Updated: 7th March 2011: This outlet is closed according to Urbanspoon.com.
We are still searching for the perfect Churros in Metro Vancouver ever since we tried that great Spanish snack during our vacation in Spain this past summer.
So when Jonnek twitter’d me saying that he found Churros in Richmond, Suanne and I was pretty excited. BTW, did you know that we are on Twitter too? If you are interested to also follow us on Twitter, it is on http://twitter.com/chowtimes.
Our boys wanted to get the newly released Modern Warfare 2 from Best Buy (MW2 is an amazing game). So, we all took a drive to the Lansdowne Mall to pick up the game from Best Buy and then pop over to the food court to check out the Churros.
Jonnek informed us that the Churros can be found at the Empanada Hut.
Empanada Hut is famous for their empanadas. Having just had lunch, we decided not to try them although they looked very mouth-watering. Foodosophy did a write-up once on these empanadas, so you might want to check it out here.
Our mission here was the Churros. Here it is …
I gotta say we were deeply disappointed especially when we saw how they made it.
They only deep fry them when ordered. I saw them taking the skinny churros out from the freezer and then drop it into the deep frier. They were then dropped into a container of icing sugar and shaken. It does not look really appetizing. They could have just sprinkled sugar or icing sugar over them which would have made it look better. In addition, they were unevenly deep fried.
The churros here is $2. We asked if they serve hot chocolate here but nope they don’t. As a matter of fact, they looked at me puzzled when I asked about the hot chocolate like they don’t know what I was really asking about.
I think Empanada Hut makes great empanadas but for Churros, they miss the mark by a mile.
The above is what we were looking for. They are one of the many that we tasted in Spain (full post here).
The closest we have found so far is at Dulcinea on Denman. They are closer to the original stuff from Spain but they are so overpriced and the serving is so small that you can’t really call this a snack even. The churros was great, just too little too expensive. In addition, the hot chocolate in Dulcinea does not have the level of smoothness we had come to expect.
We are STILL searching for the perfect Churros WITH Hot Chocolate in Metro Vancouver. Help! Anyone else can point us to the right direction?
I think in the US, churros are mostly thought of as snacks you get at Disneyland. I had them served with hot chocolate at a Cuban restaurant before.
Hi Ben, sorry for recommending it to you. I personally haven’t tried it there so I didn’t know it was that bad. Their empanadas are good though.
LOL! No worries, Jonnek. Thanks for remembering that we’re on a hunt for the perfect churros con hot choc and taking the trouble to bring this to our attention. I agree, the empanadas looks really good.
Ben
I have it from reliable sources that the churros at Costco food courts are better than the ones at Disneyland! But they are not as thin as the ones in your pictures from Spain, and I don’t think they’d hold up well with the thick chocolate. They look a lot better than the ones pictured here, though.
There are a few places in Seattle which make the thick chocolate, but you’d have to bring along your own churros. One of the main ones is in Pike Place Market called The Confectional — maybe you even went there on a food tour?
I went to the Spanish Table in Pike Place Market, which sells Spanish, Portuguese and Basque cooking tools, ingredients and wine. They had a Churro Press for making your own churros. I think any cookie press (available now for Christmas cookies) would have the right tip. Maybe that is one for the cooking club to try…
Hi etranger: Thanks for the intel on churros and hot choc. That’s a great idea getting the Community Kitchen to try it but I really dare not suggest that to Suanne. LOL! Ben
I just saw your post about your hunt for churros! We really enjoyed our meal at Cobre Nuevo Latino Cuisine in Gastown. (http://www.cobrerestaurant.com/) My dessert was a creamy dulce de leche topped with a sinful chocolate churro! It may not be a place JUST to go for churros, but if you go for dinner–save room for dessert!
here’s a larger photo of the dessert w/churro http://tinyurl.com/y9m43zj
I’m soooo sorry! I didn’t realize the previous link required a Facebook sign in. Here’s the PUBLIC link to my photo. (can you tell I’m a first timer at posting? http://tinyurl.com/ydpflcl
Oh wow, Dolly. Although it is not exactly the churros I was looking for, this one will do! Thanks for letting us know!
Ben
It’s a chilean style churro, guys! It’s like going to an American diner and expecting mayonnaise on the fries. In Chile, you can get the churros with chocolate at some of the Spanish restaurants, but nowhere else … they specialize in empanadas.
I have a churros recipe from a Mexican resort cooking class. If you are interested, let me know. I still prefer the ones I had on the streets of Barcelona with the thick chocolate!
for good churros try dulcinea spanish cafe 1118 denman st. orcamparis gelato cafe 535 North rd
Stella look up the Dulcinea review Its under the Filipino Food category,since Its owned by Spanish Filipinos
The reason why Empanada Hut was confused when you asked for chocolate is that dipping with chocolate is very native to Spain. The churros at Empanada Hut are latin american style (empanadas are also not found in Spain), which are just sprinkled with sugar. The churros at Las Margaritas are pretty good as it comes with vanilla ice cream. Too bad the churros place in Kits closed down before I got to try it.