Educated in the culinary arts of New York City, a native Cuencano comes home to La Charcutería

By Stephen Vargha

It appears that the neighborhood, El Vergel, has become the hotspot for restaurants.

“Ten years ago, it was the area of Gran Colombia and Av. de las Américas,” said Luis Maldonado. “Then it was Remigio Crespo Toral. And now, it is El Vergel.”

Maldonado, 44 years old, should know as he is the owner of La Charcutería, which opened last month in El Vergel.

The unofficial boundary of El Vergel is known by many expats as being the Tomebamba River on the north side, with the Yanuncay River on the opposite side. One the west, it is Av. Fray Vicente Solano, and Paucarbamba is on the east.

“I opened in September in my friend’s house as I have been using it for the last two years for events,” said Maldonado. “My sister, Lorena, makes the sourdough bread after I taught her, and she suggested opening a restaurant.”

Coming up with the name, La Charcutería, was easy one for Maldonado.

“Meat, cheese, and bread,” said Maldonado.

Charcuterie is from the French in the 15th century, when people used every last bit of the meat and left nothing to waste. Using salt to cure meats dates back to the Roman empire, but the French pioneered the modern version of charcuterie,

Pairing two French words, “Chair” means meat and “Cuit” means cooked. A charcuterie board is a tray that includes cured meats, cheeses, and a variety of sweet and savory bites.

“Why don’t we put it together and have a good pizza, delicious sandwiches, and good bread?” asked Maldonado.

Maldanado has a lot of experience in the restaurant business. When he was 17 years old, he moved to New York City, graduating from high school in school in Queens.

Upon graduation, Maldanado quickly found his lifelong journey.

“I started working in restaurants,” said Maldanado. “I did not know it would become my passion.”

He became a line cook at 22 years of age. The line cook is responsible for food prep in a restaurant, making it one of the most important roles in the kitchen.

“In three months, I was promoted to sous-chef,” said Maldanado.

That meant he was reporting directly to the executive chef of the restaurant. Maldanado did that at the high-end Central Park South Italian eatery San Domenico.

“It was a Michelin one-star restaurant. I was there for a year working with the chef, who was an Iron Chef,” said Maldanado. “That is where I saw sourdough for the first time; I was not used to no yeast.”

He learned how to make quality sourdough bread before moving on to about 50 restaurants. His goal was to learn as much as possible.

“I learned to cook Haitian, sushi, Indian, Lebanese, Mexican, Spanish, and South African,” said Maldanado. “Because I had been a line cook, it was easy to learn these types of foods.”

At the South African restaurant, the menu was different every day. It was a huge learning experience for Maldanado.

“Everything was made from scratch. The chef was able to make many things from jalapeños, including ice cream,” said Maldanado. “It was an amazing experience!”

In 2010, at the age of 30, Maldanado returned to his childhood town. Cuenca was not exactly a foodie town.

“The only good thing back then was a filet mignon in a mushroom sauce,” said Maldanado. “The problem was people were used to traditional foods. They were not experimental.”

Maldanado became the main chef at the restaurant at Hotel Oro Verde Cuenca.

“I had to go to the meat plant and have them make special American cuts,” said Maldanado. “Once my customers tasted my cuts of meat, they wanted them.”

While at Oro Verde, Maldanado made entrées with tuna from Peru, salmon from Chile, and meats from Argentina and Colombia.

“Other restaurants started to notice. Cuenca became a new community of chefs,” said Maldanado. “San Isidro’s Culinary Arts Academy started having me teach different types of foods in 2011.”

During that time, Maldanado helped people open up new restaurants in Cuenca, Guayaquil, and Quito. He would scout out potential locations and help them from the ground up.

In 2016, he decided to go to the University of Cuenca to round out his knowledge.

“My major was in Food Costs Engineering. It is how to buy and sell food products,” said Maldanado. “I had to have two years of accounting before I could get my degree.”

