Colombia may be the land of patacón with hogao, but to understand how amazing these can be, you have to try the ones serving as appetizers at Las Violetas, on the roadside, in Tocancipá. Founded by Alfonso Chitiva in the early 90s, the constant of this place was to show every day that quality makes a difference.
The venue is a pleasant country restaurant with no paraphernalia or displays that distract from the food.. Their art is in grilling and, in some cases, near-consensus customer service.
The menu includes chunchullo (grilled, not fried), Cogua blood sausage, chorizo, and the now famous pork rinds. Kales have flats, churrasco, fillet, chorizo steakT-bone steak, the tip of the hip and the thick waist. There may be similar offerings on the roads of Sabana de Bogotá, but it’s worth stopping by at Las Violetas for its meat treats.
Alfonso’s restaurant was built with years of labor; its menu matures with ready-made hogao and blue cheese sauce, which has been captivating the palate since eight years ago, taking advice, passing through the filter of the test and This mistake left in a letter what was most applauded by the returning public.
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Alfonso Chitiva has worked in restaurants since he started his career. He says it was a fortune to work at a place in France where he learned about the service. He also spent time in an Italian kitchen, but his time at Carbón de Palo in the ’80s left his mark. steak place through perfection. In this classic, he learned to process meat and recognize suppliers.
In the 90s they offered him a lot in Tocancipá, at first he was selling homemade lunches. But this wasn’t his kitchen. He even admits that he lost so much money that his family even suggested he sell it and find a job.
But the same restaurant paved the way. Las Violetas’ first headquarters was across the road in front of the Leona brewery. Tocancipá then highlighted its potential as an industrial area, which gave it hope of reaching an audience of business people.
In fact, an engineer from that company believed him. This diner wanted to treat one of his colleagues to a more special lunch than his daily lunch, and he said to Alfonso, who responded: “Leave this to me, I will prepare something I want to do here.”
“I fixed a chorizo steak for him and her. baby beef -Don’t forget-. When they finished he said to me: Alfonso, I didn’t know you had these plates. “I’ll be back with the other engineers on Monday.”
Since the restaurant was a simple place, the guests were reluctant. “Do you know how you brought them here? –says Chitiva–. He told them: “If you don’t like it, I’ll invite you to Carbón de Palo later, paying for it.”
The first customers who “approved” of Chitiva’s barbecue profession arrived at noon and left at 5pm, happy to find a place to eat well in the area. By the end of the week there were more colleagues at the tables. Then the managers arrived and even Carlos Ardilla Lulle started eating at Las Violetas.
Alfonso emphasizes how difficult it is to get started. He knew the meat suppliers of the time and had a good eye for meat selection, but few believed him. He even went to Bogota on August 7 to buy the next day’s meat with the cash he received one day. At first he put her on public transport, then he bought a car. Over time, it created a supply chain.
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He became so well-known in Leona that they started hiring him for events to be held in a booth inside the factory. It was like Las Violetas having two headquarters and cabins inside the brewery that couldn’t cope despite expansions. It divided the team in two. He also had his wife, Olga Buitrago, who helped him develop recipes and run the restaurant. Their children were born and raised with Las Violetas.
“There was a lunch where Ardilla Lulle negotiated the sale of Leona to Juio Mario Santo Domingo. I served that lunch,” says Chitiva.
Just as one restaurant brought in another, so did one company bring in another. Las Violetas sometimes hosts events for 800 or more people. When he changed his headquarters, many customers got lost looking for him, but they eventually found their way. Las Violetas is still there, now bigger and open every day from 12 to 5 p.m. m (does not serve at night) and willing to offer well-processed national meat.
“I work with national beef and coastal cattle,” Chitiva says. “I knew how to treat him from the beginning. Preparing it well is nothing out of this world, but there is a science to it too. Now I’m taking the balls, even if they come in space you can’t turn them hard. When you hit or drop it, the meat tastes bitter. You caress the meat so that it comes out delicious. As the grandmothers say: do things with love. “This even shows in the way I package my meats and how I take them to the grill.”
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You sit at Las Violetas, whetting your appetite with that conquering hogao and waiting for the meat, fresh from the pan, to arrive on your plate accompanied by a fresh salad, the secret of which is in the salad dressing. “I started with the sauce I learned at Carbon de Palo, but one day the president of a company said to me: Alfonso, this sauce can be developed this way, it can be developed this way. “This is what we serve now,” he says.
His wife developed many of the sauces and preparations. It was she who decided that the patacons, which were previously served alone, should come with a generous amount of hogao. The meat arrives right on time and it’s okay if you want to try it with homemade chimichurri, but as a suggestion: you should ask for the blue cheese sauce in combination with the meat, even if it’s additional. An unusual series.
“In Antioquia, chicharrons are famous for their thirty-foot length,” he says, “but here I don’t serve them that way because businessmen come, some just for lunch and for business meetings, how are they going to tear apart the chicharron?” “That’s why if I serve it this way, it goes in cube form with the cassava.”
There is also salmon, chicken, everything is cooked on the grill with the secrets of more than thirty years of work. And on weekends, when more families with children come to visit, they make a variety of soups: from Cuchuco to lentil or banana soup.
LILIANA MARTÍNEZ POLO
CULTURE EDITOR’S OFFICE
@lilangmartin
Source: Exame
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
