LATIN BITES

Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★★

Authentic Colombian Cuisine

Standout Dishes: Beef Arepa; Beef Empanada; Cali Melt Sandwich

Nicole Izquierdo’s grandmother cooked just one meal for the family as she grew up in Colombia: empanadas. They were so good that they became a family legend, but Nicole never would have imagined she’d start a business centered on them.

And yet, Grandma’s recipe eventually led to Latin Bites, an Omaha food truck that serves authentic Colombian cuisine. Because once Nicole started dating Julio De Silva and he tasted the empanadas, he became convinced these had to be sold to the public.

Omaha owes him a debt of gratitude for his persistence in this belief.

Latin Bites is a small food trailer that can almost always be found in South Omaha at 2105 Q St. Though the trailer has the ability to move around and pop up at breweries or events, Nicole and Julio found sticking with a permanent location has created a consistent fan base with the local community and resulted in more repeat customers than when they moved about Omaha.

Fair. But the food here is so good, people should be willing to drive across the city to get it.

The menu focuses on Colombian street food, with a bit of Julio’s Belize roots mixed in.

The backbone of the truck are the empanadas, which are deep-fried as opposed to baked versions you’ll find in most of Latin America. The frying process gives the pockets a beautiful, crispy golden brown crust, but once you break through the outer shell the dough remains light and fluffy.

Latin Bites prides itself on packing the empanadas, ensuring every bite has maximum filling. For the most part, they succeed, as the majority of the empanadas are stuffed with the promised filling, which ranges from chicken to cheese, beef, and veggies and cheese. They can be a tad greasy, but that comes with the deep frying process.

The Beef Empanada is the best of the bunch, as the heavily-seasoned beef is properly salty and carries a heavily meaty flavor.

The mixture of salty ham, sweet corn, and melted mozzarella in the Ham Corn & Cheese Empanada is a winner; it’s like a ham & cheese Hot Pocket, but all grown up. And the Shrimp Empanada, a special that graces the menu occasionally, is wonderfully creamy and rich, though it could have a bit more shrimp.

Wonderful as the empanadas are, I find myself just as taken, if not more so, by the rest of the menu, and that starts with the arepas. These sandwiches utilize griddled corn cakes as buns, injecting each bite with a mild sweetness. They’re grilled to achieve a crispy, golden crust outside a soft interior.

The Beef Arepa (featured in the header photo) truly stands out, as the shredded beef has a robustly savory flavor, and its tenderness suggests it was cooked down for hours. The chicken is nearly as good, with a pleasant roasted quality. Both are loaded with melty cheese and about a gallon’s worth of cilantro aioli and a pink sauce (a ketchup/mayo mixture).

At first glance the arepas appear to have way too much sauce, but there’s a mountain of meat on each sandwich, and the sweet creaminess of the sauce balances all the savory flavor.

The Colombian Cheese Sticks are a sinfully addicting side dish. Imagine a wonderfully gooey mozzarella stick, but with a buttery, biscuit-like dough on the outside. Rich and indulgent, it’s hard not to return for bite after bite.

Latin Bites also offers several varieties of salchipappas, fry platters loaded with cheese, mayo, ketchup, pink sauce, and the protein of your choice. I recommend the Salchipappa Supreme, which buries the fries under a blanket of shredded beef, chicken, and beef sausage . The beef and chicken are seasoned well, and the beef sausage adds textural contrast and a nice pop of sweet heat. The fries stay relatively crispy despite being loaded with about a pound of meat and sauces.

Julio and Nicole would love to offer a larger menu with more Colombian dishes, but the smaller space on the food truck requires them to keep the menu relatively trim. But they get a chance to offer more with their specials, which have included Steak & Fries and Latin Bowls. If the Cali Melt Sandwich is on the menu, get in your car and race to Latin Bites. The combination of braised, shredded beef, melted mozz, and toasty bread is spell-bounding, but it’s the punch of garlicky, herbaceous chimichurri that really sets this sandwich off.

Latin Bites is still in the youthful phase of its food truck life, but it’s already operating on all cylinders. And it’s not hard to see why: when you start with a base of a grandma’s tried-and-true recipe and combine it with two passionate, hard-working individuals, you might just catch magic. Omaha, this is your delicious introduction to Colombian cuisine.