Day 198

Pastelitos: During the course of this blog, I've tried as much as possible to incorporate local restaurants and vendors into my postings. Even though the only real goal is for me to eat one new thing every day, I've found that adding the local element makes it much more fun, and hopefully gives some exposure to places my readers might have missed. This past weekend, me and the GF attended the "Underground Atlanta Market" held inside the Sweet Auburn Market on Edgewood. While I didn't find too much to eat there that was blog-worthy, I did manage to take home one new thing to try later: pastelitos.

The pastelitos (along with a few other Latin pastries) were being sold by a vendor called Sugarloft. I'd never tried one, but they looked tasty, and they were filled with a mixture of guava and cheese. From what I could tell, it looked like a standard triangle-shaped pastry, but I wasn't sure how the inside was constructed or what the filling would be like. At only $2 apiece, I was definitely interested enough to buy.

Given that it's been sitting around for a couple days inside a Ziploc bag, I decided to go ahead and give it a try today before it got stale. I cut the pastelito in two, and it immediately reminded me of several other baked puff pastries I've seen. It was comprised of several layers of flaky dough (much like a croissant, but not as tightly compacted), and the guava paste/cheese mix was layered throughout. I also noticed a bit of sugar sprinkled on top. If it tasted as good as it looked, I was in for a treat.

My first bite was really good - the flaky, buttery pastry layers quickly melted in my mouth, and the guava paste/cheese mixture added a nice touch of sweet and tart. Speaking of the cheese, it was more like the cheesecake type, not savory. It could be a great dessert option for almost any meal, since the sweetness wasn't overbearing. I could have eaten much more of it, but I opted to save more for later due to its size. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow for breakfast.

As far as I know, several restaurants around town offer pastelitos, including Super Pan in the Virginia Highlands. They can also be filled with savory toppings (typically a ground beef/tomato sauce mix), so definitely check them out if you get a chance. Good stuff.