Twenty dishes and five desserts shared by seven people, plus double orders that added up to even more food. It was a frenetic experience but still fun, passing, sharing and judging dishes based on a scrap here and a spoonful there.
This was dinner at Picca in West Los Angeles when owner/chef Ricardo Zarate (right) took control and sent out what he thought we should eat.
The risk wasn't great, because Zarate knew us well from many dinners at Mo-Chica, his downtown Peruvian restaurant.
At Picca, the food is Peruvian, yet different from Mo-Chica. Here you get skewered foods called anticuchos, the most traditional of which is beef heart. I tried heart in Lima and found it well seasoned and delicious, not the gamey, unpleasant organ meat that I expected.
But for those who balk at eating heart, there are anticuchos with scallops (above), salmon and steak. And even cherry tomatoes topped with burrata and huacatay pesto (at top). No one could balk at what tastes thoroughly Italian.
Causa, the stack of mashed potatoes layered with chicken or other fillings, was divided into tiny bites that looked like potato petits fours (above). The toppings were shrimp, crab, chicken and raw tuna. You have to admit they're cute.
Rather than the usual marinated raw seafood ceviche, Zarate produced ceviche crocante, deep-fried halibut and calamari in a crisp golden coating. And a bowl of mussels.
And seabass tiradito with soy sauce dressing, reflecting the Asian aspect of Peruvian cuisine. And bowls of Peruvian style seafood paella. And tiradito with scallops and uni (above), which wasn't on the menu.
And chicharrón de pollo, crisp fried chicken strips (above) that would be perfect for a Super Bowl party.
The food came so fast that I wasn't always sure what I was eating. This tasted sour. That tasted salty, but what was it?
The most recognizable were Zarate's seco de pato (above), duck leg confit in a bowl with black beer sauce and cilantro rice; a whole small branzino with green huacatay sauce and an artichoke half that was slathered with huacatay aioli and aji amarillo butter in which to dip the leaves.
Bisteck a la pobre (above) was pretty obvious, the steak topped with a jaunty fried egg and, surprise, a banana underneath and chick peas at the bottom.
And you couldn't be fooled by empanadas. These came with a palette of sauces--yellow aji amarillo, green jalapeño-cilantro and red rocoto pepper. The fillings were spicy beef (excellent), chicken and eggplant.
Chorizo crostini (above) was eye-popping bright with its brilliantly colored topping under orange potato chips.
By dessert, I gave up trying to guess what I was eating. Was that the lemon tart or the aji amarillo cheesecake? And what was that layered in a glass? Someone said tres leches cake, but I never found the cake. It might have been snapped up by some other taster.
Churros (above) oozed out creamy, pale yellow lúcuma filling. Lúcuma is a Peruvian fruit with rich autumnal flavor that might make you think of pumpkin.
No confusion about chocolate cake (above) even though this wasn't the usual slice but a mound of dark cake with passion fruit filling and a slice of fruit on top.
Picca was crowded that Saturday night, and much later there was going to be some sort of bartending event upstairs. But after twenty dishes and five desserts, we packed up our tastebuds and went home.
Picca, 9575 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: (310) 277-0133.
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