Description
The ceviche at Mo-Chica, in the Mercado La Paloma complex south of downtown, may be the best I have had: cubes of sushi-quality tuna in a thick vinegar emulsion sharp with chile, soft and tart and brutally spicy all at once, served with slivered red onion, a half-ear of giant-kerneled corn and a soft chunk of sweet potato. Mo-Chica's chef-proprietor, Ricardo Zarate, knows his way around the big Japanese seafood wholesalers downtown; he knows his way around a fish. But it is not all straightforward Peruvian cooking here. As far as I know there is nothing in Andean cooking like Zarate's quinotto, a bowl of puffed quinoa simmered with crème fraîche and shiitake mushrooms until it resembles a musky Piemontese risotto. And although a slab of griddle-crisped barracuda, served over a slurry of chickpeas stewed with barley and herbs, may be more Cal-Med than classically Peruvian - but with a dab of fiery rocoto-pepper paste or moss-green chile puree zapped with the Peruvian herb huacatay - it might as well be.See full review.
