Comida Peruana

The past two Saturday nights I have gone out with David (Current Something #2), who is half Argentine and half Peruvian. He lived much of his life in Peru and I've been learning from him about the country and its culture. On both evenings we dined at Peruvian restaurants in Buenos Aires. Not just restaurants serving Peruvian cuisine but the real deal, owned and staffed by Peruanos, so the food is authentic, according to David.

Our first foray was to Contígo Peru on Echeverría in the Belgrano district. At 10 PM there was a line of customers waiting outside on the sidewalk. After about 25 minutes, we finally got in and were seated at a small table for two, pretty much cheek-and-jowl alongside other customers and tables. With only two places to compare, I can't say that it's typical of Peruvian restaurants, but both of these were very crowded, at least double the density of US restaurants. Of course, there's plenty of privacy anyway. With so many people crowded together, the noise level is such that you can barely hear each other.

One of my favorite dishes in Latin American cuisines is arroz con pollo (chicken with rice). The basic ingredients remain constant but the dish changes dramatically from country to country, so I decided to find out how it's done in Peru. It was a bit of a surprise. Usually the chicken is tiny morsels mixed in with the rice. Here it was a chicken breast served intact on top of the rice. It was nicely flavored and came with a side dish of papas a la huancaína, which are boiled potato pieces smothered in a spicy cheese sauce that is a startling shade of yellow.

A note of caution for you: beware of olives! My arroz con pollo had several whole green olives atop the rice. In Argentina, it's common to have unpitted olives in the food, even on such things as pizza, so be careful before you bite down hard or you'll urgently need to know the word dentista.

For dessert, we shared a suspiro limeño, a fluffy sweetened milk-and-egg confection that sits on a base of cinnamon-flavored caramel pudding that tastes much like flan.

Price for 2 entrees, dessert, and 4 beverages (we were thirsty!): 38 pesos (US $12.33)

Our next dining venture was at Status on Virrey Cevallos in the city center. Again there was a line out the door to the sidewalk. We were tempted to skip ahead of our place when the hostess kept calling out for the same person every few minutes but we decided she'd never believe either of us was Florencia. Once we got to our table, I realized this place was even more tightly packed than the first restaurant. Our table literally touched the next table and for anyone at the inside tables to leave, we had to stand, push in our chairs, and let them pass.

We started off with an appetizer, ocopa, a traditional dish of southern Peru. Potatoes are certainly a staple of the cuisine! Here they are yellow potatoes, sliced and boiled, and covered in a green sauce made of walnuts, white cheese, and the herb huacatay which provides the definitive color and flavor.

David also introduced me to Peru's national beverage, chicha morada. He just said it was chicha, which I had heard of, and therein lay the problem. Being a voracious reader, I had come across chicha and remembered it as being made of fermented maize (corn). The traditional method is for the village women to chew the corn, spit it into a jug, and let it ferment. Well, that's all I could think about as I stared at this glass of potentially pestilential purple liquid. I was pondering the wisdom of swapping spit (ok, not really swapping since mine wasn't going anywhere) with unknown dozens of crones from high up in the Andes. Being both polite and adventurous, I tried my first sip and it wasn't so bad, actually kind of sweet and fruity. Eventually I found out that there are two types of chicha and mine had 0% added saliva. It's just boiled purple maize, pineapple, and sugar. If you're in Peru and squeamish, avoid the other type, chicha de jora, which is a pale yellow color.

Peru has a lot of people of Asian descent who have made their own contributions to the national cuisine. I chose a dish which has Asian roots but is now considered traditional, chaufa (chow fun). Unlike the version we're used to in the States, this uses rice instead of noodles, but is similarly flavored with soy sauce, ginger, green onions, and egg, with a choice of meat or poultry. David decided to go with lomo saltado, beef prepared with onion, tomato, soy sauce, vinegar, and aji chilis.

Price for 2 entrees, appetizer, and 2 beverages: 34 pesos (US $11.04)

On our cab ride back uptown along Avenida Córdoba, we got some free entertainment. A small hatchback car pulled ahead of our taxi, with its hatch open. Sitting in the cargo area, drunk as a skunk and singing his lungs out, was a stark naked guy. Alas, he wasn't one of Argentina's lovelier men but perhaps I'll be luckier the next time a naked borracho (drunk) happens by.