Kotosh in Lomita: Refresing Japanese Peruvian Seafood and Tacu Tacu

I finally found a place I like in Kotosh, a cute, unassuming Japanese Peruvian joint in Lomita. Yes, it's a bit out of the way and not close to the freeway but worth the drive. It definitely beats other Peruvian places like Mochica and Inti.

We had the classics, like a yellowtail tiradito, which was sashimi with a light ponzu-like sauce topped with sprouts. I think this was a variation on the traditional tiradito as it didn't have a spicy sauce. Our server offered a creamy, spicy sauce but it was different from the sauce that my dear friend and master chef MO made. 

The tiradito was refreshing and the fresh radish sprouts gave the dish a nice salad feel. Very healthy.

We also got the seafood ceviche, which was a mix of shrimp, squid, octopus and fish slightly cooked in a citrusy juice and accompanied by sliced red onions, steamed hominy, roasted corn and sweet potato.

It's the perfect summer dish and like always, I was relishing the combination of flavors and textures. You got crunchy, slightly sweet, tangy and chewy. It was a winning mix. The seafood was all very fresh and hominy perfectly steamed just so.

These two appetizers were good but the biggest surprises in a good way were the Tacu Tacu and Cusqueno beer. Tacu Tacu is a rice and beans pancake that comes out as a omelet with a side of your choice. The sides could include plantain and a fried egg on top. You all know how I feel about a fried egg on top. It makes everything better.

The choices at Kotosh, run by Peruvian Japanese servers named Carlos and Christine, included lomo saltado and Tacu Tacu could also come "stuffed" with seafood or beef. I had never had this so went for Tacu Tacu Lomo Saltado -- combining the familiar with the new.

How amazing was that rice and bean pancake! It was like fried rice except with much less grease and fluffy like a real omelet but there was no egg in it. I couldn't stop eating the rice and beans, especially drizzled with that spicy, creamy sauce (see photo above).

I must say the Lomo Saltado wasn't the best I've had. The fries, tomatoes and onions were very good but the quality of the beef could have been better. Ok, I get that filet mignon is expensive. Maybe it's also my aversion to well done beef but the meat pieces were a bit rubbery. I would have liked them more tender. Still, I had the veggies with the rice and paired with the sauce, my stomach was what I was stuffing.

We tried both Cristal and Cusquena (for hard core soda lovers, it has Inka Cola) and liked Cusquena better hands down. It was smooth without being bitter. Can't explain it but it tasted like it had character, I swear to God.

After all this food, we had the audacity to get alfajores for dessert (I resisted getting the flan too). I mean, I wasn't about to pass up a shortbread cookie filled with dulce de leche. It was solid. The cookie crumbled wonderfully when halved and out oozed out the deliciously sweet dulce de leche, or manjar, as I like to call it Chilean-style. Let's just say I could have had many more but I extricated myself.

Mochica: Disappointing Food and Drinks, No Go

I was fortunate enough to go to the "Friends and Family" pre-opening event at Mochica a few weeks ago and had mixed feelings about it. I wanted to like it because I love Peruvian food but the verdict was promising but not quite there. I mostly had seafood and veggie dishes because of my party so I also wanted to try the meat dishes. So I returned.

Confession: I've been to its former Mercado La Paloma location and didn't like them then either. 

I recall the highlight of my last visit during Friends and Family being the octopus, so got that. It's grilled octopus with potatoes and jalapeno sauce. It was a bit heavy on the sauce but the octopus was cooked right and the sauce gave it a nice kick. It was solid this time around as well.

I can't say the same for the alpaca stew that seems to be one of its signature dishes. Loved the idea of slow cooked alpaca, paired with some noodles and topped with a fried egg. What's not to like, right?

The alpaca meat didn't have too much flavor. It was soft and tender but tasted bland. Don't get me started on the noodles. They were totally overdone and that alone ruined the dish. It held so much promise -- slow cooked meat + noodles + fried egg whose yolk is oozing and blends into the sauce. Alas, it didn't deliver. Extremely disappointing. It didn't matter the egg was "organic fertile."

