LIMA DAYS 8 & 9: Chicken Soup, NOT Like Mom Makes

Friday, May 12, 2017

Who doesn't like Chicken Soup? You -- In the back with your hand up... please leave the Blog.

Now that the rest of us are here, how about a gallon of Soup:

That was Saturday. But first, Friday...

I went back to Cafe Rilke for a late Breakfast. My chair in the Library was available. I had a Latte, a Quiche, and a Sandwich.

For Dinner,  I experimented a little. One of my Peru email subscriptions talked about a tiny Italian Restaurant, Taller Razeto, right on the Malecon in Callo, a fishing port at the other end of Lima. With traffic, it was an hour-long ride at 8:30 at night. I'm on vacation, so I figured I would give it a try.

The menu was 'limited,' but I am nothing but open-minded, so I felt that I was ok.

The Restaurant was as billed: Tiny, with just 7 tables, and with a menu that had Pizzas, two Salads, seven Appetizers, and seven Main Dishes (four of them Lasagna). It's very pretty, and all but one table is outside in their garden. They put a carafe of Water with Fruit in it on your table -- it's that kind of place.

I decided on a Salad (the waitress suggested the Camembert Salad and the Cheese Lasagna.

The Salad (as Salads go) was excellent. The Cheese was baked warm and soft, but not burnt, and the Salad and Dressing were very good. The Lasagna wasn't quite excellent, but it was also very good.

The kitchen clearly cares -- the sSde Salad with the Lasagna looked the same, but my Appetizer was garnished with Pecans, and the Side Dish had Almonds. So, they didn't just have Salad laying around and threw a piece of Cheese on top. I wish that I could say as much about the service. The Waitress was clearly annoyed that she had two tables to wait on. If she's like that at home, I feel bad for her boyfriend.

One thing that is a common thread here is that -- with a few exceptions -- the service in the non-expensive places is not that good. The help doesn't make very much, tips are low or non-existent, and I think the good servers get jobs at the better places. Strangely, the service is usually really good at the very cheap places. Partly because one's expectations are lower, but also because - I think - a lot of it is family-run, so you're not dealing with grumpy employees.

That was it for Friday. Shockingly, I am filling up quickly.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

I discovered another of the 7340979059460 Coffee Stores here this morning. This one is called 1972 Coffee. And you know how most Coffee Stores smell like, Coffee? Well, this one has the distinct background odor of Chocolate. It's very inviting.

I had a Latte and a Pastel de Acelga. It's sore of a Spinach-like Quiche, but not exactly.

That kept me until I met Alex for Lunch. We went to Caldo de Gallina Aramburu for a... Caldo de Gallina. That's Chicken Noodle Soup to us Gringos.

I had the Vat of Soup, and Alex had a Lomo Saltado.

After that, I went with Alex to the mall so he could do some Mothers Day shopping. We got some Gelato. It was his idea, I swear.

Peru's history goes back a long way. Back in the year 200, the civilization back then built this City/Pyramid thing called Huaca Pucllana. It survived for a couple of hundred years, then got conquered or something. Anyway, the pyramids got covered over until about 40 years ago, when they were found while the current Peruvians were building houses in the city. They stopped what they were doing, fenced off what they found, and have gone about trying to dig it up and see what they have. It's smack dab right in the middle of the city.

 

Anyway, they have a restaurant. It's Peru; everyone has a restaurant. This one is very high-end, sits right on the edge of the ruins, is really expensive (7% of sales goes to the restoration fund), and is very, very, touristy (the tour buses line up outside for dinner). The food is really good, and the service, well, the service leaves something to be desired. Unless, of course, you desire bad service. Then they give you what you need.

I started with Scallops Parmesan and then a Stuffed Pepper (Rocoto Relleno).

Both were very good, and the Rocoto was borderline excellent. The Scallops were in the little spoons instead of their shells because I suppose that they could charge more that way.

My Main Course was the Asado de Tira (Short Ribs).

The Meat broke apart with my fork, and I could have sat there and inhaled the smell of the dish for days.

Did I mention that the service was bad? After asking six people for some more Bread (for the Short Rib Sauce), the Manager saw me not eating, asked if there was a problem, and got an earful. He went and got the Bread for me himself, then one of the morons working the tables came by and told me that there wasn't any more Bread. The Manager was keeping an eye on things and took care of it before I could say anything.

The upshot of it was that he offered to comp me Dessert. I chose the mini-assortment.

On the top was Lucuma Mousse, bottom right is Rice Pudding (Arroz con Leche), and bottom left was what they called Lemon Pie, but was really Lime Pudding. All three were excellent. Good thing that I was full, so I didn't pick up and lick the little bowls.


That was it for the day.