A Glut of Peruvian? - Shark Seafood

Yesterday, I picked up the girlz from a day of mourning the passing of Field's (collective assessment, Federated's not spending on the windows like Target did). It was a bit early for dinner, so we decided to wander. First, we considered Steve's Shish, but after a failed trip to Tatra* a few weeks ago, I know knew its address (that's Pukaski, not Archer...). The Tatra Inn parking lot was empty, and we thought the place closed. The doors, however, opened to a nearly empty room. The buffet, well this may be the best Polish buffet in town, but it was not showing it last night. It really looked like left over Christmas dinner, with a dried out partially skliced ham and a dried out partially sliced turkey. We skipped out.

Now, the funny thing is, even though ReneG told me the address of Tatra, I kinda forgot. I thought he said 84th and Pulaski (it's around 60th and Pulaski). So, while we looked in vein for Tatra, we saw all sortsa inviting places. It came down to a Nayarit style Mexican seafood place (not Islas Marias) and a Peruvian. We chose Peruvian.

Shark's a small storefront with just a hint of design element. One wall has a series of colored translucent panels and a matching abstract expressionist painting, with some iron candleabras, it had a sixties vibe (just missing the shag carpeting). The menu's mostly seafood, non-translated dishes like Parihuela ("Peruvian bouillibase"), Jaela (seasoned fillet topped with salsa criolla) and chupe de camaron (a shrimp soup). We got seafood cau-cau, ceviche mixto, and pollo saltado.

I told the kidz that there is a law in Peru that every dish must contain a potato. Saltado is the Peruvuan variation of stir-fry, which means that that french fries get added to the mix. The kidz ate it all up. My wife loved her cau-cau, yellow from anchiotte and flavored with many other spices. I'll come back to this in a second, but my ceviche came last. Even though the ceviche is on the appetizer side of the menu, this makes a full meal. I worked around the krab, but loved all the raw fish slices, shrimps, squid and mussells in a creamy lime dressing. The corn nuts were as good as all salty corn nuts, but the corn itself was canned. Yes, there was the requisite potato.

One has to be very generous when assessing the service at a small place like this, and my patience almost wore thin. The dishes came out one at a time, and everyone was pretty much done by the time my ceviche came. Water glasses remained empty a lot, and we needed water to balance off the salsa aji (good but a little too much ballpark mustard).

OK, we do not have a glut of Peruvian places, but I'm not sure if it's worth a trip down Pulaski to this place. Still, if in the hood or looking to do a study of local Peruvian places, it's worth a try.

Shark
6430 S. Pulaski
Chicago, IL
773-884-2100

*Unlike MikeG, we can eat Eastern European food more than once a month.

VI,

I'm glad someone finally made the effort to go to Shark. I stopped by there (only to reconnoiter) on my pilgrimage to Las Picosas, and it seemed promising, but based on your post, there seems little reason to make the trip again.

You didn't stop by the bakery next door, by any chance? I was impressed by the extensive baked goods offered there, all pristinely presented and carefully displayed in well-arranged cabinets. Left with a few bags of Mexican pastry, which I have recently discovered I like.

Hammond

Vital Information wrote: It came down to a Nayarit style Mexican seafood place (not Islas Marias) and a Peruvian.

what's the nayarit?

zim wrote:what's the nayarit?

I haven’t tried it yet but it’s on the list.


Mariscos El Veneno
6651 S Pulaski Rd
Chicago
773-582-5576

Zim wrote:what's the nayarit?

Nayarit is a state on the Pacific coast of Mexico.