Quiero Café cuts through the permafrost.

Winterguide 2020

By Colin W. Sargent

Suddenly we’re in the middle of a Hopper painting, and the dark night isn’t so dark. We’re in Quiero Café, nestled in the nook of the enormous plate-glass windows, looking across desultory Congress Street to Holt Hall—birthplace to so many boomers, including me, and, it’s rumored, Stephen King.

But this is no dream—it’s an urban oasis. We’re atop the steep slope where Deering Avenue rises to meet Congress, where so many of us have put our snow tires to the test. Everything, and everybody, is made luminous by reflections in the glass.

We start with Sangrias ($7), with pineapple, green apples, and strawberries and shift to a Dos Equis Lager ($4.50) and a Corona Light ($5). It’s somehow both informal and exotic here. What a great place not to take yourself too seriously.

The most interesting menu is crammed artistically on the blackboards. A dozen or so empanada variations catch our eye. How fun to try them with the rainbow of different hot sauces on every table. After Chips and Guac ($6), we order two Shrimp Empanadas ($9), but they’re running out of shrimp so they substitute the second with two more Chicken Empanadas. We also order a special, the Lomo Saltado ($11), stir-fry sirloin strips jumping with red onions, scallions, red peppers, rice, and savory fries. It starts out alive and then gets really alive. Turns out, our favorite of the condiments is the Black Label Reserve.

We finish with hot chocolate and a coconut macaroon. We go flying into the street on a sugar high. I want spring, and I want it now. Winter is toast, baby! 

Quiero Café, 3 Deering Avenue. Monday, 10a.m. to 2p.m., Tuesday–Sunday, 10a.m. to 9p.m. 536-7033.