick round disc or bread of corn masa, that is cooked in a pan. The Gringo noticed it was similar to a gyro bread. It was stuffed with the Loroco plant and cheese. Covered in a pickled cabbage that wasn't sour, but more sweet. Very nice tasting indeed, just mild but great.

TAMAL OF CHIPILIN
Since I didn't bring my wife to this meal, I had to make up so I got her a tamal with chipilin. If you don't know what a tamal is, it's a large chunk of corn masa, stuffed with whatever, then wrapped in corn husk or banana leafs, then steamed. This one had c and cheese. Chipilin tasted like spinach, maybe a bit more sour. Chipilin it's a legume, and its leafs are used for cooking in central america. She had it the next day, and it was still moist and very good.

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PARRILLADA: 5 out of 5 (Everybody)
PUPUSA: 5 out of 5 (Gringo and Mexican. The Guatemalan didn't try it, he was too full)
TAMAL DE CHIPILIN: 5 out of 5 (Mexican and wife)
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AMBIANCE: 5 OUT OF 5
AUTHENTICITY: 5 OUT OF 5
PRICES: Also cheap. The Parrillada was $25, the Pupusa was $2.50 and the beers only $3.

We so recommend this place. The place was just cool, lots of love put into it, and of course, the food was great. We have to come back and try something different.

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MY GUATEMALA RESTAURANT
Google Map
1049 Atwells Ave.
Providence, RI
401-621-9147
Open 7 days a week