If you, too, have seldom met a potato pancake you didn’t like and would be open to exploring a version beyond that offered in Jewish delis or Polish buffets–as wonderful as those are–consider the llapingacho, the potato pancake of Equador.
Ecuadoran cuisine has Spanish and native (descendents of the Inca) influences and a wide range of ingredients, among them the ever-versatile spud.
Llapingachos–sometimes spelled as yapingachos, which is how English speakers would say it–are potatoes, onion and white cheese respectively cooked, sauteed and crumbled, then blended together. Some recipes add egg yolk, maybe cornstarch, some spices. The pancakes are usually topped with a peanut sauce.
La Pena Restaurant, 4212 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-545-7022, features non-greasy plantain chips, good sangria and, among the entrees, llapingachos. For $11.50, you get mild sausage, fried egg, avocado and rice along with the pancake. For Americans this might seem to be a sausage plate with a potato pancake on the side. Just the opposite. The llapingachos are the main act, orangeish in color here due to the addition of a little oil made with crushed annato seeds.
Mi Ciudad at 3041 W. Irving Park Rd., 773-866-2066, serves its yapingachos as a $2.50 side dish with a salad of chopped onion and tomato.
At a restaurant called Delicias Crucita, 3314 W. Foster Ave. 773-539-4702, which means delicacies from the Crucita family, the llapingacho comes out as a bed of sturdy mashed potatoes studded with bits of green onion and cheese and seasoned with “secret spices.” Just think really tasty golden mashed potatoes. And while they are the star of the dish here, too, they come surrounded by typical Ecuadoran specialities such as roast pork, boiled hominy, crunchy roasted corn kernels, a fan of avocado slices and a tangy tomato and onion salsa. All for $8.
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