non-Mexican ceviche

I love ceviche--it's a brilliant summer combination of flavor and texture. A friend and I were talking today about all of the different kinds of Latin American ceviche variations, and even though both fo us eat Latin American food often (I just love to eat, and he and his wife crave the tastes of home, which are Chile, Panama, and Mexico), we couldn't come up with places that weren't Mexican to eat ceviche.

Nothing against Mexican ceviche, it's what I made myself for dinner tonight, but I'm up for a change.

So, food dudes (and I certainly mean dude in a gender neutral way), what do you think? Where could we go?

costa rican ceviche: irazu, on milwaukee, probably about 2000 N. 3 or 4 blocks north of north ave.

-ed

Peruvian ceviche?

I noticed that next Thursday there will be some manner of Peruvian celebration (which is incidentally causing the cancellation of next week's farmers' market by city hall)... In any event, if there are enough Peruvians in Chicago to warrant such an event, then there might be at least one or two decent Peruvian restaurants around.

From what I gather from a Peruvian firend (unfortunately, we've fallen out of contact), in his native area of northwestern Preru, ceviche is the local dish of pride. He would wax poetic about ceviche at the slightest provocation...

So, if there is a good Peruvian place out there that does ceviche, that might be worth a try...

A

While Peruvians make great ceviche/cebiche/seviche, the Ecuadorans claim to have originated it. Becuase Ecuador is such an underdog, and is often overlooked (Panama hats are made only in Ecuador, never in Panama, and always have been, for example), and because I like theirs better (they use seville oranges as a main acid, rather than lime), I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt over Peru. Anyway, Mi Ciudad on Irving had very good ceviche in several interesting varieties, though it was closed recently due to a kitchen fire. The Peruvian standby Rinconcito Sudamericano always had solid ceviche, though it's been a while. Cubans eat fish and shellfish en escabeche, though not here that I'm aware of. And some of the Italian seafood salads around town come close to the same thing. Caputo's has a nice one. The shrimp/clam/octopus salad on bruschetta at Caponies is damn good, too.

And "Mexican" ceviches vary widely. The ketchup/Clamato/lime concoction in a tall parfait glass, goblet, or styrofoam cup is common around here, but there are subtler "white" versions at specialists like El Barco and Las Islas Marias, as well as La Quebrada.

Well, can I use this opportunity to pine (again) for a Nobu to open in Chicago. I really adore that Japanese-S. American approach to ceviche. While SushiSamba Rio (504 N. Wells St) is no Nobu, their sashimi ceviche was pretty good.

Mi Familia is an interesting Peruvian restaurant in Logan Square (3624 W. Fullerton) better for the force of its owner than its overpowering food. The ceviche is one for the ultra zippy habanero based dressing rather than for its pristine fish.

One may (and maybe should!) do a ceviche-athon in Logan Square. Besides Irazu mentioned above, and Mi Familia, there is the vegetable added cevide of Islas Marias and the two types available at the Campeche fish market.

I agree with Jeff that seafood salad at Caputo's is very good, but it is cooked. What I'd like to see someone here do, is the "crudo", Italian takes on raw fish that Esca is very famous for in New York.

For Ecuadorian ceviche, try La Humita on Pulaski or La Pena on Milwaukee (a few blocks north of Irving Park). For recipes, get a copy of Maria Kijac's book, The South American Table; recipes of hers (including ceviche) will also be featured at a couple of dinners in the near future; see my post in Events.
Buen provecho

I went to La Humita last night after having been turned back by barred doors or lack of A/C at Campeche, Papa's Cache Sabroso, and Chicken Run (a new pollo al carbon spot on milwaukee just south of fullerton). We had a hankering for ceviche. I would not recommend La Humita on the basis of the meal we had last night. Ceviche de camaron was bland with a dominant tomato note, whole shrimp-fried-rice style frozen (?) shrimp without a trace of citrus or heat. We squeezed in the lemon that came along side and dumped in a tablespoon of the hotsauce, but to no avail. This ceviche was beyond salvaging. The only bright spot in the ceviche was that it came with the really-oh toasted hominy corn on the side, unlike the Peruvian spot on N Clark in Rogers Park, which served canned corn niblets as a condiment to its ceviche.

We had a namesake humita, a tamale like corn masa cylinder with sweet niblets scattered throughout - didn't do much for me. I had what they call a churrasco plate, a puny milanesa style fried steak with rice, avocado, 2 fried eggs, some chopped up beets and mediocre french fries, direct from freezer to frier to my plate.

All in all, I wouldn't go back. It's a pleasant room, nice waitstaff, but there's nothing going on in the kitchen.