LIMA DAY 5: What's it Doing? The Backstroke.

Wednesday, December 17

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.

LIMA DAY 4: I Love Soup. And Scallops. And Other Stuff. But not Tripe.

Tuesday, December 17

Pre-Lunch makes its debut this trip. I didn't have anything for Breakfast, but on the way to Lunch, I stopped at a Cebich Stand on the street.

That's a combination Cebiche of Fish and Conchas Negras. The woman asked me if I wanted the one that cost $2.69 or the larger one that cost $3.37. Duh.

In doing my Food research, I read about El Soperito, a hole-in-the-wall place that supposedly had great Soups. I love Soup, you know, so I shlepped over there.

Before I ordered the Soup, I saw that they had Cebiche de Trucha (Trout) on the menu. I never had Trout Cebiche, so I ordered that first.

Yeah, they took a Trout, cut it up, Cebiche-ed it, put the head on a plate, and brought it to me. Delicious.

Then it was Soup time. It seems that their house specialty is Patasca, so that's what I ordered.

It looked good, so I made the mistake of looking it up on my phone. Corn - great. Simmer for 8 hours - awesome. Hunk of Beef - I love Beef. Tripe - TRIPE???? Tripe comes from the first three chambers of a cow's stomach. You wouldn't want to eat anything from the FOURTH chamber of a cow's stomach, no sir. It kind of ruined the Soup for me.

I'm sure it was delicious -- everybody around me was eating it -- but no. I should have gotten the Chicken Soup.

On the way home, to make me feel better, I bought an Ice Cream Bar.

That helped. And I had Big Plans for Dinner.

My date cancelled on me, so I wound up at Panchita all by myself. Panchita is another of my good friend Gaston Acurio's restaurants. Supposedly, they specialize in Anticuchos (food on a stick), but they have a varied menu with all types of classic Peruvian food. I decided to have three Appetizers for Dinner.

But first, I inhaled the Breads. I was hungry.

My first Appetizer was the Scallops in Lomo Saltado Sauce.

It's an odd combination, but since there are Scallops involved, it works.

Then, I had the Rocoto Relleno. I love Stuffed Peppers.

That would have been enough for a normal human being, so I went ahead and had my Main Course Appetizer, the Sampler.

It had a fancier name than 'Sampler," I'm sure. There was (clockwise, from the top): Two Ribs, a Tamale Verde, Some Choclo con Queso (Giant Mutant Corn Kernels with a Cheese Sauce), a Papa Rellena, Ocopa, A Causa de Pollo, and two Mini Sticks of Anticuchos.

I ate the Ribs, the Tamale, a little of the Corn, half the Papa Rellena, none of the Ocopa, half the Causa, and the Beef Hearts on a stick. A little tour of Peru, all in one plate.

I really wanted dessert (they have Queso Helado there), but I was too full, and wandered off to lose money in the Casinos all night.

Here's my steps.

LIMA DAY 3: Four Plates at Lunch

Monday, December 15

So I'm talking to Edwar back at the office, and he asks me, "Why did you have four different things at Lunch?" I told him that I might not ever get to go to that restaurant again. He said, "YOLO."

On the way to the Tamale Lady, I stopped and had either an Omelete or a Torreja Sandwich, I'm not sure. I think that they close to the same thing, but I am new to the Torreja game. Anyway, it only cost a Sol on the street.

Then... the Tamale Lady wasn't there. No worries, there's another Tamale Lady right down the street. I bought two Tamales, Two Rolls and some Salsa de Aji. I broke it all out when I got home.

I didn't have the second Tamale... then. I did however, have some Frozen Grapes to tide me over until Lunchtime.

When Lunch finally rolled around, I walked over to Los Calamares on Av. Republica de Panama. It wasn't that far a walk, and I got some steps in. This is where I had the four plates that Edwar was hounding me about.

The Daily Special was Cebiche and Arroz con Mariscos (Rice with Seafood) for 25 Soles (around $9). They were smaller plates than the normal-sized orders there.

The Bonus Plates were six Scallops Parmesan and something I had never seen before... they called it Fried Calamari, but not like I'm used to seeing.

This was slices of Calamari and Onions, seasoned and pan-fried. Delicious.

