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El Sabor Boliviano, Bolivian on Backlick Road in Springfield


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Lo and behold, the Backlick area of Springfield defined by Brookfield Plaza and nearby plazas up and down and across Backlick is home to some decent, even above-average food from Korea, Thailand, Peru, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Greece....and now, Bolivia!

Yes, saltenas are to be had in Springfield!

I visited El Sabor Boliviano for lunch today, and was confronted with a vast menu of Bolivian items, including "platos de la fin de semana" or weekend plates. I'll get to the rest of the menu on subsequent visits, but today I had to tuck into a beef saltena, a chicken saltena and a cheese empanada. The people running the place did not have enough mastery of the English language to help me figure out the "merger" with Village Chicken, but apparently all of Village Chicken's menu items are also available here.

The saltenas were very good. The crust was about the standard, like I had at Tutto Bene, with a bit of crunch and sweetness. Inside, both the chicken and the beef version were loaded with juices -- be careful if you get carry out and try to eat it in your car! -- and were filled with meat (a bit sparse) and potatoes and peas and hard-cooked eggs...and...a single olive (with pit!) in each one. The cheese empanada was also good, with a nice cheesy flavor but hardly-visible cheese. But the three items, with a coke, came to just under eight bucks, and I left nicely filled and very happy.

The menu is vast, with daily specials, soups, weekend specials, and plenty to entice me back a few times. There doesn't appear to be any alcohol on the menu, at least yet, but the news here is that saltenas are now in Springfield, and I'm loving it.

[Next door is Spices of Asia Bazaar, and I wandered in for a quick drive-by. What I saw was four aisles of very clean and neatly arranged food products from southern Asia, including an entire wall of beans-rice-flour-grains, and if I knew anything about how to cook this genre of food, I'd be here regularly. I couldn't help but imagine that if this place had a halal butcher in the back, it would probably drive about a half dozen halal markets in the general area out of business.]

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Thanks for the report. Will have to check this out soon.

From the people at Delia's....Village Chicken is apparently owned by the same people who own the Italian place Milano's in the plaza behind Whole Foods in Springfield (where Asian Grill is located). Whether or not the same owner is involved with this current Village Chicken, or sold it to the El Sabor Boliviano people, will be investigated in more detail once the language barrier can be surmounted. One theory by the Delia's crowd is that the El Sabor Boliviano people moved into the space and kept the Village Chicken equipment and menu in place under some arrangement with the owner of Milano's.....

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Had a nice lunch of one beef and one chicken saltena today. Tasty with a slight sweetness along with an underlying flavor of warm spices, although I don't think anyone could tell the difference between the two if blindfolded. As noted above very juicy so proceed with caution. Not at all bad for about $5.

Picked up a menu and they have a list of $10 dishes that are available on weekends only. Here are some of the items:

Chicharron

Lechon

Enrollado

Escabeche

Lomo Borracho

Soltero

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Just curious, but did yours have an olive inside, complete with pit? That just strikes me as a dangerous ingredient to use in a saltena....

Concur that it was difficult to discern major flavor differences between the beef and the chicken saltena, but both were pleasant and the price is right. Can't wait to try the weekend menu sometime soon....

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Just curious, but did yours have an olive inside, complete with pit? That just strikes me as a dangerous ingredient to use in a saltena....

It's not dangerous if you're expecting it, and I'd vigorously protest against any salteña that doesn't contain at least one unpitted olive (cf: clafoutis).

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Just curious, but did yours have an olive inside, complete with pit? That just strikes me as a dangerous ingredient to use in a saltena....

Concur that it was difficult to discern major flavor differences between the beef and the chicken saltena, but both were pleasant and the price is right. Can't wait to try the weekend menu sometime soon....

They all had an olive and each olive had a pit.

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I finally found an English speaker at El Sabor Bolviano today and found out more about the ownership situation.

First, the people at Milano's told me that Village Chicken was not owned by them, so the people at Delia's were misinformed. Then I went to El Sabor Boliviano today and asked them what the situation was. As it was explained to me, it's two owners and two restaurants under the same roof. On weekdays, it's Village Chicken with El Sabor Boliviano offering its daily fare of saltenas and empanadas and a few nice menu options. On weekends, the Village Chicken menu sign hanging over the counter is turned around so nobody can see it, and it's all El Sabor Boliviano with the extended Bolivian offerings.

