LA ESQUINA: A TRENDY SPACE IN GUATEMALA CITY WITH A VARIETY OF FOOD STATIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
The Cost - $18
The Atmosphere – La Esquina means the corner in Spanish and as you might guess, it is located on the corner of a very pretty street which happens to be in an area of Guatemala City called Cuatro Grados, a tiny but trendy district filled with restaurants and bars. Its interior features a number of different food stalls, each producing different kinds of food from tacos to grilled meats to decadent milkshakes to a full bar serving cocktails, beer, and wine. It is a place for people of all ages to come and enjoy a meal in a modern, chic setting and it even has a small play area for kids.
Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala, is the largest city in the country and home to a large majority of the country’s commercial dealings. It isn’t known for being as much of a tourist destination as the country’s former capital, Antigua, but most visitors will at least pass through Guatemala City on their way in and/or out of the country. While exploring what it has to offer, I visited La Esquina, a trendy food “market” in one of the more upscale parts of the city.
The Order – Strawberry Daiquiri, Garnachas, and Tacos Al Pastor.
The Great – Though garnachas are originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, they are a very popular appetizer throughout Guatemala. La Esquina’s version of the traditional dish follows the same general form of the original garnachas by using a fried corn tortilla and topping it with cabbage, cheese, cilantro, and onion; however, instead of a more generic stewed meat it uses cochinta pibil, a Mayan dish from the Yucatán consisting of slow-roasted marinated pork, and was also topped with avocado. The meat was soft, juicy, and flavorful and was an excellent way to tie this dish to the strong Mayan culture and history of Guatemala. There were three garnachas to an order making this a good dish to share as an appetizer or a great snack to have alongside a beer or cocktail.
The Good – I don’t usually order tacos when I am not in Mexico because I find that they are a disappointment compared to the real deal. However, the New York Times specifically mentioned La Esquina’s Tacos Al Pastor and so I ordered them. Served three to an order, the meat was good, but it didn’t blow me away. While I did like the avocado-based salsa and the pico de gallo served on the side, I was not a huge fan of the pineapple salsa that came on the tacos which didn’t provide enough pineapple flavor. La Esquina also serves pork rib, shrimp, chicken pibil, and other types of tacos and while I wasn’t dissatisfied with the al pastor tacos, I would definitely try one of the others the next time around.
The Okay – The Strawberry Daiquiri was not my favorite, but I am partly, maybe even mostly, to blame for it. I’m a fan of cocktails that use natural fruit rather than fruit juices or artificial flavors and so I selected the strawberry version of the daiquiri because it was one of the only ones that used fresh fruit. Where I may have gone wrong is when I asked them not to add sugar to the drink, something I sometimes do since many daiquiris are just loaded with it. What I ended up getting was a tart drink of mostly rum with sliced strawberries. The daiquiri was not blended but rather served with ice and was tart. Had it been blended, I believe it would have tasted much better as juice from the strawberries would have combined with the rum to cut the taste of alcohol and the tartness of the drink but as it was served, it was not a very enjoyable drink.
The Verdict – La Esquina provides a very nice setting to enjoy a lunch or a more casual dinner and has a decent variety of food and drink offerings because of the number of food stations in its space. It doesn’t serve a lot of traditional Guatemalan food, but I would recommend it for lunch, happy hour, or a quicker, more casual dinner.