I was good until around 9:00 pm, when I stopped at Don Bellasario on the way to the casino. I ordered a plate with two Anticuchos (Beef hearts on a stick), five Chicken Wings, two pieces of Giant Corn, and French Fries.

It was good, and plenty to keep me happy.

That was it until I got home at around midnight, and I polished off the other Tamale.

Here's my steps.

LIMA DAY 2: Dim Sum, and a Brush with Fame

Sunday, December 14

Fernando was right on time to pick me up for our Breakfast date. We were going to have Dim Sum at Madam Tusan.

OK, to explain: Dim Sum is  basically, Chinese Tapas. Lots of small plates of all different stuff. Best when you share in a group. We were a group of 2. Madam Tusan is a restaurant run/owned/whatever by Gaston Acurio, the face of Peruvian Cooking. He owns the mansion that I ate in a couple fo trips back, and I will be going to one of his other places later this trip. everything is delicious, and everything is pricy.

There's a menu, and you can ask for what you want, or you can be patient and wait for the guy to come around with his cart and get your stuff that way. We kind of did both.

We shared lots of different things. I could tell you what they were, but I would be lying. They're mostly different types of Dumplings, but there was other stuff, too.

I think that's about it. There were Egg Rolls involved in there, too. I could have sworn that I took a picture, but I guess not. As a bonus treat, as we were leaving, Gaston wandered by. He insisted that I take a coupel of pictures with him.

That was breakfast. We didn't have time for Pre-Breakfast, so we decided to invent Post-Breakfast. There's a pop-up food court on Sundays near my apartment, so we popped over and had a Rocoto Relleno and Leche de Tigre (me) and a Papa Rellena (Fernando).

That kept me going until about 4 pm. I had some Frozen Grapes to tide me over. I was meeting Kelly for Dinner later.

We met at 8:00 (she got me out of the casino... it wasn't pretty) and -- with the pickings slim on a Sunday night -- we decided to head over to Juicy Lucy Prime Burgers. I hadn't been there before, but they seem to be popular on the internet and more importantly, they were open on Sunday.

They sell Gourmet Burgers. I had a Cheeseburger with three Onion Rings on it. The 'upscale' part of this was that they say it was made with Kobe Beef. Kelley had the 'Triple B' Burger with Bacon and BBQ Sauce. We each ordered Fries, and Kelly had a Strawberry Shake.

I don't know how I could have told if it was Kobe Beef or not, what with all the stuff going on between the Buns, but it was a damn good Burger. Kelly polished hers off, too. Everyone was happy.

Here's my steps for the day.

LIMA DAY 1: The Blog is Back

Saturday, December 13

After a month-long hiatus, the Blog returns. Just in time for my trip to Lima!

I ate way more stuff than I needed to before the flight got to Lima. Ed drove me to the airport, so we had Cuban Food in Miami (Sopa de Pollo and Lechon Asado). I got upgraded this flight, so I got to wait in the VIP Room (Mixed Nuts, two tiny Bags of Chips, and a mini-Sandwich), and they fed me real-ish food on the plane (Fish in a Lemon Sauce, no Dessert, and a Ham and Cheese Sandwich before landing).

I hit the Casino to change some money and, er gamble. I had some Chifles while I played.

Then, on to Punto Azul for Dinner at round 11:00 pm.

I love Punto Azul. They're a Cebicheria, but they have other stuff, and they have been open at night for the last year or so. If they were the only restaurant in Lima, it wouldn't be a horrible thing.

First, I ordered my favorite Punto Azul dish: Cebiche Mixto Punto Azul.

There's Fish and Mixed Seafood there in a sauce made from one of their spicy Red Peppers. It's served with Corn and Chifles. And Onions. Delicious.

I am a big fan of Parihuela, which is a Seafood Soup, but I didn't want to deal with a whole Crab, so I got a Sudado de Mariscos instead.

It's basically the same as the Parihuela, except no Crab, different Spices, and this one has Onions and pieces of Tomato.  I like the Parihuela better, but it is really a case of splitting hairs.

Then I gambled, and then I went to sleep. Here's my steps.

BLOG ADVISORY...

Good afternoon all. Rich here.

Apparently, the Blog has been on vacation. Don't worry... I have been eating.

I arrive in Lima Saturday night; look for updates starting Sunday or Monday.