Chase the chill away at Latinoamerica Unida
Turn down Veterans Way, off of Concession Street in Cambridge, and pull into the parking lot across from the gas station. Walk to the back of the unassuming old building and you’ll find a spot that makes local Mexican food lovers’ hearts skip a beat.
Inside Latinoamerica Unida’s pumpkin- and sandcoloured walls, decorations brush-marked in gold, avocado and cobalt dot the room, and red, white and green papel picado (doily-like bunting) flutter when the door opens. Add the Mexican music that wafts throughout, and the chilly, dreary urban grey is chased off to an easily forgotten place.
Not far from Cambridge’s City Hall, Guadeloupe Sanchez Diaz’s small restaurant has been a go-to place for more than seven years. A native of Toluca, about 65 kilometres from Mexico City, her casual and welcoming space offers tastes of her home country’s regional flavours.
We snag one of the few free tables in the 30-seat restaurant. The other diners — families, couples, friends and singles — seem to know the score. They grab bottles of Mexican pop or juice from the cooler and, unlike us, know the bottle opener sits on top. Servers deliver wine, cervezas and pours from the tequila shelf; margarita glasses are at the ready. I get a pop (mandarin Jarritos, $2.50) while my companion waits for his coffee ($2.50).
The menu is packed with familiar foods — quesadillas, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, chimichangas — ranging from creamy to crunchy, from placid to fiery. Meat eaters have plenty of choice (save for those craving seafood or lamb), and vegetarians won’t go wanting.
Complex and well-seasoned flavours — savoury, sharp, fruity, warm and earthy — draw from Mexico’s length and breadth. The chimichangas (deep-fried burritos) are from Sonora in the north. The mole (pronounced mo-lay) is from Atocpan in the central area. The cochinita (slowroasted pork) is from the Mayan Riviera in the south. Small Mexican producers make some of the kitchen’s flavour bases and salsas, while other ingredients are sourced closer to home. A Toronto butcher prepares the chorizo sausage. Mexican Mennonites in southern Ontario make the corn tortillas.
Dishes arrive as they are ready. Warm and shatteringly crisp tortilla chips accompany a small earthenware casserole filled with the cheese-topped savoury, soft Frijoles Refritos Con Queso ($7.99). The Quesadilla (chicken, $7.99), a dappled wheat tortilla enveloping mozzarella and well-seasoned shredded chicken, balances the filling’s mild richness with the piquant salsa (spicy, as requested).
The Chimichanga (chorizo, $12.99) is a bronzed parcel, chubby with refried beans and chunks of oregano’d sausage. Over top, the confetti of chopped onion, tomato and coriander leaf plays off the just-sharp-enough sauce; squiggles of sour cream and guacamole balance the plate’s flavour and colour.
The mahogany-hued smoky sauce nestles the Enchiladas Rojas (beef, $12.99). Chopped onions, melted cheese and sour cream top the fan of three folded corn tortillas filled with seasoned ground beef. Amber rice accompanies the chimichanga and enchiladas, while the latter also sports a dollop of refried beans with tortilla chips.
Churros ($2.50 each) are for dessert. Those long cinnamon-dusted ridged batons bring together a crispy outside, a slightly gooey dulce de leche inside and a lovely cakey/doughnut-like softness in between.
To settle the check (cash and debit only) — and to get to the dining area — you pass Latinoamerica’s market corner. Home cooks find Mexican and Latin American ingredients and foods such as packets of achiote paste, tins of sliced cactus, jars of horchata and, for those who want to make tamales, sacks of masa flour and bags of dried corn husks.
With two people working a busy floor, there were a few wobbles, but service was generally fine. Latinoamerica Unida (and Cactus, its sister eatery in Waterloo) brings another dimension to our already tasty Latin American restaurant scene. Bringing flavours from the mosaic of Mexico’s regional cuisines, Sanchez Diaz does exactly what she’s set out to do: create delicious food, using carefully sourced ingredients, in a friendly, casual and cosy spot.