I was in New York City this weekend and my buddy took me to a place called Lima Taste, which serves authentic Peruvian food.

Having grown up in a small town, my culinary experiences have not been very wide.  My favorite food is pepperoni pizza, followed closely by buffalo wings.  

A few years ago I started trying a lot of new foods.  I mean, what if I never tried pepperoni pizza?  I'd be missing out on my favorite dish.  So if I try new stuff, I might find my next "favorite food".

This is what we had:

1.  Ceviche de Pescado (Fish seasoned in lemon juice. With Peruvian seasoning)

2.  Anticucho (Grilled cow heart*, skewered. With crispy potatoes & hot sauce)

3.  Lomo Saltado (chunks of filet mignon, tomatoes, fried onions & French fries)

All of the above washed down with Peruvian pilsner beer.  We went back to my buddy's place and had some pisco sours.  Pisco is a Peruvian alcoholic drink made from grapes.  Pisco sours use pisco, lime juice, sugar, ice and egg white.  Very good stuff.

*:  yes, I know "grilled cow heart" doesn't sound very appetizing but it was surprisingly good.  Tasted like tender beef with less "beef flavor", kinda like filet mignon.  Hey, I am from Pennsylvania and we eat scrapple.  When you find out what is in scrapple, grilled cow heart doesn't sound so bad.

I have eaten ceviche before, but in Cuban restaurants.  The Peruvian ceveche had heavier sauce but the raw fish had more flavor than the Cuban ceveche.  

The lomo saltado was especially good.  While french fries makes it sound like a McDonald's meal, it was incorporated into the dish very well and complemented the other components of the meal.  

Thumbs up on everything.  I would eat there again and highly recommend the place.  Too bad there isn't a Peruvian place here in Philly!  

Peruvian food is great, there are a few Peruvian restaurants up here and we frequent them. I really like the roasted chicken and the green sauce that they serve with bread as an appetiser.

Yeah, was that green sauce spicy?  I think they gave it to us with the anticucho.  Great stuff!

I not going to be eating the heart anytime soon, but Peruvian food is great.

Did you try an Inca Cola?

Quoted: I not going to be eating the heart anytime soon, but Peruvian food is great. Did you try an Inca Cola?

Not there, but I have had Inca Cola before.  We drank the Peruvian pilsner beer as they were out of Cristal and the other Peruvian beers.  They sell Inca Cola in the local grocery stores here but I'm not a huge fan.  Too much of that bubble-gum taste for me.

I dated a Peruavain gal for a while...I like Peruvian food, but it's not in the same class for me as any Asian cuisine.  BTW, she foisted the cow heart crap on me too...they all seem obsessed with making us Round Eyes® try that stuff.  I didn't like it, and it goes against my rule of "no organ meats".  (they all SUCK taste/texture wise).  

those Peruvians better keep their hands off my guinea pigs.

I head back to Peru in three weeks.  I like Cusqueña beer the best.

I've never had Anticucho, but I've had the Ceviche, and its not bad, but not my thing.  I liked alpaca meat, and I tried the guinea pig.  It's kinda like lobster at the indian market, they have them live there to pick out before they skin and cook it for you.

But, Peru is one of those "egg" countries.  They like to stick an egg, sunny side up, on meals it doesn't belong.  I'd get a steak, with an egg on top.  I went to a chinese restaurant, Peru has one of the largest Chinese populations in the Americas, and I was served a normal chinese meal, with a freaking egg on top.

One day while I was there last time, I was at a restaurant, and saw an americano bacon cheeseburger on the menu.  I decided I wanted a burger, and ordered it.  What arrived was a bun, covered by a burger, then cheese, then bacon, then lettuce, then an egg, then the french fries, then the top bun.  Of course it was served in a paper wrapper instead of on a plate so I didn't have room to rearrange the burger to a real american style bacon cheeseburger.

Quoted: Yeah, was that green sauce spicy?  I think they gave it to us with the anticucho.  Great stuff!

it has a little zing to it, but it's not what I'd call spicy...

I went to Peru a few months back for a week.. I put on over 10 pounds.. Enpenadas are where its at.. same with the ceviche.. Muy bueno

hmmmm......might have to go open my last bottle of pisco tonight.

SRM

It's a PITA to find pisco in the state-run liquor stores here in PA.  I brought home a bottle of Pisco from NYC so I should be set for a while.  My buddy said it's not easy to find Peruvian pisco, even in NYC!  Apparently most stores carry Chilean pisco and not the Peruvian stuff.

That is really good. When my daughter is was little she had a little friend whose family was from Peru, and they invited my wife & over for a birthday party, it was a family pot luck. The food was SO good.

Peruvian Flake ain't too bad either!

Quoted: those Peruvians better keep their hands off my guinea pigs.

Cuyes...mmmmmm good eating.....

Peruvian ceviche is ehh, try some Columbian or even Ecuadorian ceviche.  Now thats good. I made some shrimp ceviche last week. Some diced tomatos,onions,limes,cilantro, and some fresh shrimp, and you got some ceviche.

I live in a town that must have  9 Peruvian, 2 Ecuadorian, 4 Columbian,2 Brazilian, 10 Mexican, 1 Argentinian and countless others all within 2 square miles.

Never had Peruvian food, but I've had Tex-Mex cooked at a restaurant that was owned by a Peruvian family.