Tuesdays with TT: Barros Luco

Over the past couple of months I have become quite the food blogger. I or (CT) bring a camera to every restaurant we go to. Since Yvo has been busy with school, I am stepping up and will now have a weekly column, Tuesdays with TT. Bon Appetit!

A couple of months ago, Living Social came out with a deal for $15 worth of food at Barros Luco for $7. Barros Luco is a Chilean fast food place that opened up last summer and had mostly positive review on Midtown Lunch. I have become a big fan of the group-buying deal websites that have been popping up like weeds; Living Social, GroupOn, Scoop St., etc. At first they seem too good to be true, but so far so good.

Since I don’t drink soda anymore, I got a mango nectar. It was good, a little too sweet for me, but contrasted the saltiness of the food nicely.

Since we had to spend a minimum of $15 and never had Chilean food, CT & I decided to get a couple different things to share.

The first thing we got was a baked chicken empanada($5).

The chicken was dry so the accompanying salsa was a necessity. Inside there were a few green olives, which CT promptly removed due to her hatred of them, so more for me.

The first thing we got was a baked chicken empanada($5).

CT adds: The menu says a green olive garnish, which one would assume means sprinkled on top or to the side of the dish. However, these were sneakily added INSIDE the empanada… fortunately TT bit into it first!

(Apologies for the blurriness of the inside shot).

Next up was the Vienesa, “a Chilean style frankfurter.” Since I am not a fan of sauerkraut, we went with the Beef Italiano ($3.50). It was my first hotdog ever to have mayo on it let alone avacado too. The hotdog itself was pretty generic, but with the condiments it was a great dog.

The main event was the Chilean sandwich that we heard so much about on Midtown Lunch. We chose the steak Chacarero Completo ($7.49).

This is not your ordinary sandwich with the addition of string beans. It also has tomato, mayo, cheese, avocado, and banana peppers. It was a tasty sandwich, but except for the banana peppers, the individual component’s flavors get lost. Also, this sandwich is not an eat-on-the-run kind of meal. It was quite messy with the different types of veggies lubricated with avocado and mayo.

CT & I also got an order of sweet potato fries ($3.19). They are good for you, right? At least that’s what we tell ourselves. Much better than regular fries. The fries unfortunately were mushy, but we still greedily gobbled them up.

All in all, it was a nice change of pace for the usual fast food options. Am I in a rush to get back there? No. The flavors were good and it is a nice place to try if you happen to be in the area.