While my corazon continually aches with the unbearable pain of a strained love that just wasn’t meant to be, after a few days of forced fasting under a couple of thin blankets, I decided it was time to take a shower, get dressed and mournfully walk to El Rinconcito, 1317 N. May, and have a comida solitaria the way I used to.
With a name that means “the corner,” El Rinconcito is your basic Guatemalan convenience store with an unheralded eatery off to the side, continually watched over by a blessed Virgen María statue. There’s never a set menu, only a dry erase board with the day’s specials, prepared by three gloriosa women—some of the best chefs in the city—in a very open kitchen: