Ecuador: La Toquilla

Time to Toq Up
CT Food Tour of the World at La Toquilla, Manchester
May 2024

I have written many times on this here website that I have no business writing about food. And I really have no business writing about foods and cultures from countries and peoples I know nothing about.

Yet here I am again, at La Toquilla, an Ecuadorian restaurant that specializes in the foods of the coastal Manabi province.

But I brought a ringer. An insider. An… Ecuadorean.

My man, Fernando Velez. I don’t usually put my friends on blast here, let alone include last names, but Fernando is different. You see, he owns and runs Chokaico in Avon, one of New England’s premier chocolate shops.

And he loves his homeland, its food, and La Toquilla.

Now, does he love La Toquilla because it’s the only authentic Ecuadorean eatery in Hartford County? Or because it’s legit? We shall see…

We were also joined by our little gray-haired gang of 50-something friends who are down for eating different foods. We’re a funny lot because we’re 4 white dudes with Irish, English, German descent with a Slovenian guy for some flavor. Hey, at least we have Fernando.

When the space became available the Ecuadorean owners bought it and promptly brought Roberta Alarcon up from Ecuador to chef the joint. Okay, okay Fernando, I get it now. This place is most definitely legit.

We took a seat on their little patio, which does a great job at hiding the parking lot and surrounding buildings. It is, dare I say, cute? The inside is very nicely appointed and the bar it really cool looking. This place came about because one of the owners, who has worked at the Peruvian staple La Piolin in Hartford as well as Rasham Pakistani in Windsor, wanted Ecuadorean food here.

So he helped make it happen in Manchester.

We sat and Fernando talked to the server in Spanish. Explained our intent and essentially told her to tell the chef to give us the works. Give us Ecuador. Or, more specifically, give us Manabi, Ecuador.

Manabi includes beautiful beaches and the cuisine has a lot of seafood and plantains. In fact, plantains, peanuts, coconut, cheese, and rice show up in every other dish from this region.

Some of us ordered blackberry drinks, which were delicious. (La Toquilla had no liquor license when we visited, but you can get “the best water in the world” here: Güitig sparkling water, “from the soul of the Andes.” This is not cheap water, but it is Ecuadorean water. And it is very good water.)

A toquilla, by the way, is a straw hat. And believe it or not, you absolutely know what kind of hat it is: A toquilla straw hat, also known as a Panama hat, is a brimmed straw hat that originated in Ecuador and is made from the woven fibers of the toquilla palm. These hats are known for being handcrafted, lightweight, and durable, often featuring a distinctive weave pattern. The production of these hats involves skilled artisans who intricately weave the fibers from the young leaves of the palm.

If you’re curious – don’t mind us eating some delicious plantain chips with incredible dipping sauces – when Teddy Roosevelt wore one in 1906 at a visit to the Panama Canal, the dopey American media took note and started calling it a “Panama hat,” which is what it is called today. But these are Ecuadorean hats. Know this. Heck, in 1944 after the hat was worn in Casablanca and other major Hollywood movies, it became Ecuador’s top export.

Beef empanadas arrived next and they were perfectly made, crispy fried goodness in the right areas, soft and warm innards elsewhere. This place serves breakfast, by the way, and its menu is not your typical morning fare. Every dish pretty much has a base of mashed plantains and then added proteins in various combinations: pork, beef, eggs, etc. I’m sure it’s delicious.

Now the real food started coming and my word, such beautiful presentation here. (Everyone gets this, not just Connecticut-famous bloggers with Ecuadorean friends.)

Ceviche of course, a whole “pescado frito” (fried fish, in this case I believe it was corvina), and a beef tripe stew with rice. It all sounds pretty darn Ecuadorean to me.

And it was all fantastic. Of course I don’t eat tripe, like, ever. But this tripe was light years better than the few tripe dishes I’ve had in my life. The fish was light and white and flavorful. And the ceviche was as good as you’d expect from an authentic Ecuadorean joint that specializes in seafood.

The last dish we had was the parrillada la Toquilla. A parrillada is a mixed grill, with a variety of meats cooked together. Here, we got chunks of chicken, beef, pork chop, sausage, and shrimp. All 5 things need to be cooked to different temperatures (ideally), but it all came out sizzling together, showing marks of being grilled over charcoal. Sure, the pork was a little overdone, but for the most part, no complaints from the boys.

We skipped the flan and the coffee – probably a sin at an Ecuadorean place serving Ecuadorean coffee with a chef that apparently has forearm tattoos dedicated to coffee – but we did. Even Fernando.

Another wonderfully successful night out. Some new to me foods were corvino, the unique vinegary salsa, a good tripe dish, and of course the Ecuadorean sparkling water. Our bill came to an incredibly manageable $166, reminding me again how much alcohol adds to restaurant tabs!

Although there’s no liquor license, Urban Lodge Brewing is a walk across the parking lot and is a great spot to grab a beer and chill. So that’s exactly what we did.

La Toquilla
CTMQ’s CT World Food Tour