Mistura 2010, Lima, Peru’’s 3rd annual food festival (September 7-12), is where the most popular food from rustic cafes and even street stalls are served alongside food from the top restaurants. This is the best place to sample the diversity of Peruvian food at every level and where new street food and culinary trends are discovered and awards are given for the best dishes. El Comercio Peru reported last week that more than 14,000 tickets to the event have already been sold. I’ll be there everyday of the event, tasting and shooting everything from juanes to algarobbinas. There’s much more to come on Tuesday, but here is the map of the event grounds to hold you over. If you’re in Lima, this is something you do not want to miss.

Never would I have thought I would see the day when NYC residents will be chowing down on Chile’s fattiest dish. Chilean sandwich shop we love Barros Luco has begun serving the typical dish of Valparaiso, the Chorrillana, a mound of french fries that is topped with steak strips, onions and a fried egg. It has no cholesteral as you would imagine. Barros Luco serves it for just $7.99! Heart attack not included.

This is a little bit delayed, but Go! Overseas has named New World Review the top blog in South America, just edging out Travelojos. This is the first recognition of any kind I have received for this site, so it’s a nice reassurance.

The week before the NYTimes Travel article, 36 Hours in Boston (NYTimes.com) came out, I was in Boston. I was pleased that the writer didn’t leave out Neptune Oyster’s Lobster Roll, which was probably the highlight of my short trip. The narrow North End eatery is as attractive of an oyster bar as I’ve ever seen: a shiny marble bar that stretches the length of the restaurant, a black and white tile floor, nice woodwork, long wine list, and immense oyster selection.

It’s about time Gastón! Peruvian celebuchef Gastón Acurio will open a branch of his La Mar Cebicheria in New York sometime between March and May of 2011, as reported by San Francisco Weekly and later confirmed by Peruvian web portal Terra. The 8,000 square foot location is already chosen, on Madison Avenue and 27th street, near Madison Square Park.

Village Voice Food Writer Robert Sietsema wrote about his visit to the unassuming, newish Coney Island Taste in today’s issue of the Village Voice. The Peruvian Bodega, as he calls it, is all the way out on Coney Island Avenue and has pictures on the windows of burgers and omelets to attract cliental from the NYPD [...]

I don’t often write about Peru’s mega celebrity chef Gaston Acurio. It’s not that I don’t like him, I’m a huge fan. Without him, Peru’s new culinary boom would be nothing. Period. Rather I don’t write about him often because he gets enough attention that I try to direct some spotlight on some of the country’s other chefs like Rafael Osterling and Pedro Miguel Schiaffino. I love Gaston though. I love his show in Peru and keep meaning to buy the complete set of DVDs of the series. I love that his restaurants are wonderfully relevant to an international audience and that he always tries to bring attention to the diversity among Peruvian chefs and restaurants by going to and promoting the simplest places

Late last year, around the time the Honduran president was being overthrown in a military coup, my 1st Edition Frommer’s Honduras travel guide was released. Tourism in the country, which was previously exploding, dropped to almost nothing, even in the Bay Islands that are nearly a country of their own. Even the former tourism minister said not to go there then. Not the best timing for a book release. Still, I encourage people to go there and recently even had an article in NewYork Magazine on traveling on the North Coast of the country now, because the prices are the lowest they’ll be in years.

It’s boiling hot right now in New York. I think I just saw steam come off the East River. Saveur.com has just released this Tiki bar born recipe for Cuba Kola with 151-proof Demerara Rum that seems oh so appropriate. Enjoy! Recipe: Cuba Kola – Saveur.com.

I’ve been intrigued with Mompox, Colombia (sometimes called Mompos) since I first heard about it. The colonial town 125 miles south of Cartagena de Indias on the coast on an island surrounded by marshes in the middle of the Magdalenas and was once a port used to store gold, silver, and emeralds – out of [...]