Che Chori: Food Reviews by Zac
Empanadas are a lot like Christmas. You have a small pile of mysteries in front of you. Realistically, you know what’s inside, but you’re still excited to tear into it. Christmas comes with cinnamon rolls but empanadas come with chimichurri.
The basics
Che Chori is a grab and go Argentinian restaurant on the west side of Indianapolis. They offer numerous empanadas, sandwiches, and a few desserts. You can even order frozen empanadas for your own future event! There is no indoor seating, but there are a few picnic tables
Website: https://www.chechori.com/
Address: 3124 W 16th St Indianapolis, IN 46222
Parking: ~8 spots behind the restaurant
Cuisine: Argentinian
Type: Fast Casual
Online Ordering: Che Chori supports numerous online vendors. From what I can tell, Toast has the best prices. Several other platforms raise the prices by $3 or more per item.
Che Chori will also be featured on Guy Fieri’s TV show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”. The episode is set to air on Friday August 2nd. According to the Food Network restaurant tracker, this will be 10th restaurant in Indiana that he has visited.
Review
Atmosphere:
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives recently finished filming here. That tells us we aren’t expecting anything fancy. The lack of indoor seating really pushes this point home. My friends and I ended up eating in the car because of the pouring rain.
Rating the atmosphere of a restaurant that doesn’t want you to linger can be difficult. The “lobby” is wall to wall Argentinian newspapers. It made for interesting reading while waiting for our food. My only complaint was that the room was incredibly hot. A fan or AC would really improve the experience.
Score: 2 / 3
The Food:
The menu features over 15 empanada flavors and nearly 10 different sandwich options. My entire group stuck with the main combo. 3 empanadas, chips, and a 10 inch churro. You also get ample sauces with your meal: chimi-mayo, salsa verde, and dulce de leche. I did opt to upgrade my chips into a side of fries.
Empanadas: Each one had the filling branded on the side which was a lovely feature. They were also a bit bigger than my previous empanadas – which is a huge bonus for me.
Across the car, everyone was thrilled with their selections, but there were a few favorites. Of all the types that were tried, these 3 seemed to be the most well received:
Bacon Cheeseburger: Literally all the ingredients of a burger stuffed into a deep fried shell. The relish really made this one shine to me. It added the right amount of acid and boldness the dish needed.
Ham and Cheese: Overwhelmed with decision paralysis, my friends asked the employees for help. Both employees and another patron suggested the ham and cheese offering. Both of my friends loved it. It’s on my list for next time.
Guava and Cream Cheese: I saw this one mentioned in a few reviews across different sources. It sounds so weird, but everyone was saying how great it was. I was skeptical, but also delightfully wrong in my initial judgment. The guava and cream cheese meld into this flavor that would make for an incredible donut filling. As you could imagine, you should save this one for last because it is really sweet – practically dessert.
Fries/Chips: Like a majority of places, the chips didn’t do much for me. Bland filler. The fries were decent. They could be better, but they serve as an excellent vessel for the garlic bomb chimi-mayo. The real hero is the condiment – which they also sell in jars.
Churro: Before writing this, I had to look up if Argentina even had churros. I’ve always associated them with Mexican food. My surface level research informed me that Argentina typically has churros with breakfast, and that their version is often served with dulce de leche. These churros were fantastic. I was beyond full but couldn’t stop eating. They were stuffed with dulce de leche AND came with a side of it. The extra sauce wasn’t needed, but it was SO good that I’d never turn it down either. This dulce de leche is the sauce that those with a sweet tooth dream of.
The Bill: Two Empanada combos, a water, and a can of soda totaled to roughly $33. We did leave a few dollars as a tip.
Score: 4.5 / 5
Zac’s Thoughts:
When a restaurant doesn’t offer any real seating, I expect the food to be fantastic. It tells me that they’re so confident in their product that they don’t need to check in. Che Chori absolutely delivers. They feature a varied menu, reasonable prices, and a short wait time. My only real complaint is the default chip option; those aren’t impressing anyone. When I have out of town friends over, this will be a restaurant I consider for them.
Guy Fieri is not my favorite food personality, but his recommendation of Che Chori has me adding his other Indiana resturants to my “to visit” list.
Score: 2/2
Che Chori: 8.5 / 10
