If Gastón Acurio has his way, Peruvian cooking will be the next hot food trend in the United States, and judging by the number of new restaurants exploring the country’s cuisine, he just might get his wish.
Acurio is a Peruvian restaurateur with 32 locations in 14 countries, and he has obtained celebrity-chef status in parts of the world.
“Our mission is not doing restaurants,” he says. “It is to promote our culture in the world. It is a movement of hundreds of cooks. And we think we can take Peruvian food to the world. We have had this great food, but we didn’t share it.”
Peruvian was one of the original fusion cuisines going as far back as the Incas and carried on by modern Chinese and Japanese restaurateurs, who established a much-loved cuisine in Peru by incorporating the country’s indigenous ingredients and their own cooking styles.
It has even been rumored that famed classic chef and author Auguste Escoffier ranked Peruvian food the third best in the world, after his native French food and China’s complex cuisine.
Peru’s cooking makes the most of the country’s wide array of ingredients, including hundreds of chiles, seafood from the coast, tropical fruits from the Amazon, thousands of kinds of potatoes, and quinoa, a grain found in the native people’s diet that was referred to as the “mother of all grains” because of its high nutritional value.
“Being a cook in Peru is like being a cook in heaven,” Acurio says, noting Peru’s diverse ecosystems. “We have 85 climates.”
But ceviche “is the icon of our cuisine,” he explains. “It is the way we have to communicate with the world, like the Japanese did with sushi and the Italians did with pasta.”
There are some culinary oddities, such as guinea pig, but Acurio says U.S. diners have been known to warm up to dishes that may have at first seemed too exotic.
“The Japanese in the last 30 years have been selling wasabi and raw fish,” he says.
Most recently Acurio opened his first U.S. restaurant, La Mer, in San Francisco. He’s currently scoping out a second location in New York that he says he plans to open by February 2010.
“A commingling of cultures” Acurio is not the only ambassador of Peruvian cuisine. Last February, for example, chef Jose Garces opened a Chinese-Peruvian concept in Philadelphia called Chifa, which was named after the many Chinese restaurants in Peru, especially in cosmopolitan Lima. “I have a really high respect for Peruvian food,” Garces says. “The way their dishes come together is amazing. Their ceviches are some of the best in the world.” The 125-seat Chifa, which has a $55 check average, blends cuisines with such dishes as a crab empanada that uses a typical Latin-style flour dough but features a filling seasoned with ginger, scallions and garlic. The dish comes with a sweet-chile sauce and pickled-daikon salad. “We’re trying not to force anything” with this style of cooking, Garces adds. “It is more a commingling of cultures.” Chefs are also adding Peruvian flavors at Mediterranean-inspired Nana restaurant in Dallas, where Texas quail, $16, comes with couscous, avocado and Peruvian chile sauce. Sous chef Anthony Vancamp says taste, not country of origin, is the litmus test for dish creation. The result, he says, is that “it all comes together as a cohesive menu.” For the sauce Vancamp uses a premade Peruvian chile paste that is “super-super-super-flavorful,” he says. “It has so much depth.” Vancamp says the paste has the flavor of dried chiles with some spiciness and a hint of cumin. The sauce also has mirin and garlic and is emulsified with fried bread and oil. SushiSamba, the six-unit, New York-based chain, plans to expand as well with a new lounge concept called SugarCane. Michael Cressotti, the company’s corporate chef, says their new lounge is scheduled to open in Miami’s fashion district in a couple months with a $58 check average and a raw bar replacing the sushi bar from the 11-year-old SushiSamba concept, which incorporates Japanese, Peruvian and Brazilian themes. SugarCane will emphasize small plates priced between $5 and $19. In Chicago, the two-year-old Between Boutique Cafe and Lounge narrowed the definition of its cuisine from “global-eclectic with South Asian flair” to “Peruvian-Asian” when a new chef was hired about two months ago, says owner Carl Anderson. The cafe now offers sashimi-style tilapia ceviche, $8, served with yellow Peruvian pepper, Andean corn and sweet-potato confit; grilled duck breast for $14 with crushed cassava and ceviche; and Peruvian fried rice for $14. Similarly, a new Peruvian-influenced menu appeared recently at La Cofradia, in Coral Gables, Fla. The restaurant reopened after a four-month hiatus as La Cofradia Ceviche Bar, and chef-owner Jean Paul Desmaison says he ditched the more expensive dishes and white tablecloths. “The concept was very pricey and it wasn’t working,” Desmaison says. “So we decided if we wanted to make it with this economy, we would focus on Peruvian.” His new check average is about $35. Signature ceviches Desmaison, a native of Lima, says Peru can be broken down into regional cuisines: “The coast has a lot of ceviche and seafood. In the jungle, close to Brazil, there are more river fish. In the center, in the Andes, there are a lot of stews and potatoes. The north has a little more cilantro, but everyone has their version.” His ceviche, priced between $13 and $15, is the best-selling dish. Desmaison prepares three versions: a traditional version, an “Oriental” one, and another with yellow chiles. Each is marinated for less than four minutes, he says. The trick for ceviche is to serve it at once, concurs Peter Platt, partner at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant in Portland, Ore. Platt says the seafood dish is traditionally made with five basic ingredients: lime, fish, salt, red onion and chile pepper. Platt learned from his ancestors, who came from Peru, to soak red onions in water prior to adding to the marinade. He also learned to rinse the fish in that onion water before it is marinated. He uses about 2 ounces of Key lime juice to 5 ounces of fish. The proportion of onion and chile is less exact. “The fish juice marinade is considered an aphrodisiac,” Platt adds. Andina’s ceviche, as well as the rest of the menu, seems to be attracting interest. “Over the last four years, we’ve grown five-fold,” Platt boasts. Andina now has an event space that holds 100 for cocktails. It’s called Tupai, an indigenous word that means a gathering place. Predicting the Peruvian ‘boom’ To research modern Peruvian fare Cressotti traveled to Lima and found what he describes as a “culinary explosion.” “The food has come a long way in the last seven years,” he says. “Some of the restaurants over there, I can compare to any high-end restaurant in New York.” Cressotti calls chef Acurio the “forefather” of the new Peruvian food movement. Platt says to “expect the boom” of Peruvian cuisine in the United States in about five years. But don’t look forward to guinea pig on menus here anytime soon. “Guinea pig is quite different, if you serve it whole with the head and hands,” Acurio says. “So even in Lima we serve Peking guinea pig crepes with the crispy skin. We eat a lot of guinea pig, but we don’t think we can export that for the obvious reason.”— [email protected]