Lima Day 10, Part 2: Astrid y Gaston Casa Moryea

Saturday, March 23

Astrid y Gaston is the 14th Best Restaurant in the World. And the Best Restaurant in Latin America. Don't take my word for it... click on the links. And it is 200 feet from my apartment. And the hostess knows me.

And Gaston up and closed the place a couple of months ago.

He went out and bought a mansion in San Isidro, and made his dream restaurant: Astrid y Gaston Casa Moryea.

It opened last week, and Cinthya worked hard to get us a reservation for Saturday. She couldn't go, so I wound up eating there alone.

I show up, and I realize that it is right next door to Lima 27, a restaurant I tried (and enjoyed) on my last trip. Bad news for Lima 27.

First off, I had to get through two layers of security to get on the property. Strange, but OK. The place is huge (and beautiful).

There are two types of seating arrangements: The Main Dining Room and the Bar. In the main room, there's no menu... they just bring you what they want. That runs in the US$150 price range. In the bar, there are about 15-20 tables, and at least twice that many servers, busboys and managers. There's a menu in the bar area. That's where I had reserved.

Both restaurants (and there are more, secret areas, too) have their own kitchens and sets of chefs. I counted 13 chefs in the Bar.

Then, they give me the menu. It's got cold things; it's got hot things, it's got desserts. My (personal?) server explains that some of the dishes are for sharing, but I am alone, and they will work with me on plate size. There's even a couple of large dishes as well.

One thing the menu doesn't have: Prices. I figured that I was there without a date, so everything was half price anyway, and I could play Guess The Prices.

They started me off with some free stuff:

There was a Choro (Mussel) Chalaca, Bread (the Butter showed up right after the photo), Olives, and Peanuts coated with a dusting of Curry. I ate the Green Olives, the Mussel, one piece of Bread (the Butter was fabulous), and a few Peanuts.

I ordered four items from the menu (the waiter recommended that I go with three); two cold and two hot. The first item was the Causa.

It was your basic mashed Yellow Potato, topped with barely-cooked Tuna, a couple of tiny Eggs, and some Onions and Peppers. Awesome.

Next cold dish: Almejas (Clams).

These Clams were chopped up and prepared Cebiche-style. There was Onions, chopped up Aji Pepper, Giant Corn Kernels, all in a Lime Juice base. The Clams in Peru are a different type than we get in the USA, so they cut up much more easily. Again, Awesome.

My first hot dish were the Croquettes stuffed with Crab and Fish.

These were -- how do I say it -- Awesome. Not too deeply fried, and full of not breading flavor. I ate half of them, and asked them to wrap the other half up. I needed to save room for my final Main Course, the Conchas Saltado.

I wish that I hadn't described everything else as Awesome, because this Scallop dish was Awesome. Even Awesomer than the other dishes, except maybe for the Causa. And the Croquettes. And the Clams. And the Peanuts with Curry Powder.

This dish was pretty large, and I had them wrap up half of this, too.

I passed on Dessert (I will regret this when I am back in Florida), and just had a coffee.

As to pricing, I ballparked it at Clams: 30 Soles, Causa: 40 Soles, Croquettes: 50 Soles and Conchas: 60 Soles. Add in whatever they wanted to charge me for Coffee and whatever else they could think of, and I figured that I was looking at around 220 Soles (around $80). I knew what I was getting involved with when I walked in, so I was prepared for the check. I asked for the check.

A manager came over. Or a guy in a suit; I don't know. He explained to me that the restaurant hadn't yet gotten its license to do business, but they wanted to honor all of the reservations that they had, so all the meals were free.

Holy cow. Free. I asked him, "So just tip the waiter, then?" He told me I could, if I wanted.

So I made out like a bandit, the waiter made out like a bandit, and I would say that Gaston has another customer for life, but he already had that.

After dinner, Luis (my driver) picked me up to take me casino hopping. He got to enjoy the Croquettes while he waited for me (and was insanely jealous when I told him it was free), and I had the Scallops as a 1 am snack when I got home.

That was it for the day. I do think that I rebounded well. Here's my steps.

Lima Day 10, Part 1: Back to Normal

Saturday, March 22

I didn't eat anything inthe morning, but by noon, I was hungry. I was wandering the streets, and I saw a Papa Rellena saleslady... that was all I needed to see.

Fresh, potato-y, spicy. And all for 58 cents.

When I got back to Miraflores, I went to a new (to me) place called Cevicheria La Cumbre.

I ordered up a Filet of Fish, stuffed with Crab Meat a lo Macho.

