The seafood fried rice called chaulafan is an Ecuadorian take on a Chinese standard.
The heaping plate of shrimp, scrambled egg, peas, bell pepper, scallions, tomato, onion, pork, and beef ($8.99) is heavily tinged with soy sauce, but it's also studded with Ecuadorian black clam and buttressed by fried plantain (hiding just out of the picture). There's a lip-tingling orange hot sauce, too, that glows only a little less than El Tesoro's neon bar signs. Wash down your meal with morocho ($3), hot milk spiked with cinnamon and carrying a big white-corn payload at the bottom of the glass.
El Tesoro
40-15 Fifth Ave. (40th-41st Sts.), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
718-972-3756
Chaulafan sounds similar to the pronunciation for fried rice in Chinese. Chau would be the translation for stir fry and la fan is leftover rice (usually from yesterday).
Posted by: Laura | November 11, 2008 at 06:14 PM