Summary
This restaurant is located at the southern tip of Long Island City close to Vernon. I would probably classify this as a more upscale Peruvian restaurant with some romantic vibes to it. There is another Peruvian restaurant north of here that is probably more casual and less formal. Truth be told, we actually like this restaurant a lot more than the other one as this one is more consistent albeit a little more pricey.
The left was chicha morada, homemade purple corn juice with cinnamon. The colors of this might make it seem like it’s very “berry” centric, but in actuality, it kind of reminds me of a light watery drink with some essences of corn.
The right was pisco sour.
This was leche de tigre, citrus based ceviche marinade, market fish, squid, choclo, and cilantro. This was medium spicy and was actually pretty good. The marinade was fairly potent with a nice kick of sourness at the tail. The seafood was fresh and flavorful.
The tastings of empanadas came with lomito, chicken, and choclo. The lomito was beef stir-fry and had a more savory salty consistency similar to if you grinded up lomo saltado. The chicken had aji de gallina, which was basically shredded chicken with the aji sauce. The last was choclo (vegetarian) which had quinoa and mozzarella. This definitely reminded me of a cheese empanada. The nice part about these empanadas was that the pastry was fluffy and crisp. The yellow sauce served on the side reminded me of a light mustard dip / huancaína.
The jalea came with crispy fish, shrimp, squid, yucca, salsa criolla, and aji amarillo tartar sauce. The seafood was quite fresh, and the portion size was plentiful.
The lomo saltado came with top sirloin, red onion & tomato stir fry, hand cut fries, soy sauce, and cilantro. It was ordered without rice, which costs $2 extra here if you desire. The flavor of this was pretty good this time around, and portion size was acceptable. The meat was very tender.
The passion fruit cheesecake was good although it had an interesting after bitter flavor on the edge. But as you go towards the middle, it was definitely more classically sweetened. The textures of this does remind me more of the passion fruit custards as opposed to a cheesecake.
The service was very good and prompt.
Back in September 2018
This was the parmesan scallops and came in threes.
This was the lomo saltado.
Final Verdict
This is a fairly good Peruvian restaurant in the LIC area. The price is a little more expensive, but the food actually is pretty good.
Yelp Jabs
Food is rather salty! Ordered some takeout for lunch on a weekday and was a bit disappointed.
I’m disappointed that this Elitist reviewed takeout.
However, the server kept on asking us if we wanted water (not tap water) but Pellegrino water… A mistake from the waitress is that she should inquire with us if we want tap water or Pellegrino water.
I would like to know what mid-tier restaurant out there would offer Pellegrino water without charge. Anyhow, this Elitist should’ve exercised a better judgement than assuming something like Pellegrino would be free.