El Tule, Lambertville, NJ

Ever since Redneckhunter and I honeymooned in Peru, we've been disappointed with ceviche back home, until we heard rave reviews of El Tule from a friend of ours who had also been to Peru.

When you see El Tule from the street, there's no indication that it's a Peruvian restaurant.  The sign says Mexican Restaurant, with only a hand written chalkboard mentioning Peruvian cuisine.  Indeed they have 2 separate menus.

We were definitely there for Peruvian though, and quickly made them take away the Mexican menu.  We had even stopped at the liquor store to bring a six-pack of the native Cusqueña beer to the BYOB -- which the owner noticed and approved of.

There was a lot on the menu I wanted to try, but we had to make some choices.  So to get the most variety in fish, we opted for the ceviche trilogy and the tiradito trilogy.  Ceviche is marinated raw fish, so the texture gets firmer almost as if it were cooked -- the 3 varieties were Limeño (white fish marinated in lime, red onions, and cilantro), Mixto (with fish, shrimp, octopus, and calamari) - both served with those great big Peruvian corn kernels - both fresh and toasted and sweet potatoes - and Chifa (Chinese-influenced with pickled vegetables, black sesame, and peanuts).  Tiradito, instead, is not marinated -- just raw fish (like sashimi) with a sauce.  The three varieties were

yellow Peruvian pepper sauce, rocoto serrano cream, and Peruvian botija olive sauce. Everything was fresh and flavorful.  Because of our dinner companion we opted for just medium spiciness.  Even the red peppers were not too bad, not like the killer ones in Peru.

Then, so that we wouldn't overdose on fish, we also ordered a steak -- Bistec a lo Pobre, or "Poor man's steak."  We liked how the menu referred to its "beefy goodness" complemented by fried potatoes, fried plantains, fried egg, and rice.

 We were pretty full and thinking about passing on dessert when 3 words were uttered: "tres leches cake."  But since the other desserts sounded tempting too, we also got a flan and rice pudding.  Actually the tres leches was disappointing, so it's good we got the others.  The rice pudding was voted the favorite, followed by the flan, which had a nice caramelized, almost coffee flavor. 

El Tule
49 North Main Street
Lambertville, NJ 08530
(609) 773-0007

Alfresco Cevicheria, Lima, Peru

Back in Lima on our last day before flying home, we knew we had to have ceviche again. This time we tried Alfresco, a place in Miraflores recommended by a concierge. This time, having an extra mouth to help in eating (a fellow traveler from New York), we were glad we could order a variety and maybe even finish them. We started with a platter of grilled seafood -- squid, fish, octopus, shrimp, and scallops.

We then ordered 2 of the cold ceviches -- one was the Alfresco specialty (which apparently was voted a favorite of Lima). The other was a ceviche mixto.

Finally, we finished off with a seafood rice. This was so delicious - my favorite dish. Thought we could handle all this food with an extra person, but at the end of the meal I was still absolutely stuffed!

Alfresco
Malecon Balco 790
Miraflores, Lima

MAP Cafe, Cuzco, Peru

After coming back from Machu Picchu, we decided to go out for a nice fancy dinner in Cusco, and settled on the MAP Cafe, in the Museo del Arte Pre-Colombino (MAP - the Museum of Colombian Art). Probably the best restaurant in the city, the cafe is built in a modern glass structure in an outdoor courtyard within the museum. With only a handful of tables, it's a lovely intimate setting.

We decided to get the 3-course prix fixe menu - choice of appetizer, main course, and dessert. They started us off with an amuse - a mushroom cap stuffed with quinoa, peppers, and cheese. Then Redneckhunter chose the oyster mushroom with fava bean capchi casserole (pictured above). The pureed fava beans were creamy and wonderful. I chose the river stone cooked crawfish ceviche (right). The brown lump in the middle was actually the stone. I didn't eat that... but I did eat the sliver of red pepper on top. When the waiter brought my dish, he said something about being careful and "muy caliente." After I bit into that pepper, I realized what he was trying to tell me. My mouth was on FIRE - I practically leapt across the table for the bread basket. The Peruvians at table next to ours made fun of me, not realizing I understood them (this is already after having made fun of me for taking pictures of all our food).

I did recover in time to enjoy my main dish, which was a traditional Peruvian chicken dish, with sweet corn puree, and some cheesy potato side (sorry, there was a traditional name for it that I can no longer find.) Redneckhunter got pork belly braised in Pisco and spices, with pickled yacon and sweet potato.

Finally, dessert: I got lightly sauteed strawberries in chicha (purple corn) syrup with fresh corn ice cream and toasted chulpe corn pralines.

Redneckhunter's dessert choice was strawberry tres leches (we can never resist a tres leches cake) with Urumbamba's fruitillada sorbet.

