My Peruvian friend Maria-Ines always brags to me that food from her country is very good. She told me that their seafood dishes are particularly delicious, and that I was sure to enjoy them. Being the geographical moron that I am, I was surprised to hear that Peru is a coastal country (The association with the Andes mountains is probably what threw me off-track). So when I saw that there were several Peruvian restaurants here in Southern California, I told my brother and my sister-in-law that we should go and try it. We went to Charo's Peruvian Cuisine in Long Beach, and ordered different seafood dishes.
Ceviche de Camaron a la Piedra
Macho Pescado
Picante de Mariscos
Among the dishes that we had, the one we unanimously crowned "Miss Universe" was the Macho Pescado, which was pan-grilled codfish. The Picante de Mariscos was very hot, but since we like food that way too, we enjoyed that as well. After such spicy food, we had some dessert. We ordered one that sounded like something our taste buds would be familiar with. Sweet Stephanie, as the dessert was called, was made of Helado de Lucuma, which is house-made tropical fruit ice cream; a crepe with caramel; and some fried bananas. Fried bananas are very common in the Philippines, of course; but what I found interesting in this dessert was that the caramel tasted like our very own "matamis na bao", sometimes called coconut jam.
Sweet Stephanie
I called Maria-Ines to tell her I had tried her much-vaunted Peruvian cuisine. She asked what I thought of it, and I told her it was good. She then said I probably didn't try the right kind of food, because if I did, my answer should have been "Great!"
Charo's Peruvian Cuisine
7563 Carson Blvd.
Long Beach, CA
90808
Ceviche de Camaron a la Piedra
Macho Pescado
Picante de Mariscos
Among the dishes that we had, the one we unanimously crowned "Miss Universe" was the Macho Pescado, which was pan-grilled codfish. The Picante de Mariscos was very hot, but since we like food that way too, we enjoyed that as well. After such spicy food, we had some dessert. We ordered one that sounded like something our taste buds would be familiar with. Sweet Stephanie, as the dessert was called, was made of Helado de Lucuma, which is house-made tropical fruit ice cream; a crepe with caramel; and some fried bananas. Fried bananas are very common in the Philippines, of course; but what I found interesting in this dessert was that the caramel tasted like our very own "matamis na bao", sometimes called coconut jam.
Sweet Stephanie
I called Maria-Ines to tell her I had tried her much-vaunted Peruvian cuisine. She asked what I thought of it, and I told her it was good. She then said I probably didn't try the right kind of food, because if I did, my answer should have been "Great!"
Charo's Peruvian Cuisine
7563 Carson Blvd.
Long Beach, CA
90808
Comments
They no longer served the Ceviche de Camaron a la Piedra, but we had the ceviche mixto, and it rocked -- much better than Mex ceviche. Macho Fish is delightful; also had Lomio Saltado, because a fellow diner said Charo's is the best for that dish. Enjoyed with two different tasty Chilean wines, but don't recall the names. Charo waited on us -- good service. Was able to save good $$ on tickets to the theatre in the mall too, through a deal Charos has for her customers. I'll be back!
greetings from Peru
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