By Steph Youngdale
From the same family of the much-loved Mexican restaurant Taco de Oro on St Patrick comes La Latina on 217 Dalhousie. The grocery store offers specialty food items that are staples of South American cooking, as well as a variety of savoury snacks, refreshing soft drinks, sweet treats and prepared meals to take home.
Valeria and her family had been thinking of opening a Latin-American grocery store for three years. The idea came from the demands of customers at the restaurant. Val and her family wanted to bring the flavours and products that are common in South America to the kitchens of Ottawa. On April 19 they opened their doors, and for the last month Valeria has been learning from a growing customer base. Some are familiar with ingredients and products they’ve been missing that are a little hard to find, and some come in just for the snacks and treats.
“I have two favourite snacks from childhood: Sabritas, and Gansitos.” Sabritas are a crunchy, fried, salty snack – like chips. Gansitos–delicious chocolate pastries–bring back fond memories for Valeria; they could always be found on shelves in the candy shops when she was a child.
Staff are also happy to help; they can recommend ingredients and specific products depending upon what you’ve got at home. Most of the items stocking their shelves are from Mexico and Columbia, but their goal is to have products from every Latin-American country.
I visited La Latina for myself, and was greeted by Rodrigo. He was happy to show me where to find Valeria’s favourite Sabritas as he zipped around the colourful aisles to show me his favourite: mole. Mole is a sauce made with fruits, nuts, chili peppers and chocolate. Rodrigo pointed to his favourite brand in a gold pouch, and said he’d be excited to bring more Latin-American cooking to the kitchens of Ottawa.
La Latina also sells a variety of good-quality colourful piñatas, locally made tortilla presses, molcajetes (stone mortar and pestles) to elevate taco night in your home.
Valeria says that she’s stocking the shelves with what customers want. There’s a suggestion jar at the front where customers can write what they hope to buy at the store, and it’s brimming with tasty ideas.
Welcome to the neighbourhood, La Latina!