MAP Cafe
Plaza Nazarenas 231
Cusco, Peru

Huaca Pucllana, Lima, Peru

I can't remember where I read about this place, but it sounded so amazing, we had to go. Set next to pre-Incan ruins right in the middle of Lima, Huaca Pucllana is truly an experience. You walk up a cobbled walk to a colonial mansion next to the ruins, and if you're lucky enough to be seated ont he veranda, you are literally in the setting pictured above. We didn't have a reservation, but the hostess and wait staff were very cordial and accomodating. We sat in a comfortable bar area eating corn nuts and perusing the menu until a table freed up outside.

For his starter, Redneckhunter chose the crab croquettes served in a shot of corn cream. He was hoping for a crab version of the ham croquettes from Amada that just burst in your mouth, little balls of delicious juiciness -- but these sadly weren't as good. Fun presentation though.

My appetizer was much better -- a corn cake topped with beef and mushroom ragout. The corn cake was smooth and creamy.

For our entrees we both chose from the section of the menu of reinterpretations of traditional Peruvian Creole cuisine. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the photo of Redneckhunter's entree, which was Breaded and pounded tenderloin served with refried black beans and rice, fried bananas and sunny side-up egg. As he put it, like country-fried steak Peruvian-style.

I got the Creole Style Chupe, typical Peruvian crab chowder, served with corn, lima beans, cheese and topped with a fried egg. The broth was wondefully flavorful. It reminded me of a high-end version of the Costa Rican sopa marinera at our place in Trenton.

After dinner, we walked a little bit around the perimeter of the ruins taking pictures. The site was closed as a tourist site, but we got to see a little bit. It would have been nice to see it during the day, but I was glad to have gone at night and been able to have the full spectacular dining experience.

Huaca Pucllana
General Borgoño Cdra 8 s/n, Miraflores
Phone 445-4042

Pescados Capitales, Lima, Peru

The first of several posts of our honeymoon culinary adventures in Peru. So one of the things that pushed Peru over for us as a honeymoon destination was that Lima was called The Next Great Food City by Bon Appetit magazine.

We flew in to Lima at 6:30 am, took a harrowing taxi ride across town to our hotel, checked in, took a nap and a shower, then head out for lunch. Our first stop was Pescados Capitales in the seaside Miraflores neighborhood. Our friend Debbie had given us the meal as a wedding present. The restaurant also had been mentioned in the NY Times 36 Hours in Lima. The title of the restaurant is a play on words. In Spanish, "pescados" means fish, and "pecados" means sins, so everything on the menu is based around the 7 deadly sins.

Redneckhunter started out with the ubiqitous national drink -- a Pisco Sour -- pisco grape brandy, lime juice, simple syrup, egg white and Angostura bitters. Then we ordered 3 ceviches and 1 appetizer, thinking of US-sized ceviche portions... it was WAY too much food... I think you really need to have ceviche with a big group of people so that each person gets a bite and you can try a little bit of a lot of things.

Our first dish was a "Pecaito" a minor sin -- Conchitas a la Chalaca -- scallops in the shell with chopped red onion, new peas, lime juice, and chili.

The second one (pictured on top) was my favorite. This one was actually a Virtue rather than a sin: Temperance: Tiradito of Tuna -- with asparagus and mushrooms and a sauce of honey, olive oil, and orange juice. The traditional way to serve ceviche in Peru is with sweet potato and corn, the sweetness of them complementing the sourness of the ceviche marinade.

By the time the third dish came around, I was already pretty full. Another Virtue: Generosity: Ceviche Capital 3 x 3 -- three types of fish -- sole, salmon, and tuna, mixed with three types of onion -- white, red, and green, and three types of peppers.

When we didn't finish this one, the waiters were very concerned that we didn't like it, so we tried to explain that we were just too ambitious in our ordering...

Because it was a hot dish, they actually brought our appetizer out last. Redneckhunter loves the made up pseudo-Polynesian/Asian finger food known as Crab Rangoon, so when he saw these Tequenos on the menu, he wanted them -- Fried wonton wrappers stuffed with shrimp. The photo doesn't convey just how large these things were - we're not talking bite-size - each was about 4 inches long!

Pescados Capitales
1337 Avenida La Mar
Miraflores
Lima, Peru

Chicken Around Baltimore

In the past week, it's been about trying some chicken places around Baltimore. First, I went to Perchi's Peruvian style rotisserie chicken in Glen Burnie, MD. Their chicken is roasted over charcoal, and the result is a nice smokey and well seasoned bird. For sides, I tried the black beans, rice, and yuca. Perchi's includes as condiments a spicy green salsa and a nice yellow mayo.
This year, the Baltimore City Paper rated the fried chicken at the Prettyboy Market in Freeland, MD as the best of Baltimore. The place is a nondescript gas station with a market and deli inside. I tried the fried chicken- it was delicious- seasoned really well and nice and juicy inside. They had several sides to choose from including mac & cheese. I had the corn pudding. Not sure if it's worth a trek out there just for the chicken, but if you need to travel up 83 to PA, it's worth a stop.

Perchi's
103 Crain Hwy N
Glen Burnie, MD‎
(410) 787-0052‎

Prettyboy Market
20200 Middletown Road
Freeland, MD
(410) 329-6420