The so-called quinotto was interesting. I love risotto so this was a nice variation using quinoa that actually worked. The wild mushrooms emanated a strong mushroom-y flavor and aroma. It was drizzled with some parsley-infused oil that I didn't think was necessary but it wasn't bad either.

The lomo saltado was extremely forgettable. I mean, using top quality meat is key here and the meat was overly tough and chewy. Not to mention the fries, of which there were only like five. Skimpy.

The fried chicken pieces weren't bad but not nearly as good as the fried chicken sandwich at Son of a Gun.

The ceviches were unimpressive. They were nothing like the ones at La Mar Cebicheria in SF.  The food was better executed there. I haven't been to Picca in LA yet but I wonder if it's just the sad reality of the state of Peruvian in LA...

I tried the Spanish Mackerel tiradito and I didn't get the feeling that the fish was super fresh.

One of my eating partners said the lamb and alpaca burger was dry. I agreed.

The cooked fish dishes were nothing special. One of the things I love about Peruvian food is the sauce. I remember my dear friend and master chef MO made some amazing chili-based sauces, yellow, green and red. We had them with tiradito and causas.

I hate to be so down on this place but the cocktails were left wanting too. I'm a huge fan of Pisco Sour and I didn't think they did a good job of the drink. It didn't have the foam from the egg white. Just didn't taste authentic. It was just uber strong.

The food was also overall over salted. Yes, I'm crying wolf again about the salt.

One big no-no: What's up with the servers so eagerly wanting to take our plates like every five seconds? That's extremely annoying so please don't do it again. Although to be honest, I'm not planning on returning.

For dessert, we had the alfajores, which I usually love but they looked so dry and unappetizing that my mouth just dried up by looking at them.

In contrast, the picarones -- a Peruvian version of the donut -- I had at La Mar were amazing. Ok, I'll stop comparing. Just won't be going here again.

La Mar Cebicheria in SF: Causas, Cebiche, Empanadas & Picarones -- I Want One in LA!

I had heard a lot about Gaston Acurio, Peru's superstaf chef who built a global empire around exquisite Peruvian that goes beyond lomo saltado. Don't get me wrong. I love me a juicy lomo saltado. But my dear friend and superstar chef himself, MO, first introduced me to this guy and his type of cuisine.


Even better, I learned so much about Peruvian cuisine thanks to MO's amazing cooking. Even before I tried Acurio's dishes, my friend's cooking set the bar, very high at that. He made us a fantastic array of causas and cebiches with the most fascinating sauces that tasted great and whose vibrant colors looked even better.

My verdict for Acurio's SF location, La Mar Cebicheria: Very good albeit overpriced.

The causa limena looked and tasted great. Imagine a mound of mashed yellow (more yellow than a standard Idaho variety) potatoes, topped with some crab meat, tomato and finished off with some huancaina sauce and a hard boiled quail egg wedge.

It was an awesome combination -- the mild, soft potatoes with wonderful crab meat, which was fresh -- all with a mild kick provided by the sauce that is made from yellow Peruvian pepper and fresh white cheese, among other ingredients.

I love pisco sour, so an Andean cocktail was a must to get started. I opted for a passion secreta, which included pisco, passion fruit, lime juice, egg whites and some other things. I'm always lured by the idea of passion fruit because of its name and then am reminded I'm not a big fan of the flavor upon consuming it. Silly, I know. Note to self: Make sure to stick to the classic pisco sour next time or at least avoid passion fruit. I love that it also offers Hitachino White Ale, one of my fave beers, and has a great sake selection, presumably as an accompaniment for the cebiche.

Before I get into the cebiche, let me say the complimentary yucca and plaintain chips that came with two sauces, one spicier than the other but not much different otherwise, were good. Crunchy and not too oily despite being deep fried.

The only complaint was that they were a bit fatty rather than watery (high fat content) and they could have used more kick. Ok, those are two complaints but who said I was easy to please?

