Friday, January 06, 2017

Guayaquil, Ecaudor's Caracol Azul is more about seafood than snails (1-4-17)

Our last night in Ecuador brought us to a different city as we were connecting back to the United States the next day thru the city of Guayaquil. Sam was a bit exhausted and asked if he could stay in the hotel and order a pizza, so just Will and I headed downtown to Caracol Azul.  A 15 minute taxi ride cost only $4 but was hair raising through the insane traffic and maniacal drivers which we had not experienced anywhere else during our two weeks in Ecuador.
Once again on our arrival 7 p.m. the restaurant was empty, although by 8 p.m. some other tables have been occupied, but not more than a dozen or so folks total. Luckily they had a menu in English and Will and I both decided to order different  octopus starters only to find out they were clean out of pulpo. I settled on what turned out to be an amazing the Peruvian mixed ceviche which had sea bass (corvino), shrimp and a bit of octopus as well. On the side were the traditional lupin corn, sweet potato and the fried corn kernels. We had already been brought fried plantains and bread with a mild tomato salsa as well as the amazing aji salsa I have come to love (I have 4 bottles in my luggage), so a little of that on the ceviche made it a true winner. Will ordered a crab and avocado salad which was gorgeous and came with a small crab claw perched atop, and while it was good it needed a little kick from salsa or something. 
A superb bottle of Trapiche Roble Chardonnay 2016 from Argentina was ideal with everything. 
For main courses we both shows sea bass but with different presentations.  Will's with smothered with a rich Gorgonzola cheese sauce and scattered with a couple of artichokes, well mine had a just is rich three cheese sauce with several shrimp on top; they were both excellent.
Will decided to order the coconut flan which was truly amazing and we split that for dessert headed back to hotel and went right to bed as we had a 510 a.m. wake up call for our flight home.