Limo, Francisco, and the Greatest Meal I’ve Had To Date

Peru is a beautiful country.  High peaks of the Andes look like rockets in eternal take-off as they pierce through the clouds below the planes importing travelers to the lower elevated coast and rain forest regions. But, what is positively exquisite about Peru is the culinary masterpieces that come out of it.  It is true that some can be bought on the street for around 2 US dollars, such as cuy and anticucho de corazon, the former being a whole guinea pig and the latter is a succulent beef heart.  Both are cooked lovingly on a portable grill in the streets.  Other foods may be a little more expensive, but make up for it in the almost unprecedented variety that one can find.

Potatoes immediately come to mind.  The Inca raised the edible root to the point of a deity.  Their vast empire with its many different environments allowed for the over 4000 variety of potatoes.  The extreme environments of Peru, from 10,000 feet up a mountain to the densely humid Amazon rain forest, challenged the  Inca to select specific attributes while breeding their potatoes in order to survive each climate generating the wide variety of potatoes found throughout the world.  Even the White Irish Potato descends from the original wild Andean tuber, having not even reached the country until 4 centuries ago.

Not only are potatoes ripped from the ground diverse, but the way it’s used in food has just as must variety. They be found skinned, sliced and deep fried, but traditionally Peruvians chow down on causa.  Extremely popular on the coast as a starter or a light meal, causa is a potato pancake usually with some kind of seafood such as tuna pureed (technically a terrine) in layers between the pancakes. When headed to the mountains, the potato dish of choice is known as Huancaina, aptly named after the Huancarán mountain.  Thickly sliced potatoes lay beneath a mire of yellow cheese sauce garnished with a hard boiled egg, cheese, and black olives.  No need to worry though, I plan on trying and writing about a recipe soon.

The only way to truly experience the best Peruvian food is to try it and why not try the recipe’s from one of Peru’s top chefs?  After taking the day to *eh-hem* attempt to explore the ruins of Tambomachay to Sacsayhuaman and some night time shopping down El Sol, my family and I wearily stumbled into Limo.  It lies right in La Plaza de Armas and is owned by one of Peru’s top chefs, Coque Ossio.  But the food I imbibed, neh, satiated myself with that night convinces me to call him the greatest chef in Peru.

We arrived to a empty restaurant besides the two heavily set people.  The host graciously guided us to the corner table, which happened to be uncomfortably close to the “Klumps” next to us.  Glancing around the room, I began to wonder why we had been seated right next to the only other people in the restaurant!  Luckily, my thoughts were eradicated by a waiter arriving. I don’t know if it’s because we were Americans, but service in Peru at restaurants was typically rushed.  Of course, it may have been a part of the language barrier why our waiters wanted to get our order, get out, and move on.  But it happened at every restaurant and our server at Limo seemed no different.  He quickly asked us what  we wanted to drink and if we were ready to order.  We held him off with orders of agua con gas (this is safer because the tap isn’t safe to drink and some restaurants recycle still water bottles to make a larger profit) and the wine list.  Shortly after our waiter left a different waiter appeared carrying our water and wine menu.

“Hello! My name is Francisco and I’m going to helping your waiter out a bit tonight.” His English was perfect with no hesitations and only a slight accent.  “Does anyone want a drink or would you like suggestions with the wine?”

“I’d like to try a chilcano,” my brother said, “but I’m not actually entirely sure what it is.”

“Perfecto! A chilcano is a extremey popular Peruvian drink made with my countries signature liquor, Pisco.  They are good for a before or even after dinner drink, although I suggest making it a before drink and having Pisco straight up or a Pisco sour after.  Chilcanos are meant to ‘chill’ you out, you know?” He then emphasized the CHILL in chilcano.

His charm and suggestions were something completely out of the ordinary from all of the other waiters we’d had throughout our time in Peru and after his explanation we all wanted to try one.  “Well,” he proceeded, “for you guys I would suggest either the traditional, green apple, or chicha morada chilcanos.  They all are extremely masculine with good but light flavors and enough liquor to loosen the stress of the day and begin the night. For the lady,” gesturing to my mother, “I suggest the pear chilcano which is sweeter.”