Dishes that are "A lo Macho" are served in a Seafood Sauce. It wa spretty good. I couldn't taste the Crabmeat, but with all that Sauce going on, what could I expect?

I had a reservation at the new Astrid y Gaston for Dinner, so I was keeping it tame for the day. While I was walking around Miraflores, everyone seemed to have ice cream, so I decided to join the club.

I went to the Ice Cream place on the corner of Diez Canseco and Kennedy Park and got on line with, apparently, everyone else in Peru.

I got the Chinmita Panda. Best eight and a half soles I spent that afternoon.

Lima Day 9: Match, Meet Rich; Rich, Meet Your Match

Friday, March 21

I woke up Friday, took care of some stuff at the office, and then set out in search of Breakfast. I decided on Sandwiches.

That's usually devastating because I wind up eating my sandwiches on the way to getting Sandwiches. I went to some hole-in-the wall place that was full of Peruvians. I ordered Coffee and two Sandwiches.

(I used the Vivid Color setting on my camera for Milca at work!)

Anyway, along with the coffee, I had a Tamale sandwich and an Egg and Chorizo Sandwich. The whole shebang cost me around $3, and it was wonderful.

Then, as I left in search of More Breakfast, I became incapacitated. I could hardly walk, couldn't think of eating; it was all I could do to waddle off to the apartment, go to bed, and moan for a couple of hours.

It wasn't like I was sick... I was just VERY FULL. I don't think I was sick, but who knows.

At around 12, I knew that I wouldn't explode, so I walked to the park, just to walk to the park. There, I saw the Rice Pudding Kiosk.

I figured that if I died, at least I would go out with my boots on, so I ordered a small Rice Pudding.

Apparently, there's always room for Rice Pudding. I got it down. I was encouraged. Still not hungry, but encouraged.

I was meeting Kelly for dinner at 9:00. I had reservations for somewhere that would have killed me, so that wasn't going to happen. The other day, she had told me that she like Ribs. I had passed a place with a Ribs sign right in Miraflores, so off we went to Pappas Grill.

We ordered a whole Rack with Fries and Cole Slaw to share.

By 'share' I mean that I ate three Ribs and one French Fry and no Cole Slaw, and Kelly ate the rest of the Ribs, most of the Fries, and some of the Cole Slaw. I guess that I still wasn't hungry.

The Ribs were good and all, I suppose. But even if I was feeling like eating more, I didn't fly across the equator to get something that I could get at Flanigan's in Ft. Lauderdale.

Anyway, that was it for the day. We went to the casino after that, where we both won a little money.

Here's my steps for the day.

Lima Day 8: EmapanadaFest / El Mercado

Thursday, March 20

Thursday started the day and a half run that wound up incapacitating me on Friday. But first things first.

I started the day with a trip to Per-Lizza for their Awesome Empanadas.

That's a Cafe con Leche with three Empanadas: Cheese/Mushroom, Chicken/Mushroom, Aji de Gallina.

They were so good, and I realized my time is growing short here, so I ordered two more.

Same Coffee; Another Mushroom & Cheese, and a Lomo Saltado Empanada.

I had to stop, because I was meeting people for Lunch soon.

I had plans to meet my friend Jenny and her assistant, Ronalds at El Mercado for Lunch. Jenny and I get together whenever I am in town. She is very busy, what with owning a modeling agency and doing TV shows and having Calendars and being in the gossip pages and all, but she takes my calls and we get to hang out. Here we are:

We started by sharing an order of Grilled Scallops.

There were six; we each had two of them. Both Jenny and Ronalds were impressed. Even though Jenny is Peruvian, she always lets me pick the restaurant, and I always take here somewhere she's never been before. I'm pretty sure she liked it, because she was telling her friends on Facebook to go there.

For our Main courses, I don't remember what my dish was called, but it was Rice with Seafood,

In a precursor of things to come, I ate all the Seafood, but left over some of the Rice.

Ronalds had the Tacu Tacu a Lo Macho, at my recommendation.

He thanked me profusely, so I am guessing it was excellent. The good thing about having an assistant, it turns out, is that you get to taste his food at Lunch. Jenny wasn't shy.

She had the best dish of the three of us.

This was thin noodles, mixed in with Lomo Saltado, but it ALSO had Shrimps, Scallops and Calamari in it. It looked and smelled awesome. I'm getting it next trip.

You wouldn't think there'd be room for Dessert, but you would be wrong. Jenny had he Chocolate Something or Other, Ronalds had some very pretty thing called Crocante de Almendras, and I had a Melon Sorbet.

