Photo Credit: Juan Miguel Martinez
“A parcero is a word we use in Colombia to describe a friend, or when outside of the country, it is used to describe a fellow countryman,” says Juan Camilo Angel, business administrator for the new Colombian food truck on 16th Street, kitty corner from El Rey.
Los Parceros is the namesake of this new truck, which serves delicacies native to Angel’s land as prepared by head chef Gerardo Hurtado. Angel worked at the Quality Furniture store for the last two years, where he first met Hurtado. They chatted about their love for food and were parceros in no time. Hurtado is from Bogota, and Angelo from Villavecencio. “I am a Llanero, that is what people from my city are called. There is a difference in regional cuisines, but we found a way to bring our love for Colombian food to fruition,” he says. There have been many Colombian restaurants in Milwaukee that have come and gone, but currently, Los Parceros is the only one.
The planning for the truck took roughly a year from inception to completion, with Hurtado designing the menu. “I learned to cook in school in Colombia. No one in my family ever cooked,” Hurtado laughs. “You learn the basic stuff in school, but there is nothing like actually getting to work in a kitchen that will make you really earn your stripes,” he adds. The dishes at Los Parceros are meant to replicate the country’s “street food.” “It’s fast food, something that you would eat quickly or after a night out in Colombia,” Angel says. “We hope to open a restaurant where we can present more elaborate dishes, like the mamona, which is a dish that mostly consists of meats and yucca. For now, we boast the quick bites,” he adds.
Empanadas and Hot Dogs
The menu is small but expertly crafted by the small staff. Behind the flat top grills are Hurtado and Angel’s wife, Beatriz Vásquez. There are Ppnchos, empanadas, arepas and hot dogs for sale, to name a few. Every culture has their own version of the dough pocket stuffed with savory or sweet fillings, and arepas are the pride and joy of Colombian cuisine.
“If you ask any Parcero what dish reminds them of their homeland, the answer will always be the arepa,” Angel says. What is the difference between arepas and empanadas? Empanadas are deep fried and Arepas cooked on a flat top, or a comal. “The outside has to be crocante, which is a word used to describe the crunch that only hot and properly cooked masa can deliver. “The arepa mixta is the one to go for,” Hurtado calls from the truck.
The arepa mixta consists of properly seasoned beef and chicken, hence the word mixta, which means it’s a mix of two meats. It is then garnished with salsa rosada (red sauce), cabbage, huevo codorniz (hard boiled quail’s egg). “Colombian cuisine isn’t very spicy. We have customers asking if our food has that heat factor, and generally it doesn’t,” Angel says.
There is an herbal flair that permeates the stewed chicken in the arepas, which makes it taste like home, for any person that has grown up eating Latino cuisine. “We are trying to make flavors available to fellow Colombians, but also show something to people who have never had this food. Something truly mortal,” Angel says. “What is mortal?” I ask. “Brutal,” says an eavesdropping customer. “Ah, de poca madre,” I say. Those are three terms that all mean “exceptional” in Colombian, Boricua, and Mexican slang.
