New restaurant brings authentic Chilean street food to Lexington
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chilean Taste opened June 21 at 192 Lexington Green Circle in Lexington.
- The family-owned restaurant serves completos, empanadas, churrascos and sopaipillas.
- Menu highlights include beef churrascos, pork lomitos, pino empanadas and Berlines.
A new restaurant is bringing authentic Chilean flavors to Lexington, including savory sandwiches and sweet treats.
Chilean Taste opened on June 21 at 192 Lexington Green Circle, in the former Sam’s Hot Dog Stand spot. The Lexington Green location of Sam’s Hot Dogs closed in February.
Now, Chilean Taste has opened. It’s a family-owned, fast-casual restaurant that hopes to bring authentic Chilean flavors and culture to the Lexington community, according to owner Cathalina Carrasco.
“Our menu features traditional Chilean favorites including completos, empanadas, churrascos, sopaipillas and homemade desserts,” she said via email. “One thing we’re especially proud of is that many of our recipes are family recipes, and even our bread is made from scratch.”
The signature sandwiches include three types of beef churrascos and four pork lomitos, according to the menu. These are so big they may require knife and fork to eat and might be a bit messy; the chacarero is topped with green beans.
Baked and fried empanadas include cheese, beef and shrimp & cheese options. Pino empanadas are a kind of Chilean street food, filled with pino, which is a mixture of seasoned beef, onions, egg and olive.
There are also completos, which are Chile’s unique version of the hot dog, but super-sized and smothered with fresh avocado and housemade mayonnaise or other ingredients such as sauerkraut.
For snacks, there are sopaipillas, a traditional fried dough; calzones rotos, which are sweet fried dough dusted with powdered sugar; and Berlines, which are traditional Chilean pastries filled with sweet custard.
There will be a rotating menu of desserts, Carrasco said.
And if you want to take your experience all the way, pair it will Banana Milk, a traditional Chilean milkshake made with fresh milk and banana.
There is seating for dining in, or you can use the drive-thru for carry-out.
Chilean Taste
Where: 192 Lexington Green Circle
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Online: chileantastes.com
This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 11:28 AM.
