Taste of Peru

We had not eaten for a long time at Taste of Peru (Sabor Peruano) on Clark Street in a small strip mall about two blocks north of Devon, at Albion, where three of us (Robert, Catherine and our friend Richard) went for lunch on Tuesday. As usual, we ordered anticuchos de corazon, marinated skewered beef hearts, as an appetizer. They were tender and done to perfection, as beef hearts can be very tough if overcooked. (They also offer anticuchos de pollo for the chicken-hearted..) They were out of some items which we ordered initially -- cau cau (tripe stew), which they began preparing for the dinner crowd while we were eating; and aji de gallina, a chicken in a somewhat spicy aji sauce, because they didn't have the proper chicken to prepare it. They did have chicken pieces which they used to prepare polle en salsa de mani (peanut sauce, but entirely different from satay or AFrican groundnut stew sauce). We also had picante de camarones, shrimp in a sauce which I suspect is the same as the sauce for aji de gallina, and arroz de mariscos, a huge paella-style rice with crab, mussels, bay scallops (a bit on the tiny and chewy side) and ample and tender calamari. For dessert, they served us tejas -- not on the menu, but which someone had brought from Peru on an exploratory trip to see whether they would sell. These are chocolates filled with different kinds of caramel filling. One was plain, one with walnuts, one with guava -- - fantastic. Their alfajores (on the menu) -- cookies filled with cajeta, a kind of caramel, were also excellent.
They have live music on weekends, which we have yet to try out. Service was extremely friendly. The owner's brother, once he found out we could understand Spanish, spent a long time with us discussing various Peruvian specialties, not always ones served at the restaurant.
This is one of our favorite spots on a strip of Clark Street -- from Granville to Howard -- which I personally think has one of the most amazing array of restaurants in the city (Mexican, Colombian, Peruvian, Nigerian, Venezuelan, Somali, Belize, Jamaican -- have I forgotten any?) at budget prices.

You're right about this strip. It seems to have evolved somewhat under the radar since I lived up there (Clark & Touhy) 20 years ago. Then it was 3 small taquerias and a few bars. Now the profusion and diversity and quality are all just amazing. It's out of the way for us now, so we don't get up there much and I've had my eye on Taste of Peru for quite some time. Good to read your report.

I've never had beef heart. (I confess to being a bit specialty meat shy - I've only had a couple of tripe dishes I really liked (the fabulous soup at TAC being the most recent - thanks to Eric M), and outside of liver and the occasional kidney or sweetbreads, not much else in the organ dept. No haggis pour moi. Is heart strongly flavored? Is it chewy and cartilage-y, or meaty? I know you can't ask someone what something tastes like, but I'm just curious in a general way.

Thanks for the report.

What are your other favorites along that Clark St. strip?

Speaking of Peruvian food...

El Rocoto

Erik M.

Heart is, of course, pure muscle, and so this is much meatier tasting than almost any other organ meats. Peruvian friends of mine used to prepare it for American friends and just call it "beef" -- and got away with it. Hard to do with tripe ....
Other personal favorites, some of which have been the subject of posts:
Banadir (Somali restaurant just north of Granville)
Caracas Grill (Venezuelan, south of Devon)
Las Molcajetes (Mexican, great hauraches)
El Llano (Colombian, same menu and proprietor as Brassa Roja)
Flower's Pot (Belize)
Cazuela de Mariscos (Mexican Seafood)
Take out at Morelia supermarket is also great, and I shop often at Roger's Park Fruit Market as well.

I was at Taste of Peru last night. This is definitely a place that deserves more LTH love (although it was reasonably full when I left at 7:30, just as the musician was setting up).

I wish I'd brought my camera. We had the set Menu para Dos Personas, which includes three appetizers plus a very generous paella de mariscos. One was a bright yellow version of a potato salad, very yolk-y and topped with olives and a hard-boiled egg, and a bit of onion and red pepper. Then there was a good-sized tamal, full of corny goodness, also with thinly-sliced onions and a bit of red pepper. Finally, the ceviche appetizer was full of bright, fresh flavors, from the squid and shrimp, to the accompanying corn (which, admittedly, may have been from a can) and sweet potato.

An elderly lady came over to the table and asked what our appetizers were. She said she was a native Peruvian, but was visiting relatives here. I hadn't remembered the Spanish name of our dishes, but one of the servers happened to come over and translated for her. She said she had been making her version of the potato salad for years. I asked her if this was better than hers. She just shrugged. Maybe. Draw your own conclusions.

The main course of the Menu para Dos Personas is the paella, brimming with seafood and topped by two succulent snow crab claws. It include squid, shrimp, mussels, and possibly other seafood that I'm forgetting. The rice is nicely spiced and studded with vegetables - even by itself the rice is flavorful.

The owner (I didn't get his name, but I've spoken with him before on previous visits) did everything he could to make things run smoothly, without being obtrusive.

I'll get one - maybe two - more meals out of the leftovers. Portions are generous.

And although the Menu para Dos Personas is basically seafood-based, the regular menu is extensive, with many meat and poultry options.

Price for the Menu para Dos Personas was inexpensive for the quality and quantity of food - a bit under $40 before tax and tip. It's BYOB, but the corkage fee is very reasonable.

Taste of Peru
6545 N. Clark St.
Chicago
(773) 381-4540

Thanks for the report. The potatoes were most likely in Huancaina sauce. The sauce itself typically does not contain eggs; the bright yellow color comes from Amarillo peppers (and the texture from a ricotta-like cheese). You can get aji amarillo nearby at La Unica.

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking it was a bit like a traditional American potato salad, so of course my mind went right to mayo and eggs - especially since it was topped by a hard-boiled egg. I'm sure you're right, though.

Passing by Taste of Peru last weekend, I stopped for some carryout.



It was a "dry" ceviche and fairly tasty. There were some yams involved. I was turned off by the frozen corn. With an Inka Cola, lunch was around $15.

Eight of us went to Taste of Peru on Saturday evening.
With D'Candela fresh in my mind from the previous monday, I can make some comparisons (but not a lot, the menu items are somewhat different).

I couldn't talk anyone else into ceviche, so we ended up with a papa rellena and a chicken empanada. The papa rellena was perhaps a notch better than D'Candela's: crisper exterior, more meat in the filling, but similar flavor, served with great pickled onions. The empanada had a very nice sweeter pastry crust, but underseasoned and underfilled filling.

For mains, the server talked me out of the shrimp with walnut cream sauce (picante de camarones) saying it's very bland -- but let someone two seats down order it (yes, it was bland). Go figure. I had the Papa a la Diabla con Bistec instead (boiled potatoes with huancaina sauce and fried steak), which I'd expected to be spicier (oh well, nothing a little aji can't fix). MrsF had the Seco de Cordero (stewed lamb with tomato, pumpkin, etc). The taste I had there was terrific... the leftovers less so, very salty.

The place was jam-packed on a saturday night, with blaring music.

All in all, I think I'd have preferred another meal at D'Candela.