The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘The Corner of Flavor’
El Rincon Del Sabor brings Latin American flavor to the shoreline
WESTBROOK — Each empanada served at El Rincon Del Sabor is made fresh daily. From making the flaky dough and tasty filling, to crimping the turnover to create the chicken, beef or cheese-filled pastry, it’s all is done by hand.
“We have some that are ready to eat, but if a customer wants to wait for them, we will fry,” says Maria Coello, daughter of owners Irma Castro and German Coello.
The empanadas are the most recent addition to the menu of this Ecuadorian restaurant, open since late spring.
They, like all the eatery’s offerings, are “the freshest we can make them,” says Maria Coello.
El Rincon Del Sabor, translated into English, means “The Corner of Flavor.”
The daily lunch and dinner menu, handwritten on a white board with blue, green and red markers, has the items in Spanish on the left-hand side and the English translation on the right-hand side.
Castro, taking a break from preparing the food, talks about making the food, her comments translated from Spanish to English by her daughter.
“She enjoys making food,” says Coello. “She enjoys being here. She wants to give people the best of the best.”
Offerings include Aguado de gallina (a thick chicken and rice soup with spices), Encocado de camaron (shrimp simmered in coconut sauce), Hornado/Pernil (pulled pork), Madura con queso (sweet plantains stuffed with cheese) and Quimbolitos (sweet steamed cupcake) and ensaladas (salads).
There are also homemade fruit thirst quenchers made with fresh coconut, pineapple, passion fruit and mango and desserts including tres leche (milk cake) and tres leches con coco (coconut milk cake), gelatina defresca (strawberry jello) and tiramisu.
Another sign announces “Lunes a Viernes Lonch Especial, sopa + arroz + bedbida (Monday to Friday lunch special, soup + rice + drink).
Open seven days a week, the meals on Saturday and Sunday vary a bit.
There is Guatita, a popular Ecuadorian meal. Known as tripe stew, in English, this stew includes tripe which is edible cow stomach lining, potatoes and fresh herbs.
Shrimp Ceviche, Encebollado de pescado (Ecuadorian tuna fish soup) and Ecuadorian churrasco (steak with fried egg) also are offered on the weekends.
“The white rice and the beans with gravy remind me of my grandmother,” says patron Michele Cruz, who is half Puerto Rican.
“There’s not a lot of places on the shoreline that you can get food like that,” the Clinton resident adds. “They’re the real deal. It’s authentic.”
Clinton resident Jeff Supeau has tried just about everything on the menu, including the tripe.
“Once I stopped in, I was hooked,” says Clinton resident Jeff Supeau. “I’ve been seven or eight times.”
As for the Guatita (tripe stew), “it was good,” he says. “I don’t know if I’d get it over the pork and the steak and the fish and everything else, but maybe once in a while to switch it up.”
The Coello family hails from Sucua, Ecuador. Irma Castro has been in the United States for 28 years and worked many years in the hospitality industry, included employment with Magnolia Kitchen and Jordan Paige Food Enterprises.
El Rincon de Sabor is the family’s first foray into restaurant ownership.
As Castro reflects on El Rincon Del Sabor, she says, through translation, “She always dreamed of having a kitchen to be able to cook in, to make good food for people and for people to feel like they’re at home, to feel like they’re cozy at this place.”
Coello feels exactly the same way.
“We want people to have a good experience, to feel at home when they walk in here or when they eat our food, to make them feel warm inside,” says Coello.
Since opening, the restaurant has established a steady stream of regulars. While much of the business is takeout, there is room for 40 people to sit in the sparsely decorated dining room at tables and booths.
“I work with a lot of Latino people and they’ve inspired me to try some Latino foods,” says Brian Wilson, picking up his lunch of pork, served with plantains and yellow rice.
“So, when this place opened up, I came the first day it opened,” he adds. “It’s just delicious.”
While he never considered himself an adventurous diner, the Clinton resident now stands in front of the hot, steaming trays of Latin American food and says he’s tried just about everything.
“I’ve had the pork, beef, they had a chicken and mushroom dish one time that was really good,” he says. “Their stuffed plantains are really good. These Tortilla de Yuca are really good.”
To see customers returning and enjoying the food is satisfying to the staff.
“It’s very motivational,” Coello says.
For many, El Rincon Del Sabor is a welcome addition to the town, offering food that is hard to find in the area.
“I love the food, it’s absolutely amazing,” says Kellie Allen, holding one order of pork with yellow rice and another of stewed chicken.
“I’m dropping off one to the fiancé and one for myself on my way to work,” she says.
The Old Saybrook resident says this is one of her family’s favorite restaurants.
“I love Spanish food and there’s nowhere around here to get it from, other than here,” she says. “So, when I found this spot, I try to come as much as I can.
Cashing out, to get to work, Wilson says, “I love it, I wish I could come more often.”
This enthusiasm is what keeps the family coming back every day to serve their homemade food.
“We are building relationships with the community,” says Coello.
“It’s just been so wonderful to be here and then just have someone walk in and say, ‘Oh, my God, the food was delicious. Oh, my God, you guys are going to do great here,’” says Coello. “It’s just so welcoming. It means a lot to me, to my family.”
⏩ El Rincon Del Sabor, 79 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, 860-6649066; elrincondelsaborwestbrook@gmail.com; Facebook El Rincon Del Sabor.