Paloma Vergara of El Comercio Peru (and the excellent new blog Papas y Camotes) did a short interview and video with me exploring El Mercado de Surquillo Numero 1 in Lima, Peru. My apologies in advance for my Spanish!

I’ve never liked tomatoes much, even though I was born in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, the birthplace of the tomato (debatable). I think it has something to do with my Italian mother serving us Spaghetti with marinara sauce three times a week. However, I’ve become accustomed to Bloody Mary’s at Sunday brunches in Brooklyn. It’s such a pick me up after a late night, though I’ve searching long and hard for some sort of an alternative sans tomato. A sort of green drink Bloody Mary.

Their patio tables sit in the parking lot right up against the cars, but that doesn’t mean Juez y Parte (Judge & Jury) cannot put out a mean cebiche. Here the specials are called the chef’s sentence. My verdict: Cebiche Causa de Divorcio (Ceviche that is the cause of Divorce). Octopus and Seabass are the [...]

La Gloria has been a landmark on Lima’s dining scene for years. Run by chef Luis Alberto Sacilotto and owner Óscar Velarde, the restaurant has been training for many of the most important Peruvian chefs of the past decade. Is it the best restaurant in Lima? It’s definitely one of the best. I’ve only been there once though and I don’t toss around that ranking lightly, so can’t confirm. It lacks the creativity that a place like Malabar or Rafael has, but as far as execution goes La Gloria is as good as any restaurant in South America. If Michelin came to Peru (I’ve heard their putting out a guide in Brazil in 2010), La Gloria could easily earn a star.

In Mollendo, a beach town on the coast near Peru’s southern city of Arequipa, there’s a place called Fory Fay. While the history of the name varies depending on whom you speak with, it is interesting nevertheless. The most common tale is that a man sold 45-cent beer to English speaking sailors that would dock in Mollendo.

On a trip to Ecuador, Native Californian and French-trained Chef Jeff Stern discovered the quality of Ecuadorian cocoa. Soon after he relocated to Quito and, after importing equipment from North America and meeting with cocoa growers he launched Aequare Chocolates. The company produces extremely high quality, small batch, single origin chocolate bars and French-style bonbons in flavors like vanilla, passion fruit, Amazon-ishpingo, lemongrass, saffron, citron, and blackberry cobbler. Stern, a former employee of USAID, works closely with local farmers to source all of his ingredients locally and giving back to the community. Aequare is the only chocolatier exporting to the U.S. who sources ingredients and manufactures entirely in the country of origin.

I was in the Brazilian Amazon not long ago and on my plate, stuck into a piece of decoration fruit, was this little, pea sized, yellow bean. I thought it was a piece of the fruit and poked the bean on my fork and put it into my mouth, chewed, and swallowed. It was fragrant, a little fruity, and then the earth shattered and my head exploded. Within seconds I was choking and tears were flowing out of my eyes. It took about ten minutes to recover. Seriously that hot. I had to ask the waitress how you were supposed to eat it. She explained that you just sort of squeeze it with your fork and get a tiny bit of the juice on it and then mix it in whatever you were eating to add some spice (in my case it was fish and rice).

The Chilcano de Pisco is one of Peru’s classic cocktails, right up there with the Pisco Sour and Algarobbina. For many foreigners visiting Peru, it is the drink that starts their love for Pisco and is one of the easiest pisco based cocktails to make.

My article on Pisco –  which was the culmination of several years of research with the spirit in Peru, Chile, and the United States – appeard today in the food section of the Los Angeles Times (U.S. sipping pisco again – latimes.com). A major U.S. newspaper has yet to print any lengthy article on pisco [...]

A Papa Rellena is essentially a stuffed potato. It is a common criollo snack or appetizer that utilizes that famous Andean ingredient, the potato, and is served all around Peru and quote common in other parts of South America and the Caribbean as well.