Ventura County Weekend : Las Fiestas Patrias Boasts a Rich Variety of Latino Fare

Mena Rios was surprised by what she found last year when she came upon one of the food booths at the Las Fiestas Patrias celebration, held annually at College Park in Oxnard.

“A woman was actually cooking tamales in banana leaves,” said Rios, a vice president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the organizer of the event. “They tasted a little different than what you and I might think of tamales tasting like, but it was a dish. She also had vegetables instead of the meat that we usually associate with tamales.”

The cook in question, said Rios, used to live near Guatemala, and the food was representative of that area. It is these regional dishes that have made Las Fiestas Patrias a big draw since 1981, she said. And this year’s festival, Saturday and Sunday, should be no different.

There will be about 30 food booths, featuring specialties prepared by Ventura County residents. There will also be musical entertainment, children’s activities and craft booths in this celebration of Mexico’s independence from Spain.

“The foods will be not only from Mexico, but from regions throughout South America and Central America,” Rios said.

The festival, which is expected to draw more than 15,000 visitors, will run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $4 (adults), $3 (seniors and children ages 6-12) and free (children under 6). College Park is at Rose Avenue and Channel Islands Boulevard. Call 486-0266.

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Ventura’s Golden China Restaurant began offering a lunch buffet last week. For $5.95 buffet diners will have a selection of about 16 Chinese dishes, including a special of the day, and an American-style salad bar. Buffet hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The restaurant is at 760 S. Seaward Ave.

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Some like it hot. That’s a given.

But exactly how many like it hot has been a welcome surprise to R. Ellis Smith, owner of Smith & Smith (purveyors of fine salsa), which opened last month in downtown Ventura.

Having been a restaurateur for 25 years--he used to operate the Best Little Steak House in Ojai--Smith knew locals had a fondness for salsa and other chili-related edibles, but he had no idea his store would be as popular as it is.

“I didn’t know how many chili heads we had here,” he said. “People use them for barbecuing, making their own salsas, making their own dishes.”

The shelves of Smith & Smith are loaded with such mouth-melting items as the Pail Full of Phire, Three Bandits Salsa Verde, Red Chile Jelly, California Gil’s Roasted Garlic Pesto Salsa, and Oh’Brine’s Hot Pickled Snap Peas and Zesty Pickled Asparagus.

In all, said Smith, about 150 manufacturers and about 50 different peppers are represented in his store. And more are on the way. Smith is planning to attend the National Fiery Foods Show in Albuquerque, N.M., in March, where he expects to find more hot stuff.

Smith said the super-hot salsas seem to be the most popular among the local clientele. “We have some stuff in here that would be classified as nuclear,” he said. “We have one lady who buys one of the hottest salsas we have and carries it in her purse, to take wherever she eats.”

Smith & Smith is at 71 Oak St.