I ate mine; they ate theirs. They both weight 11 pounds; I don't know how they do it.

After that, Jenny gave me a copy of her 2014 Calendar and signed it for me. Jenny LOVES taking Blog photos, by the way.

I waddled back to the apartment and tried to digest enough to be ready for Fernando when he picked me up for Dinner.

There he was, and off we went to El Italiano in La Victoria. I haven't been there in six years or so, but nothing has changed, except the prices are probably higher.

We started by splitting a Pizza.

By 'split' I mean 5 or 6 for me, and 2 or 3 for Fernando.

For our Main Courses, Fernando had the Osso Bucco, and I had the Veal Saltimbocca.

They both came with Pasta... Fernando had Meat Ravioli, and I had Cheese Ravioli.

Delicious. I will try not to wait another six years to return.

If you can believe it, that was it for the day. Here's my steps.

Lima Day 7: Almost (?) Normal

Wednesday, March 19

When I finally got going, I got dressed and took a walk to Surquillo to get a Chicharron Sandwich.

I forgot... the Chicharronias on Avenue Dante all are competing against each other, and the cureent deal is Two Sandwiches and a Cafe con Leche for 12 Soles (about $4).

This didn't really work with my long-term Breakfast Plan, but I am nothing if not flexible.

After wolfing all that down, I continued my walk to Surquillo Mercado #2, to see the Seafood Lady.

I could only eat a normal amount of food for my second Breakfast, so I broke her heart and just ordered a Cebiche. She insisted on starting me with a bowl of Chilcano first.

Chilcano is Fish Stock Broth with some Cebiche (not much) and Onions floating around. It's delicious.

Then she trotted out my Cebiche.

It was regular Fish Cebiche, but she knows how much I like Clams, so she threw one in for me to enjoy, too. I did.

Then I went home, bushed my teeth, and went to the Dentist. He did five fillings, and sent me out to Sin No More.

Fat chance. I left the office and immediately headed to La Lucha to get an order of well-done Fries.

After blithering around in a Carb-induced walking Coma, I found myself at a table at Wasabi Sushi and Rolls, ordering Sushi Rolls.

The service is so, and the rolls are only OK, so I was able to just order one more plate of them.

That was it for the day, food-wise. It didn't **seem** like I ate a lot, but I was sure full.

Here's my steps. There were a lot of them.

Lima Day 6: Good Thing The Food's Good...

Tuesday, March 18

...because I suck at Blackjack.

For Breakfast I walked down the block to Panaderia Per-Lizza for Empanadas.

In a country full of great Empanadas, they have the absolute best (in fact, it is Thursday morning as I type this, and I am going to walk there for Breakfast again today).

Pictured above are Empanadas filled with Mushrooms & Cheese, Chicken and Mushrooms, and Aji de Gallina (a Peruvian Chicken Dish), and a Cafe con Leche. Breakfast of Champions!

Alex picked me up for Lunch, and he took me to Kasa Mama in Lince.

Kasa Mama (there's three locations scattered around town) is a mid-range Buffet. It's not the most fabulous, but it won't break your wallet in pieces, either.

I filled my first plate with a Causa, some Chicharron of Pork, Cebiche, and Seco de Res.

As far as I can figure out, Seco de Res are Short Ribs of Beef that have been simmering for Hours (or weeks, it was so tender). It was really good, so I went back for that twice more and was happy. No Dessert, but Alex and I split a pitcher of Chicha Morada.

The place was full of, apparently, local office workers. At 25 Soles (just under US$10), it's a good deal.

My friend Dely called me and invited me to take her to Dinner when she got off of work. I met her at her office, and suggested drinks first. She looked at me, batted her eyes, and broke out all of her English abilities and said, "I'm hungry." So much for drinks.

We took a taxi and went to La Nacional, the place I went for Lunch my first day in town.

I had the Mini Empnadas, filled with Cheese. They were tiny, but good.

I followed that up with the Lomo Saltado.

It was delicious, but I'm not a big fan of when restaurants fancy up Peru's most classic and well-known dish. Call me a traditionalist, but us Peruvians don't want them to mess with our food!

Dely had a Tamale and a Ceviche for her meal. She thought that she didn't look good after work, so no photos of her (she looked beautiful).

After that, we went to the Fiesta Casino and played Blackjack. Dely (her second time ever) won 140 soles. Me (seasoned pro), lost. She gets nervous while gambling, so she needed to chew on something). I think that she just likes to eat. She had two plates of Chifles (plantain chips). I had about 20 chips.

That's it for the day. Here's my steps.