Don Arturo’s Restaurant, 2716 N. Washington Blvd., Arlington, VA, 703-276-1050 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Citysearch | Yelp]
April 2012: Closed. Sibarita Restaurant is now located there.
One of the ultimate mom n’ pops. Everything I have had here is excellent. At first you will think the restaurant is empty but then you will observe many plates of food being brought to the back room. That being said, you will never really know what is going on. I am fond of the silpancho here, (chilies and tomatoes and onion piled on meat, on top of a bed of potatoes), I like that so much I never get the chance to work through their menu. Put lots of the spicy green sauce on top.
Luzmila’s Cuisine
Luzmila’s Cuisine, 809 W. Broad Street, Falls Church, VA, 703-237-0047 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Falls Church News Press | City Paper | Yelp | Citysearch] Mom and pop Bolivian place, not up to Don Arturo’s or…
We just did a large order for a party of both the chicken and beef saltenas from Don Arturos. I thought they were good, but my Bolivian husband thought the beef ones tasted “weird.” I think perhaps they were a bit heavy on the goodies like olives, eggs, and raisins, and lacked a big beefy taste. The chicken ones were good. We’ll go back to retaste, some debate here.
We also had a large meal with friends here and had very good puchero and mixed grill. Excellent, but the servings were massive, beyond massive. Hard to complain about too much food, but it makes it hard to try several dishes. We’ll go back to try to sopa de mani.
Running through the Bolivian list, looking for the perfect saltena…