Antoniya Deleva
First-year finance major
From Bulgaria
Restaurant: Europa
Where do you go out to eat when you’re missing home in San Antonio?
“There is a restaurant called Restaurant Europa, and the owner is cooking a few Bulgarian dishes, but they are dishes from all over Europe, so I recommend it for someone that is from Europe.”
How far away is it from campus?
“Oh, it is like 20-minute drive or so. It’s far.”
Why do you go there?
“Because there is traditional Bulgarian food that pretty much cannot be found in America.”
What is your favorite dish there?
“My favorite dish is called Banitsa. It’s a pastry with feta cheese. It isn’t exactly feta cheese, but we have cheese in Bulgaria that is not made anywhere else.”
Eric Fossen
First-year business and economics double-major
From Brazil
Fogo de Chão and Chama Gaucha
Where do you go out to eat when you’re missing home?
“I either go to Fogo de Chão or Chama Gaucha.”
Why do you go there?
“I go there because of the traditional version of barbecue [from Brazil], which is my favorite meal back home. They also have cheese bread, which is my favorite breakfast and snack.
What’s your favorite dish there
“My favorite dish is the picanha which I think here is called top-sirloin or something, it’s a kind of meat.”
Why would you recommend those places to Brazilians or non-Brazilians?
“I recommend those because they show a little bit of our culture in general, like what most people usually eat at home. It’s also all-you-can-eat, so you get your value.”
How often do you go there?
“I go there about once a month.”
Gabriela Salgado
Junior marketing major
From São Paulo, Brazil
Fogo de Chão
Where do you go out to eat if you are missing home?
Fogo de Chão
Why do you go there?
The waiters speak my native language (Portuguese), and they serve Brazilian appetizers, drinks and barbecue (churrasco). However, I go there when I really miss home or for a special occasion, as it is expensive.
What about it reminds you of home?
Traditional foods such as: pão de queijo, picanha and feijoada, some of my favorite Brazilian foods. I usually go there with my Brazilian friends from Trinity, so I feel at home.
William Powell
Junior psychology major
From England
Tacos El Regio
Where do you go when you are missing home?
Tacos El Regio
Why do you go there?
“I love the reasonable prices, the tasty food and the kind staff. It’s always nice to bump into friends who go there too.”
What’s your favorite dish there?
My favorite dish has got to be the chicken quesadillas that they do. I usually have two chicken quesadillas with a Mandarin Jarritos.”
Paula Garzon Maiguashca
First-year international studies and economics double-major
From Ecuador
No restaurant
Where do you go to eat when you’re missing home?
I know that there’s a food truck in Austin and actually one of the ladies working at Mabee … her son has a contract with a food truck, so she actually brought traditional food for her, and she gave me a plate one of the days, which was really, really sweet. We talk a lot sometimes, and we also chat because when I was back home during winter break, we went out to eat, and so she has been such an amazing person to have from home. So yeah her son brought us food but that’s the only really traditional food that I’ve eaten here.
Do you wish that there was a traditional Ecuadorian restaruant to go to?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, our food is really good and I wish I could cook it, but I do not know how to cook it. My mom was gonna teach me a little bit but it’s really hard when we don’t even have the ingredients here in the States. So I wish that there was someone that’s dedicated to finding the ingredients or distributing food.
What is a dish that you missed the most?
Tigrillo, it’s like green banana, they don’t have it here, but it’s a type of banana. And we just smash it basically, you just smash it and season it and you have cheese and eggs and onions in it. And it’s traditionally a breakfast food. And with that same kind of mixture you can also do something that’s called Bolones, which is basically the same thing but put into like a little circle. And that is a traditional food that you eat with fried eggs. I love that. It’s so good.
Do you know any other people here that are from Ecuador?
Yes, we actually have a really big Ecuadorian community. We’ve got us and Vietnam are the biggest international communities in Trinity.
Do you feel like this is a pretty popular opinion that there should be more Ecuadorian restaurants in the area?
I mean, I think that we all like our traditional food. I don’t know if we’ve ever really put any thought into anyone actually creating an isolated restaurant. I would love it. I feel like my friends would also love it. We were talking about cooking ourselves but again it’s hard, especially in the Witt-Winn kitchens, I don’t know. I think that overall the consensus would be that we would want more Ecuadorian food. I also think that, for example, in Viva las Americas, which is the Latin festival that they [Trinity] had, they said they were celebrating Latin America, but that’s not true, they were celebrating Mexico and Colombia, a little bit of Colombia not even a lot, but they had Mexican food and Colombian food, which was just arepas, but they didn’t have Latin food, that’s not true. They just had Mexican food and maybe arepas which are Colombian but that’s not Latin. That’s just Mexico.