Each one of us took one of his suggestions.  I bravely asked for the chicha morada.  Chicha is an alcoholic beverage made from corn that is crushed and fermented in water over 3 days.  In Ollantaytambo people put up red flags indicating that they have fresh chicha.  Of course, we had to try it out while there, but it smelled and tasted like a barn. That musty smell of hay that has been damp for days overwhelmed my nostrils every time I tried to take a sip.  And that is why it was so brave of me to choose the chicha morada chilcano.  Chicha morada is a bit different having been made with black corn giving it a deep purple color and a sweeter taste, so I figured I’d give it a whirl.  I was not disappointed at all and actually thought it was the best one we ordered.  I could definitely taste the corn taste but it was subtle and melded the tastes of the drink together really nicely.

Francisco gave us a few minutes alone with the menu and our chilcanos.  Everything on the menu was described in such detail that none of us knew where to start.  Each of us had 4 appetizers, 2 cerviches, and 10 main courses chosen in our head! Needless to say no decision was made on our part until the amazing salesman returned.  He narrowed every category down to about 2-3 items with descriptions that made all our mouths water.  The best was when we asked what was the best sushi he recommended.  He simply lowered his head and raised his eyes and asked, “where are we right now?” then lifted his pointer finger to indicate LIMO embroidered over his left breast pocket.

The Limo Roll

As usual, he wasn’t wrong either.  Limo has some interesting sushi rolls and its signature sushi roll (pictured above) has a delicious Andean honey and hot chili sauce drizzled all over it.  There’s no reason for soy sauce with this item, the honey is really light and not too spicy.  Once my teeth sank into the cream cheese it was pure heaven followed by the crunchy tempura created a sensation in mouth that is indescribable.  Additionally, there was tuna in it, the best fish to eat sashimi style, and avocado.  Now, for me, avocado is the best fruit in the world.  I maintain that it was an avocado tree in the garden of Eden.

Along with our Limo roll we order another sushi roll with fried eel, marinated and dried seaweed, and a strange purple sauce.  I honestly can’t remember the name of it because it wasn’t that great in comparison with the Limo roll and Francisco made a disappointed face when we ordered it.  But there was no need to worry because our 5-element cerviche arrived.

Francisco suggested the 5 element cerviche for us (of course).  Cerviche is a popular dish south of the border and eaten frequently along the coast of Peru.  The dish is prepared in thousands of different ways with different spices that can make it yellow, orange, or black, but the 5-element cerviche is the most pure, basic of cerviches.  Thin slices of sea bass, red onion, corn, sweet potatoe, and leche de tigre (a special blend of lime juice and spices) are combined and sit for over a day.  The acidity of the lime juices infuse into the ingredients and actually cook the fish.  This was by far the best cerviche we had throughout Peru and I ate it everyday at nearly every restaurant!

We had devoured all of the cerviche and both sushi rolls, but we couldn’t stop there! We ordered three main courses to pass around family style.  First to hit the table was fried pork belly.  Thickly sliced fried potatoes and crisp red onions lay underneath ribs covered in a crispy, dark brown crust.  They were so tender the meat melted in your mouth.  It was extremely hard to swallow because I wanted to have the taste forever.  Ossobuco, a veal shank cooked for hours in vegies, broth, and white wine, depressed like bread beneath my fork.  The meat was so tender, but it was nothing compared to the bone marrow nestled in the medullary cavity of the humerus on my plate.  The marrow was so large that it divided into 4 perfect mouthfuls and damn near turned to liquid before even touching my lips.

At this point in time your probably thinking to yourself that there is no possible way I could have eaten anymore.  If you recall though, we ordered three main courses!  The third was grilled sea bass and shrimp atop potato dumplings stewed in a delicious red sauce.

Between bites we found out that Francisco was born in Lima but moved to California at a young age.  After attending college in the U.S. he decided to move back to Peru and ended up in Cusco.  He was an interesting and charismatic person.  He made all of us extremely comfortable and it was a welcomed change from all of the other drab servers we’d had over the week.

Before we could leave, Francisco insisted we tried some Pisco as a digestivo.  He brought us Limo’s two most exotic Pisco Sours, coca and eucalyptus.  Being at such high elevation I had been drinking coca tea to get over the nausea and the coca Pisco sour was a welcomed and refreshing change.  The eucalytus sour was exquisite.  There was a very natural taste to it and it was really cleansing.  Unfortunately afterward we had to say adios and depart.  It was an amazing experience and one that I’ll never forget.

The Author and Francisco