Fire, embers and meat, the basis of the Tributo restaurant proposal in Quito

A tribute to good Latin American cuisine. That is the purpose of Tributo, the restaurant that recently opened its doors in Quito and which focuses its proposal on interpretive cuisine, by transforming traditional recipes into new versions. ”We have many dishes that are elevated versions of dishes from the Sierra, the Coast, and the Andes, and we have evoked a lot the local product, the local development. Among our most emblematic products is dry-matured meat with high-altitude dairy cattle, which is a tribute to the countryside, to the peasant, to the Andes, we developed this concept so that it gives a real value and that it puts on the table of our diners the story behind our region’s own products, ”says Pablo Jiménez, Tributo’s marketing manager.

Tributo was born seeking to shape the impact they had on the meat world and a year and a half ago they began to materialize it in a high-end restaurant, with an identity, that is not just a steakhouse, as detailed by Luis Maldonado, the chef of the establishment.

“We are looking for a location where the strongest gastronomic movement is, we are looking for a house that has a lot of history, and this house has been in existence for nearly three decades and in it we have tried to maintain and recover the original elements. After six months of construction and adjustments, we officially open the restaurant to the public. The most important thing about our proposal is the people who return ”, adds Jiménez.

Around 30 dishes make up the Tribute menu, with starters, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. Among its preparations you can find the sancocho de la abuela Rosa (smoked rib soup, cooked for two days with vegetables and herbs), oiccaprac (carpaccio upside down. Old cow matured 75 days dry aged. Meat, mature cheese, mushrooms), dim sum cuy (stuffed with guinea pig sautéed with vegetables and peanut sauce with Thai tones), smoked tongue toast, patita ceviche (pork leg, Amazonian palm, yellow pepper and tiger’s milk) , our tonga (risotto with peanut sauce, topped with fire-cooked prawns, creamy ripe, brown salt and lemon air). They also have other dishes such as steak of bondiola, smoked short ribs, old beef txuletón and bacon in master broth.

The dessert section includes innovative proposals such as coconut ashes (mousse coconut, coconut ash ice cream, coconut sauce, toasted coconut snow), Yamor party (33% toasted corn foam roll, toasted canguil ice cream, purple corn crumble and corn cake) and rock and roll (roll of panela, cheese and anise, caramelized bacon and goat cheese ice cream).

“The interpretation of our dishes is from the beginning with an Andean wheat cake, like a wind pie but filled with smoked trout with mushrooms and leeks, with a mountain cheese sauce matured 20+ months, the same happens with a tonga In the main ones or a cocolón that has an air more given towards cannelloni, chicha de jora, capulí, different Andean ingredients are part of the proposal, such as chillangua or peanuts, which is present in all the Latin American countries that we have the connection of Andes, Amazon and Coast. Our cuisine is very ours, of all the Andean peoples ”, explains Maldonado.

For both, the emblematic dish of the house is the txuletón, which they call the jewel of the Andes. “This is an old cow cut from high-altitude dairy cattle with a dry maturity that exceeds 60 days. This is the one that best describes our work dynamics. This is a cut of 750 grams to one kilo, with a very deep maturation, they are very intense flavors “, mentions the chef.

Tribute is open from 12:00 to 16:00 and from 19:00 to 22:00, from Tuesday to Sunday. The establishment is located in av. Isabel La Católica n24-54 and Francisco Salazar, in Quito.

Maldonado has been working in the gastronomic field for 17 years. He trained as a chef in Venezuela in the kitchens of “La Grande Cocotte” in his native Valencia. His passion for butchery was always present throughout his career as a chef, being this the one that always marked the inclination of his cooking style. He has been based in Ecuador for four years. (I)