Photo Credit: Edú
The language instructors at my Spanish school invited the students to join them for happy hour last night. Some of the instructors were hungry since they usually eat dinner at 9 or 10 in Chile. They ordered a few plates of bife a lo pobre to share. This consists of fried beef and onions over french fries with friend eggs on top. I love the concept of this dish, probably because it’s so close to an American breakfast.
When E. and I visited Valparaíso, we just happened to walk past a vegetarian restaurant named Jardín del Profeta (Viana 99 at the bottom of Cerro Alegre) that served a really good soy burger a lo pobre. We heaped merquen, the Chileans’ favorite dried red pepper spice, on top. It was the ultimate comfort food.
We have become addicted to a sauce called “ají chileno” which is a thicker and saltier version of regular hot sauce. It contains an admirable amount of heat for a culture that doesn’t like hot and spicy food. I started buying it in jumbo size so I don’t have to buy a small container every week. It’s probably not the healthiest condiment in the world.
Another good condiment is called pebre. This dipping sauce is often given as an appetizer with small, white buns. The ingredients are equal to pico de gallo but it contains lemon juice and vinegar and has a more blended (rather than chunky) consistency.
What condiment can you not live without?
9 Comments
April 25, 2009 at 8:13 pm
The first dish is actually (in my mind) Argentinean.
It’s called milanesa a caballo. 
April 25, 2009 at 8:53 pm
your posts make me hungry. i want aji chileno. now.
April 26, 2009 at 3:17 pm
My favorite Argentine condiment is definitely chimichurri, but my favorite condiment of all time… Oh, that’s tough! It’s a toss-up between hot sauce and ketchup. From those two condiments you can make so many other sauces!
More food posts, please.
April 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm
That totally looks like a breakfast you’d find at a typical greasy spoon!
April 26, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I LOVE pebre. I wish they would sell it pre-made so that I could buy it from Jumbo!
I’m not such a fan of things a lo pobre, unless I’m jonesing for junk. Which does ocassionally happen, I’ll admit.
April 27, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] S. A. Travel Suggestions Favorites: Chilean Food [...]
April 27, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I love hot sauces, too. I don’t use a lot of prepared condiments, but I do love a hot Thai chili sauce, or even just a hot pepper sauce. And there’s always pesto, of course!
June 21, 2009 at 11:33 pm
[...] to try Peruvian dishes that veggies wouldn’t normally get to taste. Some examples are Bistec a lo Pobre and Lomo Saltado. I had natural yogurt drizzled with honey that was heavenly. Even better, the [...]
August 3, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I love this topic of conversation, I hope more people do what I do with my partner .. send food to different places in our country and outside of it.
When you has been out of the country, the flavors are the best way to keep the memories of the world!
saludos desde chile