This year marked the tenth anniversary of the annual Festival Latino, which is now one of the largest Latin@ festivals in the Midwest. Each year, the festival offers great food, good music, and lots of opportunities to have fun and to be among all kinds of Latin@s.

The Qué Pasa team enjoyed a number of dishes and refreshments from the many restaurants and eateries that participated, and we share our comments below.


ZenCha Tea Salon
This Short North tea salon offers teas from all over the world, but because they were in the Festival Latino they did something special. Their very original offering was a cold Yerba Mate tea with tropical fruits that proved quite refreshing on a very hot summer day. Yerba Mate is a highly caffeinated herbal tea that is common in the southern countries of South America. The bitterness of the tea was counteracted by the sweet flavors of the fruit. “Tea is drunk internationally,” said Wendy, manager of ZenCha, “We do this to reach out to the Latin@ community.” But don’t rush to the ZenCha Tea Salon expecting to have this tea. This was a “get-it-while-it’s-cold” opportunity only available during the Festival Latino.
(5 chiles)


Sabor Boricua
As the name suggests, this Puerto Rican stand (now a recently opened restaurant on Cleveland Avenue) offered a great variety of traditional Puerto Rican cooking to enjoy. First and foremost were the alcapurrias, which are similar to tamales in that they’re made of a masa, which in this case is yucca- or plantain-based, stuffed with savory beef, but they’re deep fried. These delicious fritters are prepared by mixing the grated yucca or plantain with grated yautía (taro root) to create the masa, which is tasty enough in itself when fried, but taking a bite of the meat inside makes it even better. Although fried foods aren’t too healthy, these are a delicious way to drop the diet for a moment.

Tostones
This is another favorite staple in Caribbean and Latin American cuisine made out of green plantain, which is cut into inch-thick rounds, fried, flattened with a tostonera and fried again. You can’t go wrong with tostones, and a little salt sprinkled on top brings out their crisp better-than-French-fries flavor.

Arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas)
This rice dish is a traditional Puerto Rican staple served mostly at Christmas. The rice is cooked along with the pigeon peas so that both are very tasty, and the version at Sabor Boricua didn’t disappoint. Plus, they also offered great-looking pit-roasted pork, or pernil, which we were too stuffed to taste but looked delicious.
(Overall 4 chiles)


King Taco Luis
This Mexican stand had what we were looking for to quench our thirst: the wonderful horchata. Depending on what country is serving the horchata, the rice-flour-based drink can taste of almonds or cinnamon. The horchata from King Taco Luis was very plentiful and refreshing.

Beef and Chicken Tacos
These were the traditional Mexican small tacos each served with two corn tortillas, and with the meat of choice. They had a salsa bar, which had salsas from mild to hot and additional add-ons, such as onion and cilantro. These taquitos were delicious.
(Overall 4 chiles)


Kakao Churros
Churros are a favorite dessert for all of the Qué Pasa team. Originally from Spain, the churros have been adopted by many Latin American countries with some variation. The churros at this stand came with a side of melted chocolate or dulce de leche (caramel) for dipping. Sabrosos.
(5 chiles)


At the Festival Latino, there are as many choices as there are tastes. Because some of the great foods you find there are only available during festival time, make sure you don’t miss it next year and try your favorite Latin@ cuisine.