| Maite Catering Bringing Colombian Arepas and More to the Bay Constanza Ortiz of Maite Catering pretended to glare at me when I liken arepas to pupusas. Ortiz got her start with La Cocina two years ago, launching Maite Catering with a vision of making bite size treats with a little Latin flare. This is a transformation to get excited about. While arepas have crept into corners of the San Francisco food scene, Ortiz is determined to bring a bigger taste of Colombia to the Bay. She also realized that a bite wasn't enough and people simply wanted more. After lots of experimenting and plenty of positive feed back, Ortiz is making the jump to a dinner menu and simultaneously going all Colombian all the time. She admits, of course, that other Colombians put her food to its truest test, but she is passing with flying colors. Ajiaco, a Colombian chicken soup with corn and three kinds of potatoes, is of the utmost simplicity, but also has a flavor that is rarely reproduced outside of Bogota. "It is so rewarding how excited they are about this food from Colombia. Ortiz says, smiling, that it was the ajiaco that put them over the edge. Intriguing, no matter what, and certainly a way to switch up your soup. She recently did a tequila menu pairing at Tres Agaves -- "Who cares that we do not drink tequila in Colombia?" she says. "The food was all Colombian and people loved it. "My biggest goal is for people to try something different," she says. We get caught up in countries of origin again as she gives Chile credit for baked empanadas, an assertion many an Argentinian, including San Francisco's own El Porteño, might contest. Their praise for the patacones, (a sort of plantain pancake served with a wide range of toppings), tamales and other food from the mother country was anything but conservative. Colombian empanadas are fried and traditionally full of leftovers. Ortiz envisions teaching a cooking class at the SF FoodLab, where she has done a few dinner pop ups, to show people how empanadas are something they can make at home. Arepas are made with a cooked arepa flour, full of cheese and cooked on a buttered grill. Ortiz cannot pin down the flavor of guascas, only calling it "extremely different," though I've heard it likened to boiled peanuts. Ortiz is looking forward to the future, presently focusing on what revamping Maite Catering really entails and getting particularly excited for the San Francisco Street Food Festival. Maite Catering Bringing Colombian Arepas and More to the Bay |
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Maite Catering Bringing Colombian Arepas and More to the Bay
