Peanut sauce was a revelation.
In some quarters it takes a familiar-sounding handle like "Ecuadorian plantain fish tamale"; at El Guayaquileno, bollo de pescado ($8) receives the prosaic yet intriguing description "grinded green plantain stuffed with peanut sauce and fish." (Tuna, since you ask.) To my surprise, the restaurant owner explained that in Ecuador, peanut sauce is widely used with seafood, but unlike the onion, the slices of lime, and the salmon-colored hot sauce glowing nearby, it's incorporated during the cooking process. The peanuts themselves disappear into the dish, but their lusciousness lingers.
The brick-and-mortar restaurant is relatively new; at bottom is one of at least two trucks that launched the business, adorned with the flags of both Ecuador and the city of Guayaquil itself.
Mini Picanteria El Guayaquileno
94-54 Corona Ave. (94th St.-Junction Blvd.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-760-4982