That accounting education is important as Maldanado thinks that 80 percent of the restaurants in Cuenca have no accounting experience. Because of that, many close because they do not understand the costs involved.

Using his knowledge and experience from New York City, Maldanado makes U.S.-style breads. That includes sourdough (white and whole wheat), multi-grain, barley, chocolate, blueberries, rye, and rye with caraway seeds (also known as Jewish rye bread).

“We also make a bread with figs and cheese. It is a traditional dessert here, so we decided to make a bread with it,” said Maldanado. “It is very popular. It may be our #1 seller.”

He also makes bagels and gluten-free baked goods that uses quinoa.

In November, Maldanado plans to add more varieties of sourdough bread, including dill.

According to Maldanado, five or six years ago, Cuencanos did not know what sourdough bread was.

“But after the Covid pandemic, people became more health conscious and you see more sourdough,” said Maldanado.

For the health conscious, La Charcutería offers three different types of kombucha. The fermented and slightly fizzy drink dates back more than 2,000 years. In the past decade, worldwide sales totals grew from millions to billions of dollars.

One kombucha Maldanado is proud of was used by the Incas. Maldanado loves it because he does a lot of sports and does not want to consume sugar.

“Ataco (Amaranth) was originally illegal. Because the Incas used it for power, the Spanish outlawed it,” said Maldanado. “I am bringing it back because it is super, and no one is selling it.”

He says the Ataco kombucha helps the muscles and reduces inflammation. The taste is a combination of strawberry, blueberry, and La Flor de Jamaica (Hibiscus).

Three types of kombucha are sold at La Charcutería: SCOBY, Kéfir de Agua, and Cheese Whey.

“The Cheese Whey tastes a lot like Champagne,” said Maldanado.

With so many good breads, cheeses and meats, Maldanado offers all sorts of sandwiches, from “Avocado Toast” with two poached eggs, house sauce, confit cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, avocado, and “Toast with Balsamic Portobellos” with balsamic portobellos, candied cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, olive oil, caramelized onions, and mature cheese. All come on his sourdough bread.

La Charcutería also has “Toast with Blueberry, Chocolate, and Almond Bread.” The bread is covered with honey, creamy scrambled eggs, ricotta cream, blueberries, and strawberry.

“Of course, you can come in and tell me what you want on your sandwich, and I shall make it,” said Maldanado. “I have all sorts of cured meats, cheeses, and condiments.”

On Thursday, Maldanado offers pizza with his sourdough. One can order a pizza from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Per the suggestion of an expat, La Charcutería has different specials each day. Maldanado wants to mix things up and keep it interesting and tasteful for his customers.

And he hopes you will try his black garlic mayonnaise (a delicious, sweet, garlicky substitution for regular mayonnaise), black garlic dates to ancient Egypt and it has been used in traditional medicine in India and China.

“It tastes like grape, and it is very powerful,” said Maldanado.

Maldanado also hopes you get a chance to taste his pomegranate dressing. He says it tastes very different, but it is light on your stomach.

“And it’s nutritional,” Maldanado added.

Currently, La Charcutería is open Monday through Friday, but Montaldo wants to be open seven days a week once the national power situation has been resolved.

Being a deli and a restaurant, you can have a meal at La Charcutería and/or take your food home.

“I’d rather you buy a loaf of bread, the meats, and the cheeses as it is cheaper,” said Maldanado.

But of course, he is very happy if you spend some time at his place and enjoy some good food and healthy drinks.
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La Charcutería, Alfonso Cordero 2-93 y Manuel J Calle (across the street from Supermaxi de El Vergel), Cuenca, 099-052-5966, la.charcuteria.cue@gmail.com, Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Photos by Stephen Vargha

Stephen Vargha’s second edition of his book about Cuenca, “Una Nueva Vida – A New Life” is available at Amazon in digital and hardback formats. His award-winning blog, “Becoming Cuenca,” supplements his book with the latest information and hundreds of professional photos by him.