Hot Dogs Gone Wild!

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the first discovery on the Gastronomic Trail 2006/Astoria Edition....
San Antonio Bakery #2.
Oh yes, there have been whispers and gossip and the occasional wiff, but not until now did we get the chance to actually have THE CHILEAN HOT DOG!!! Oh how the gods were looking down upon us today with joy as Meg and I met on the corner of 37th St and Astoria Blvd. to begin our adventure.
Lets see, so its a smallish place, maybe 8 or so tables? TV blaring GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL, soccer on (did you know theres a channel called Gol?)
Really sweet owner Ruben and his handful of associates was always a few steps away and ready to answer all of our questions, and there were alot...
After much mulling over the counter of delicacies, we decided on just getting the basics and splitting it all down the middle.

We started off with two cans of chilean pop. Pap (papaya) and a cherry one that i forget the name, something like Biz or something. As Meg pointed out-made with sugar not corn syrup-gud thing .




At the table we got a heaping bowl of pebre- a most delicious condiment! i would say its a kind of salsa, but that wouldn't even do it justice. We were told, go ahead put it on EVERYTHING and thats what we did, and dang it was gud.










Then it was time for the dog! Let me remind you that this is a bakery. They make this delicious bread...sooooo yummy. they use this homemade bread toss in a dog then add chopped tomatoes, onions, avocado and mayo on top. They even have these cute little dog trays that hold them perfectly! So half for me and half for meg, down the gullet (with the pebre of course)

On to the next course. Thin pork slices with melted cheese on some slammin bread. Its served simply then you add the bam of the pebre, heaven!
Warm gooey goodness.

breathe

Dessert time. Lemon Pie, better known as meringue. It was to the point of almost being a caramelized candy topping. Nice clean tart filling in a crumbly shell. No complaints from me at all. I just got back from key west were i felt the need to search for great key lime pie, its not that, but different. Definitley gud.

Then the pan cake. This had Meg written all over it. Thin moist slices of some kind of cake with dulce de lece between each sliver. It had a heavy coating of it on the outside that hardened slightly into a caramel ... love love love that. You probably think-ugh sweetness overload. But thats the best part, there wasn't.

Somehow there was a beautiful balance and everything hit the spot right on. This place gets a definite 2 thumbs up for me. I just wish i had just stepped in there alot sooner. I've been walking by it everyday for years but just never really had the thought to go in.
If you can read this, then you must go there and try them! They are closed on mondays and the rest of the week they are 9-7 or so. sundays till 6. Ruben mentioned expanding the menu to pizza...chilean pizza! all sorts of wonders await!!! oh yeah, they have empanadas like none i've ever seen before. cheese and beef and they look like enough for a decent lunch even...thats the next thing to try. I'm thinkin tomorrow on my way home.

Stay tuned!