Empanadas and Chimichurri Sauce

Argentina was another kiosk that we skipped on our first day because it was so crowded. We looked forward to trying out the snacks there as they looked really good.


Their menu had 2 snacks and a lot of wine:


We started with the grilled beef skewer with chimichurri sauce and boniato puree ($5):


We're big fans of chimichurri sauce. It comes with our rotisserie chicken at one of our neighborhood spots and we put that and green hot sauce all over our chicken (and plantains, and salad, and rice, and beans...) because we love the sauce. Not sure we have ever had boniatos before. Boniatos are white sweet potatoes common in South American and Caribbean cooking, known for being not as sweet as the orange sweet potatoes and a little fluffier and more delicate (according to Wikipedia and the festival mobile site).

M's take - The skewer was OK. As mentioned previously, I'm not a big steak eater, so I didn't really like the texture of the meat on the skewer. But the chimichurri sauce was excellent. Mixed with the boniato puree (which, at the time, I thought was mashed potatoes, since I hadn't read the menu very carefully), that was one delicious combination.

A's take - The skewer tasted really good. As with every other bit of meat, it was overcooked, but the chimichurri sauce I could actually taste. It was a little buttery and chock full of garlic. The boniato tasted a lot like regular mashed potatoes as M mentioned. That could be because it's not overly sweet, and the chimichurri sauce added a luscious buttery flavor.

We also tried the beef empanada ($3.75):

One large empanada
Inside the empanada
M's take - The empanada was also delicious. It was filled with stewed ground beef and peppers. So tasty. I've loved empanadas since the first time I tried them, back in school when one of our classmates of Argentinian descent brought in (homemade) empanadas. This empanada did not disappoint.

A's take - We really love empanadas, and we try to get one whenever we see them when we try a new restaurant. This empanada was very tasty. The crust was a bit harder than we expected, but the filling was excellent. I can't say for sure what seasonings they added, but it was at least something I could taste.

We concluded that the perfect combination, if we were to order something else from the Argentina kiosk, would be an empanada topped with chimichurri sauce. I don't know if they would let us add the sauce since the kiosks are standard order assembly lines, but maybe they would if it weren't busy. That would be so good.

Favorite dishes at the Argentina kiosk:
A: Empanada
M: Empanada