Xelaju Restaurant: 87-52 168th St.
Near Hillside Avenue, Jamaica, 206-1457

Cuisine: Native Guatemalan dishes

Open: Open seven days a week, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

For the past three years Xelaju has been bringing native Guatemalan dishes to Jamaica. For recent Guatemalan immigrants who miss their native land and food, Xelaju brings patrons back home. That is exactly what happened to me the other day.

Nov. 2 was All Saints Day – "Dia De Los Muertos." For the Hispanic community it is a day set aside to remember deceased family members.

My grandmother, who is from Guatemala, sent me out to buy "Fiambre", which is a native dish commonly served to commemorate the departed (the custom is equivalent to eating a Turkey for Thanksgiving). I was told by a friend of mine that Xelaju was the place to go to find "Fiambre".

Once I arrived at the restaurant, I was taken back by the decor of the place.

Native Guatemalan paintings hung on the walls along with pictures of the country’s monuments and pristine countryside. I can understand why many patrons, who are mostly from Guatemala, are attracted to the place. I sat down and began to look through the menu.

The restaurant’s breakfast menu offers one egg (any style) served with sweet plantains, black beans, tortillas, and sour cream for $5.

For an extra fifty cents, patrons can order two eggs (any style) with sausage, black beans, tortillas, and sour cream.

Small orders range from $1 to $5 — red bell peppers with rice and black beans for $5.50.

An order of tortillas will run you $1. An order of fried tacos with chicken, tomato sauce, onions, and cheese will cost $3.

The soup menu is a little more expensive, an order of chicken soup with rice, salad, and tortillas will cost $8.

An order of meat and vegetable, soup with rice, salad, and tortillas costs $9.

For the same price you can get a bowl of fish soup with rice and tortillas. Probably one of the most expensive soup dishes is the "Caldo De Mariscos," which consists of fish, crab meat and mussels, with rice and a side of tortillas for a total of $12.

The dinner menu looked very enticing, but is strictly for meat lovers.

An order of Pork ribs on a red sauce served with rice, beans, salad, and tortillas costs $9.

For $8 dollars you have a choice of "Bistek", meat cooked with onions served

with rice, black beans and tortillas or the "Hilaches" which is shredded meat cooked and special sauce, rice, and served with a side of tortillas.

As for desserts, for $2 you can order "Manjor Blanco", white pudding, or a "Flan."

However, the one dessert I had to order was the "Torrejas", sweet bread filled with pudding and honey.

Despite the menu’s vast selection, I could not find "Fiambre" anywhere.

Luckily, the waitress informed me that that, although it is not found in the menu, the restaurant will be serving "Fiambre" dishes for the entire month of November.

So I ordered the dish, which came out to $15.

The dish was more like a giant salad with meat. It was served with cauliflower, string beans, beets, carrots, pickled onions, mushrooms and topped with olive oil and vinegar.

There were also different kinds of meats served with the dish salami, sausage, ham, steak, chicken, dry fish, and shrimp.

When I finally got the dish back home, my grandmother had nothing but praise for my efforts. But I must confess, I could not have done without Xelaju, that little taste of Guatemala in Jamaica.