LIMA DAY 4: Me & Three Women

Monday, May 8, 2017

What were you expecting? This is a FOOD BLOG. I had Dinner with them. Dinner. Cena in Spanish.

In between getting started in the morning, I heated up a Pork Tamale that I had bought at the Supermarket the other day,

After making a few phone calls, I went downstairs to one of the other 698576926724039 tiny Coffee shops here in town and had myself a Latte.

For Lunch, I went to one of my favorite places, El Mariati.

I know that I say it a lot, but El Mariati really is a favorite of mine. The food is good, as is the service and prices. And they have a HUGE menu. It's not fancy, but it gets crowded, and it should be.

I started with a Leche de Pantera, which is a mini-Ceviche of Conchas Negras (Black Clams). Like the Leche de Tigre the other night, It tasted much better than it photographed.

I usually just order a Ceviche and Octopus here and then I am done with it. But I mixed things up today, first ordering their Titadito Mariati.

That's strips of raw Fish with three different sauces: Red Pepper, Natural Lime (like Ceviche), and Yellow Pepper. It was surrounded by four Scallops Parmesan, and also had a small skewer of grilled Fish and another of grilled Shrimps. Delicious.

That would be plenty for most people, but I have a blog to write. So I also ordered a Crab Ceviche.

OK, so you've got (cooked) Crabs -- two of them -- in a Ceviche Sauce. The claws were broken open for easy eating, and there was more shredded Crab Meat on top. This dish was 35 Soles ($11). It was worth $11 for the photo op all on its own, and I got to eat it, too.

Here it is getting delivered. The video does the plate much more justice than the photo. Worth clicking through to the website if you're reading this in your email.

I did some shopping later before Dinner, and wouldn't you know it.... there was an Ice Cream stand. Or Gelato; I'm not sure.

I'm involved with a group down here that brings a Christmas party (with clowns and gifts and books and cake!) to really, really poor kids outside of Lima. The group is a bunch of ugly guys and three pretty girls. I can say that because the ugly guys don't speak much English. Anyway, we've been friends for a while now, and we try to go out every other one of my trips.

This time, we're going to Panchita. My favorite restaurant in the world.

So Bertha, Deisi, Lucia and I show up, and get situated. Apparently, I go there a lot, because the waiter asked the ladies for their drink order, and then looked at me and said, "the usual?"

So we get our drinks and our Bread.

For our Appetizers, I did the ordering. We shared a 'piqueo' (assortment) of Peruvian Specialties, A Pastel de Choclo, and a skewer of Octopus.

 

They do everything really, really well at Panchita. I could go on and on about this and that, but it was all fabulous. These women have been eating this stuff their entire life, and they raved. The Pastel de Choclo is a dish with maskhed up Corn on top of some ground Beef, and was wonderful. The Octopus there is the best. They demolished the three plates... I mostly helped with the Octopus.

As if that wasn't enough, for our Main Courses, I ordered the Ribs, Bertha asked for the Pez Espada (Swrodfish), and both Deisi and Lucia ordered the Ceviche de Pato, which was not cold, raw Duck.

The Ribs were great, Bertha said she enjoyed the Fish, and both Lucia and Deisi raved about the Duck. They both said it was kind of spicy, but it didn't stop them from eating it.

As a cute baby at the next table in a Ramones shirt watched, we shared two orders of Queso Helado for dessert.

"Queso Helado' is not, as the name translates, Frozen Cheese. It is this super-great Ice Cream from the Arequipa Region of Peru. I've been to Arequipa twice, and the Queso Helado is better at Panchita, hands down.

They all got in cabs and I waddled home. I have plans for Dinner tomorrow. Other than that, I don't see myself eating very much.

PS - I mentioned the Kids' Christmas Party. If you want to see what last year's event looked like, CLICK HERE. It's never too early to ask... if you want to help us out there's two ways: 1) Come on down in December. You'll remember doing this for the rest of your life. 2) This costs money to put on every year. Any cash donations are really appreciated. Drop me a message if you'd like to contribute. But I'd rather see you here in person than spend your money; so would the kids.