Two different restaurants, two different owners, one roof. Somewhere down the line I'll be betting on a buyout....

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I finally found an English speaker at El Sabor Bolviano today and found out more about the ownership situation.

First, the people at Milano's told me that Village Chicken was not owned by them, so the people at Delia's were misinformed. Then I went to El Sabor Boliviano today and asked them what the situation was. As it was explained to me, it's two owners and two restaurants under the same roof. On weekdays, it's Village Chicken with El Sabor Boliviano offering its daily fare of saltenas and empanadas and a few nice menu options. On weekends, the Village Chicken menu sign hanging over the counter is turned around so nobody can see it, and it's all El Sabor Boliviano with the extended Bolivian offerings.

Two different restaurants, two different owners, one roof. Somewhere down the line I'll be betting on a buyout....

This certainly caused confusion yesterday. One person came in looked at the Village Chicken menu turned around had the look of confusion and left without a clue as to what was going on. Certainly a strange arrangement.

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Stopped in for carry-out tonight, and I think I broke the code.

Two restaurants under the same roof. Two different cash registers too -- Village Chicken on the left, El Sabor Boliviano on the right. If you want a soft drink, the fountain soda dispenser next to the Village Chicken cash register is where you get the Village Chicken drinks, and the large refrigerated case on the left wall with bottles and cans is where you get the El Sabor Boliviano drinks.

The young lady explaining it to me said the two owners are friends, and the Village Chicken owner is allowing his friend who owns El Sabor Boliviano to get an incubated head-start on his business. I asked her if El Sabor Boliviano was eventually going to get its own place, and she indicated that something to that effect was in the plans.

But back to the food. This is pretty good stuff, from the saltenas and empanadas to the daily specials, like (today) brochetta (skewed kabobs over rice with a side of typically Bolivian over-carb fries) and silpancho (breaded beef cutlet topped with a fried egg, over rice and, again, with roasted potatoes). For kicks, I invoked the Village Chicken cash register for a chicken souvlaki topped salad for girlfriend. All of this, only a few steps down the strip mall from Delia's. Thanks to Backlick Rd, I'll never have to set foot in a stupid Town Center again.

Where else in the DC area are you going to get rotisserie chicken, with notes of Greek all over the menu, accompanied by Bolivian dishes that are pretty darned good? At least until El Sabor Boliviano moves....

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El Sabor Boliviano is now the only resident of the space. The sign will soon be changed to reflect the new situation. Village Chicken 'incubated' El Sabor Boliviano and is now content to move back to its original and only place on Rolling Road at Old Keene Mill, behind Whole Foods.

I am munching on a Pecho sandwich from El Sabor Boliviano right now. It can easily feed two people -- it's built on an 8" diameter onion roll and looks like something the Primanti Brothers would dream up. In addition to the roll, the typical Bolivian carb redundancy includes rice and potatoes, and then a large breaded pork cutlet and a fried egg, topped with fresh salsa. It is pretty doggone good.

Also enjoyed some really good saltenas, both pollo and carne. This place is a just a few doors down from Delia's and probably merits a $20 Tuesday, but I believe the menu is actually more extensive on weekends. Nonetheless, the daily menu is now all Bolivian and has a chalkboard full of daily specials....

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This place is in full bloom, and serving up some of the best Bolivian food I've enjoyed around here.

Here's what $13.13 got me for lunch today.

A lovely chicken saltena with salsa verde.

A whopping platter of Lupping, which is tender and flavorful steak over Lima beans and potatoes, an ear of corn with the huge kernels indigenous to South America, and a salad of fresh cottage cheese with slivered onions and tomatoes and herbs.

A very nice meal all around.

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Sietsema gives a modicum of love to El Sabor Boliviano today....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030302840_2.html

I can't honestly disagree with the 1.5 * rating, but Tom didn't try too hard to like the place. The weekend menu is vast, and he barely mentioned a dish or two. I'm guessing he went when the stripped down weeknight menu was in play, because he neglected to mention some of the better of the dishes like lupping or brochetta....

It's definitely worth a try if you're in Springfield, but it's only a few doors down from some honest Mediterranean grub at Delia's....

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