I found a couple of interesting articles about the food scene in Chile - below are my takeaways:
Foods & Spices
1. Pastel del Choclo - Chile's version of Shepherd's Pie, it's becoming upscale soul food in Chile. Beef, Chicken, egg, corn, raisins, onions in an earthenware pot. We should give this a shot.
2. Merken - a local spice blend of smoked peppers, salt, cumin, and coriander.
3. Seafood - Sea bass, mussels, scallops, ceviche
http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/04/12/24-hours-to-eat-in-santiago-chile/
Restaurants -
Santiago has a bustling restaurant & bar scene, with many of the best rtestaurants focusing on locally sourced food and drinks.
Some of the better restaurants located near our hotel:
1. El Huerto - a vegetarian restaurant in Chile! Just a couple of blocks from our hotel.
2. Don Victorino - sounds amazing - it's in an antique house.
3. El Diablito - this is supposedly a hip place to have a few drinks. Near the Parque Forestal.
These last two spots are accessible off the Baquedano or Universidad Catolica metro stops.
Our hotel is near the Pedro Valdivia stop.
http://theculturetrip.com/south-america/chile/articles/10-best-cultural-restaurants-in-santiago-the-rhythms-of-chilean-cuisine/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304757004579332721243547790
Beer & Spirits -
Chile isn't only about wine. Chile also makes some pretty great beer and has a national spirit.
Perhaps the most popular Chilean drink is the Pisco Sour - Pisco, lemon juice, egg white and sugar.
Pisco is essentially a Peruvian/Chilean Brandy and has become popular in the states over the past 10 years.
Cerveza - Chile has between 120 - 150 active microbreweries. In Santiago, the first place to check would probably be the Cerveceria Nacional. It's a couple of stopss further West than the restaurants above, but it should be pretty accessible.
Chileans are reportedly not on the hoppy beer bandwagon, which is just fine with me. Their beers should be a bit more subtle, and complex than the typical American sledgehammer IPA's.
http://cervecerianacional.cl/
http://draftmag.com/chiles-new-craft/
I'm super excited to explore this city and I love navigating subway systems. So, here's a bit about public transportation in Santiago -
Our hotel is on Line 1, and heading West, Lines 1 & Line 5 get us to the neighborhoods with these restaurants. We can change at the Baquedano stop to line 5 to get to the brewery.
Here's a Wikipedia about the metro, and it's site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Metro
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.metrosantiago.cl/&prev=search
It's going to be fun