We opened Pampamesa to give this tradition a home in Chicago. If you grew up with this food, these are the flavors you know, cooked the way they should be. If it is new to you, you are welcome exactly as you are, and we are glad to walk you through any dish.

Pampamesa is led by Geovanny Tapia, Chef Geo. He has cooked in Chicago for more than twenty years, most recently as co-owner of Le Cafe Station Grill in Logan Square. Here he cooks the food he was raised on.

A pampamesa is a meal from the Ecuadorian highlands. A long cloth is spread out, everyone lays down what they brought, and the whole group eats from the same spread. "Pampa" is Kichwa for the earth. "Mesa" is Spanish for table. No one sits at the head.

In the Andes, a pampamesa follows a minga, the shared work of planting, building, or harvest, and marks festivals like Inti Raymi, the celebration of the sun. Everyone contributes what they can, and everyone eats as an equal. At the center is what the highlands grow: mote, corn, potatoes, beans, whatever the season gives.