Country: Colombian
Dish: Bandeja Montañera
Location: Doraville
Stop: #7
If you’re looking for the comfort of your grandmother’s kitchen, with a Colombian twist, you’ll find this and more at Las Delicias de la Abuela.
“La abuela is the person who teaches all the recipes to the owner of the restaurant. She is extremely dedicated about food,’ Carlos Parra, general manager of Las Delicias de la Abuela, said. “You’ll see her sometimes here on the weekend.”
“She always says, ‘If you do the food with love, it’s gonna be amazing,’” Parra said.
It didn’t take much convincing for Parra, a native of Colombia, to want to become part of the restaurant’s team.
“When I meet her, the first thing I said was, ‘You’re gonna be very successful, because your food is amazing,’” he said.
“How does this dish represent Colombia?”
We eat it as a snack. We eat it as a main dish,” Parra explained of the traditional “bandeja montañera,” a hearty meal of white rice, beef, Chicharrón, chorizo, plaintains, arepa and beans.“It’s kind of like the most popular dish in the entire country,” Parra said. “People eat this dish, and they’re amazed.”
“How does this dish represent Atlanta?”
Colombia may be Parra’s native country but with the flavors of home surrounding him at Las Delicias de la Abuela, he’s embraced his adopted city.
“The people always make you feel welcome in the city, and that’s what I got here. I’ve been here 18 years, and I haven’t wanted to move anywhere else,” Parra said. “Atlanta is my city.”