When you think of Milton, you might not necessarily think of Venezuelan food. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered some delicious Venezuelan specialties at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment!
If you’ve ever been to the Milton Street festival or the Milton Canada Day Celebration events, you might of seen a booth called Lola’s Food, offering up piping hot empanadas and tequenos. And that, my friends, is where my Halton-Venezuelan journey started!
Friends and owners Gabriela Maslov, Mateo Maslov, Lizzette Gutierrez and William Garcia all came from Venezuela but only met after their families moved and settled in Canada. Talk about fate- food really does bring people together! Loving the authentic cuisine of Venezuela and not really being able to find anything local that was true to the flavours, the two families decided to create their own line of Venezuelan cuisine, and Lola’s Food was born.
It’s so exciting to see more ethnic foods crop up in Milton as it grows. And once I heard about Lola’s, I knew that I had to try it. In traditional Venezuelan cuisine, empanadas and tequenos are both eaten as a snack. Whether it’s in the middle of a exhausting work day, or a day at a bustling street festival The empanadas from Lola’s have traditional Venezuelan fillings like pabellon (black bean, cheese, sweet plantain and beef) and domino (black beans and cheese).
Tequenos are similar to mozzarella cheese sticks, but the batter is different. Tequenos have a thicker bread-like batter which hugs the cheese in an almost shell-like, but delicate embrace. Lola’s tequenos also have unique, ambitious flavours, with my favourite being the guava and cheese. Guava just reminds me of vacation, and for that feeling to be brought home to me in the comfort of my own home is huge. The savoury cheese paired with the sweet guava is totally my jam. Some of the tequenos’ dough have a dazzling array of colour, each reflecting ingredients like spinach, beet, carrot and bell peppers.
I’m so glad to have discovered Lola’s Food! Their tequenos and and empanadas will always have a home in our freezer! And during special occasions, they even make specially-flavoured empanadas and tequenos. Recently, I was lucky enough to be the first person to devour (i mean try!) their Canada 150th Birthday flavours, with pulled pork mini empanadas and the maple tequenos hitting the spot perfectly.
Now that you are drooling over these delicious Venezuelan treats, you must be wondering where you can pick up some for yourself! You can find their delicious empanads and tequenos at Milton Latino, the town’s Latino grocery store. They come frozen and you can simply pop them into the oven to reheat them. But they taste extra delicious if you deep fried them (and really, what doesn’t taste better deep fried?)
Make sure you follow them on Facebook and Instagram so you can find out what events they’ll be at next! Muy buenos, Lola’s!
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