A fellow diner at Chimborazo is going to be disappointed that I wrote this review. He sort of implied that he preferred if people didn’t know about this wonderful gem in northeast Minneapolis.
I’ve had lunch twice at Chimborazo. The first time was with my son. His Father’s Day present was to have lunch with me, one on one. I asked him to recommend a place. He’d eaten at Chimborazo with his wife and kids and thought I’d like it.
When I arrived, I walked in with another couple. They were seated at the table next to Benjamin and me. Their meal came first, and we commented on how wonderful it looked. They said that they lived in the neighborhood and really appreciated having a wonderful, authentic family-run restaurant that they could walk to. Then the guy said – I hope it doesn’t get discovered and overrun with customers.
I sort of understand his point of view. I remember Café Havana when it first started out as an authentic family-run Cuban restaurant. It was great. Eventually, it became so popular that it moved downtown and tried to become a hot spot for the in-crowd. Eventually it burned out and now is out of business.
However, I think the reverse is a bigger threat. Without spreading the word about how great Chimborazo is, it could whither and fade away. So here’s my review.
Chimborazo is great. On the visit with my son, I had two appetizers for my lunch. One was the beef empanada. It was served with a spicy sauce that reminded me of Argentine chimichurri sauce. The second appetizer was called ‘llapingachos.’ This was very unusual and very good. It was three cheese-filled potato pancakes, sort of like a knish only without the pastry. They were served on top of a fried egg and it came with a very tasty peanut sauce.
My son had the daily soup and sandwich special, which he liked very much. Overall, I liked Chimborazo so much that I suggested it as a place for a lunch meeting with a co-worker a couple weeks later. This time, I had the soup and sandwich special. The sandwich was a spicy chicken and was very tasty. My co-worker had a shrimp dish called encocado – shrimp in a coconut sauce served with rice and a plantain.
It’s easy to rave about Chimborazo. The food is great and the prices are modest. I really want to return again and try it for dinner.
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