Few restaurants that have opened in Lima this year have intrigued me as much as Amor Amar. The restaurant pairs for the first time Argentine chef Luis Alberto Sacilotto (renowned for his work at La Gloria) and Víctor Away Chang-Say (the owner/creator of Pescados Capitales). With this duo at the helm, my expectations were high.

It’s Sunday, and after a night out in Lima, Peru, you’ve found yourself in a cevichería. It’s more, you discover, than a mere place to order ceviche. It’s a cultural institution where lime juice abounds, and the events and misadventures from the previous night are discussed, reenacted and celebrated. Here’s your primer.

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.

On the Pan-American highway, the Pan-Americana, about an hour south of Lima near Cañete, there’s a roadside criollo restaurant, which borders a gas station, called El Piloto. Originally, El Piloto, was intended for truckers, but became so popular that the truckers have been priced out.

Mayta is one of the most promising restaurants to open in Lima (Miraflores) in 2009. The chef, Jaime Pesaque, is quite young but he has a lot of experience (Cordon Bleu, other top restaurants in Lima). Mayta has received nearly 100% positive reviews from the local critics in Lima. I’m sticking with them.

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

In Barrio Chino (Lima, Peru) restaurants such as Wa Lok and Salon Capon Lomo Saltado simply means stir-fried beef. It is a direct translation from Spanish and the dish is the same as the stir-fried beef that’s on any Chinese menu in New York or Jamaica. Thin slices of stir-fried beef and onions (usually red onions in Peru, though) are served family style on a big plate. Scoop a pile of rice on your dish from a bowl served on the side and spoon the beef and juices on top of it.

As Peruvian cuisine grows in stature around the world, so do the number of visitors looking to explore the food on its home turf. A few years ago you could barely find a culinary tour if you tried. Now there are several decent ones that bring you face to face with leading chefs and to visit markets and restaurants that only culinary insiders have heard of.

El Comercio Peru reports (El restaurante Central volverá a abrir sus puertas este lunes | El Comercio Perú) that the restaurant Central in Lima, Peru will reopen its doors March 1st with brilliant chef Virgillo Martinez remaining at the helm. The restaurant (which I reviewed here) was one of the most exciting new restaurants in [...]

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!