Zaguán is a South American bakery and restaurant in the minty Oak Lawn area.We started off with the sampler platter -- fried plantain, fried green plantain, cheese empanada, fried yucca and taqueños (fried cheese sticks, only in pastry instead of breading). Admittedly, my only experience with many of these items is from Gloria's. So that is my only basis for comparison. The regular fried plantain was as delicious as I've had at Gloria's -- greasy and plantainy. However the fried green plantain and the fried yucca both needed a dowsing of salt to exude any flavor. The taqueños were like little pigs-in-a-blanket only without the pig part. The empanada was just OK. It had only cheese as a filling. I imagine it would be really good with some meat in it.
For my main course I had a cachapa with shredded meat and cheese. This is best described as a cornmeal crepe, only a little thicker, and with whole chunks of corn in it. The sweetness of the corn melded beautifully well with the savory meat and cheese. What can I say, I love the mixing of sweet and savory. Especially when it works as well as it did with this dish. I also got to try an arepa, also with shredded meat and cheese. This is very similar to a Mexican gordita (not the crappy taco like thing at Taco Bell). Of the two dishes, the cachapa, I thought was better.
Since this is a bakery, I had to try a couple of their sweeter offerings. I mistakenly got the tiramisu. A bit too much chocolate and not enough espresso for my tastes. Compared to the one I had recently had in New Jersey, this measures a mere OK. I also got to try Zaquán's specialty dessert -- Cuatro Leches. I'm not sure what the fourth milk is, mother's milk perhaps, but this was delicious. It's flavor and texture could best be described as a very good rice pudding.
So overall this is a very nice place for lunch or brunch. I definitely need to return to try their pastries.
B
2604 Oak Lawn Ave. Dallas 75219
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