CUENCA FOOD: Orange Ribs & Wings: Cuenca take on American food

Note: See the date this article was published. Some things may have changed; for the most up to date information, check out Orange Wings and Ribs Facebook page.

At this fairly recent addition to the Cuenca dining scene, the name is in English, the menu is in Spanish, the food is a kind of cross between American and Ecuadorian, and the Cuencano proprietors speak English, just in case you need a little translating of the choices.

Even without much español, you should be able to figure out the menu, which is pretty basic: four salads ($3.99-$4.99), paninis and burgers ($4.50-$5), wings, and ribs, all slathered with your choice of about a dozen different sweet, sour, spicy, smoky, and extreme salsas.

Five wings with one sauce is the low-price deal at $4.75. This meal, and all the others, comes fat crispy fries, shredded carrots (zanahoria), celery stalks (apia), and unique ají — mild, dark, smoky, and great on the apia. From there, the wings on offer go to 100 with five sauces for $88.

Same with the ribs: one rib/one sauce $9 all the way up to 10 ribs/four sauces for $83. These are great big chancho ribs, not wimpy baby-backs or even spare ribs. They’re mighty meaty, tasty, tender, not too fatty, with a mini-cutting board to hack the thing up (nice touch).

As for beverages, water, soda, and jugos are $1-$1.50, Pilsener and Club $1.50-$1.75, and Golden Ale (5%), Stout (5.2%), Pale Ale (5.8%), and Red Ale (6.4%) from Andes Brewing Company are $5.50.

These are gringo prices, no doubt about it (a rib and a beer: $10.74). But if you want as close to American wings and ribs as you’ll come in Cuenca, this is the place to go.

OW&R has a big Facebook presence with photos, superlative reviews (in Spanish), most of the menu, 5,455 likes (as of 5/31/2015), and a nice spread for Andes Brewing Company (click on the photo to link to their own FB page) — obviously very popular with the Cuenca Facebook crowd.

Orange Wings and Ribs is on Avenida Solano 11-83, a few blocks from the Tres Puentes. It’s open Monday-Saturday noon-10 p.m.