Pastel de Tres Leches at La Casita Gastown

Pastel de Tres Leches $5.5
Mexico’s favourite cake! made with 3 types of milk, peaches & icing

A tres leches cake, or pastel de tres leches (from Spanish, “three milk cake”), or pan tres leches (“three milk bread”), is a sponge cake—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream.

When butter is not used, the Tres Leches is a very light cake, with many air bubbles. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

Example of pastel de tres leches at La Casita Gastown:

Lantern at La Casita Gastown

Interior at La Casita

Combo number 4 in Gastown at La Casita

Combo number four @ $16
6 Hot Wings, 2 Chorizo Mushroom Quesadillas with Rice, Salad & Guacamole

Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.

Chorizo can be a fresh sausage, in which case it must be cooked before eating. In Europe, it is more frequently a fermented, cured, smoked sausage, in which case it is usually sliced and eaten without cooking. Spanish chorizo and Portuguese chouriço get their distinctive smokiness and deep red color from dried smoked red peppers (pimentón/pimentão or colorau). Due to culinary tradition, and the expense of imported Spanish smoked paprika, Mexican chorizo (but not throughout Latin America) is usually made with chili peppers, which are used abundantly in Mexican cuisine. In Latin America, vinegar also tends to be used instead of the white wine usually used in Spain. Traditionally, chorizo is encased in natural casings made from intestines, a method used since the Roman times.

A quesadilla is a flour or corn tortilla filled with a savoury mixture containing cheese and other ingredients, then folded in half to form a half-moon shape. This dish originated in Mexico, and the name is derived from the Spanish word queso (cheese).

Guacamole, is an avocado-based sauce that originated with the Aztecs in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine it has also become part of American cuisine as a dip, condiment and salad ingredient.It is traditionally made by mashing ripe avocados with a molcajete (mortar and pestle) with sea salt. Some recipes call for tomato, onion, lime juice, chili, yogurt and/or additional seasonings.

Example of combo #4 at La Casita Gastown:

Steak Tampiquena at La Casita Gastown

Steak Tampiquena $18
grilled top sirloin steak with 2 red cheese enchiladas

A steak (from Old Norse steik, “roast”) is generally a cut of meat or fish cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers, or of fish cut perpendicular to the spine. Meat steaks are usually grilled, pan-fried, or broiled, while fish steaks may also be baked.

The sirloin steak is a steak cut from the rear back portion of the animal, continuing off the short loin from which T-bone, porterhouse, and club steaks are cut.

The sirloin is actually divided into several types of steak. The top sirloin is the most prized of these and is specifically marked for sale under that name. The bottom sirloin, which is less tender and much larger, is typically marked for sale simply as “sirloin steak.” The bottom sirloin in turn connects to the sirloin tip roast.

This mexican recipe for serving and preparing steak was originally created in Tampico, by a certain Club owner in the fifties, but although not everybody agrees on exactly where the recipe came from, this mexican recipe has become one of the most representative dishes of Mexican cuisine internationally.

An enchilada is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations.

Example of steak tampiquena at La Casita Gastown:

Little clay jugs at La Casita Gastown

La Casita Gastown Interior

Vanilla Ice Cream at La Casita Gastown

Vanilla Ice Cream $3
with abuelita chocolate sprinkles

Ice cream (formerly and properly ice-cream, derived from earlier iced cream or cream ice) is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavourings and colourings are used in addition to, or instead of, the natural ingredients. The mixture of chosen ingredients is stirred slowly while cooling, in order to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming. The result is a smoothly textured semi-solid foam that is malleable and can be scooped.

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla (V. planifolia). The word vanilla, derived from the diminutive of the Spanish word vaina (vaina itself meaning sheath or pod), simply translates as little pod. Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples cultivated the vine of the vanilla orchid, called tlilxochitl by the Aztecs, and Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s.

Abuelita is a brand of chocolate tablets, or powdered mix in individual packets, made by Nestlé and used to make Mexican-style hot chocolate. It was originally invented in Mexico in 1963. The name is an affectionate Spanish word for “grandma” (literally translated as “little grandmother” or “granny”). Since 1973 the Mexican actress Sara García has been the image for the brand before it was acquired by the Swiss company.

Example of vanilla ice cream at La Casita Gastown:

Bottled Mexican Sodas at La Casita Gastown

Bottled Mexican Sodas $3.5
apple, guava, or tamarind

Jarritos (English: “Little Jars”) is a popular brand of soft drink in Mexico. Jarritos was started by Don Francisco “El Güero” Hill in 1950. The Jarritos brand is currently owned by Novamex, a large independent-bottling conglomerate based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, property of the Hill & ac. Co. although it is also distributed in some areas of Mexico by the Pepsi Bottling Group or Cott.

Jarritos is made in fruit flavors and is more carbonated than popular soft drinks made in the United States or Canada. Many Jarritos varieties are naturally flavored. The word “jarrito” means “jug” in Spanish and refers to the Mexican tradition of drinking water and other drinks in clay pottery jugs. Jarritos comes in 13.5 and 20-ounce glass and plastic as well as 1.5 liter bottles.

Sidral Mundet is a Mexican apple-flavored carbonated soft drink produced by FEMSA S.A de C.V and distributed in the United States by the Novamex company, which also distributes the Jarritos and Sangria Señorial soda brands.