One of my favorite places to go/thing to do in Lima is spend some of the morning drinking a coffee and eating Empanadas at Per-Lizza. In a place that has Empanadas literally on every street corner, I have found these to be the best. So for Breakfast, I had a Cafe con Leche, and one Empanada each of Lomo Saltado, Chicken with Mushroom, Cheese and Mushroom and Aji de Gallina.
What confuses me about Per-Lizza is that there is never a line outside the door, with people fighting for the opportunity to purchase these delights. It makes me think that there might be somewhere even better than Per-Lizza, and nobody has told me about it. I've been sent to places that had a larger variety of Empanadas, but nowhere have they tasted better than Per-Lizza's. If there is somewhere better, I want to know.
On the few corners that you can't buy an Empanada in this city, there's a Cebicheria. And most of them are very good - they all have Cebiche. I once asked Fernando why we were driving past 897934719 different perfectly good Cebicherias to go to whichever one he picked for the day, and he told me (in effect) that yes, they were all good, but my Cebiche palate wasn't sophisticated enough to tell the subtle differences in the different restaurants. So then I had a goal: Teach my palate to be more discerning.
Sometimes, a Cebicheria on every corner isn't enough. That's why they have Av. Rosa Toro in San Boja. That street has the most Cebicherias in one place in all of Lima. I headed there with no particular restaurant in mind.
After a bus ride, a train ride, and some walking (I could have taken a taxi there for $4, but it was an adventure for me to navigate my way around town), I was window shopping on Rosa Toro. It was around 2:30, so the Lunch rush was over, but there was still a nice sized crowd at Molinero 2, so that's where I wound up having Lunch.
As soon as I was seated, they brought me a Courtesy Leche de Tigre (Cebiche Juice).
I happen to love Soup, as long as there's no Tripe involved. I felt safe here, and I started with the Concentrado de Cangrejo (Crab Soup).
This is made with (I presume) Crab Stock, and had some Rice, small pieces of various Seafood, and a Crab in it. It was really good, but halfway through, my Main Dish arrived.
I had ordered a Tacu Tacu (Rice & Bean Patty) with a Sauce made with Crab Meat (Tacu Tacu con Salsa de Pulpa de Cangrejo), but it turned out to have a Bonus Fish Filet involved. Under the Sauce (full of Crab Meat, thank you) was a full-sized Fish Filet. I ate all the Fish, most of the Sauce, and about a third of the Tacu Tacu. I took half the Soup with me to go, and wound up giving it to the doorman at my building when I got home (I took a cab home). Everything there was delicious, but it wasn't *more* delicious than, I don't know, Punto Azul, which is around the corner from my apartment.
It was my friend Veronika's birthday on Tuesday, so I met up with her and Garry to celebrate. We let Veronika decide, and we wound up at - you guessed it - Punto Azul. I said the other day that I could eat there every day, and I stand by it, regardless of my palate's sophistication.
I tried to order the Cebice Punto Azul with just Fish this time, but the kitchen made me a Mixed Seafood one, and I went with it. Veronika started with a regular Cebiche.
For our Main Courses, I had the Parihuela (Seafood Soup with a Crab floating around in it), Garry had a Grilled Fish Filet and Veronika had a Causa topped with Octopus.
The Birthday Girl had something for Dessert. She made us promise not to sing, but she said nothing about balloons.
We walked off the meal by heading to the Casino. I ate nothing further, and I'd prefer not to discuss the gambling, thank you. Here's my steps.
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