So the cebiche: we got a mixed one that had yellowtail, squid and shrimp with some red onions and corn in a citrus marinade dubbed "leche de tigre," which literally translates to tiger's milk but really refers to the decidedly un-milky marinade that the cebiche quickly "cooks" the raw fish.

The fish and shellfish were both fresh and again, I could have used more kick but the cebiche was good enough, mixed together with the crunchy vegetables that complemented the softer seafood.

Another standout was the empanada. We got the empanada de tamalito verde, which was a deep fried turnover filled with sweet corn, cilantro, and queso fresco and topped with a salsa criolla and came with a dipping sauce of Huancaina Rocoto (a chili) sauce.

I usually prefer baked but this fried empanada wasn't too heavy. What I loved most was the flavor of the filling that was sweet with hints of cilantro, not to mention a beautiful shade of green. It was very unique in a good way.

The salsa criolla, which consists of the onions and other toppings, was ok. The huancaina rocoto sauce could have used more kick. I detect a pattern here. I think this place needs more kick. I suspect it was to accommodate "milder" palates and I strongly object!

The one thing that was average to below average was the anticucho, the beef skewer that came with cubed potatoes and some other vegetables. The beef was a bit tough and overcooked and the potatoes were nothing special.

I also didn't appreciate the service, which was on the slow side and one of the servers ignored our request for more plaintain chips. I reflect that in the tip I leave.

The view was fantastic. It's right by the Ferry Building so I highly recommend you go for lunch to soak in the scenery.

The saving grace toward the end was the dessert. The pie didn't look good so we went for the picarones, which are basically like doughnuts except they're made from squash and sweet potatoes.

WOW. I thought they'd be super heavy since they're deep fried but they weren't. They were lightly fried, if that's possible, and I really liked the hints of squash and sweet potato flavors that came through. They were so crunchy and the honey it came with was almost unnecessary. I think I had most of the bites by themselves without dipping.

I'm not usually a dessert person but when the opportunity arises to have such delectable sweets that aren't overly so, I'm so there. Check out my contributions to the emerging field of food porn below.

Inti: Peruvian at Its Best

I'm so glad I finally found a decent, no-frills Peruvian joint that's both good and easy on the wallet. I had never been too impressed with Mario's or Los Balcones del Peru, to name a few, so there was some trepidation entering this restaurant in a non-descript minimall. But the friendly staff and delicious food quickly won me over.

The bread and salsa brought before the meal were good starters. The bread itself was nothing special but it was warm and fresh, which is more than I can say for some of the fancier venues that charge an arm and leg.

The green salsa it came with was very spicy and flavorful. Besides milk, which gave the salsa a creamy consistency and likely tempered the heat, the salsa also contained habanero, which made it so spicy and condiment-worthy.

The ceviche mixto included raw shrimp, squid, halibut and octopus slightly cooked in citrus. They were topped with red onions, spices and cilantro, among other things. I loved that it came with toasted corn kernels that added a great smoky and crunchy texture to the mix. It also came with boiled potatoes whose mild flavor counterbalanced the sourness of the juice well.

Most importantly, the seafood was fresh. They also don't mess around when it comes to heat. When they asked how spicy I wanted it, I asked for spicy. And spicy it was. I daresay it almost kicked my butt. Delish.

The highlight of the meal, however, was the Bisteck a lo Pobre. A hearty slab of steak topped with an over-easy egg, sitting on a bed of fries, with a side of white rice on a plate whose edges were adorned with fried plaintains. Need I say more?

The meats on these types of dishes in other restaurants are always sub-par quality, but this meat tasted like quality meat (while not grass-fed premium or anything). I usually like my meat bloody -- aka medium rare -- but because it was on the thin side, I let it slide that it was cooked well-done. But it wasn't overcooked like in most other joints either, which was good. The egg could have been a tad less cooked as the yolk wasn't as oozy as I'd like it to be, but I like anything with a fried egg on top so I'm biased. The fries were crispy enough, not too greasy as in many other joints. Ditto the fried plaintains, which are usually an overripe mush dripping in grease. These were on the firm side but still soft enough to savor and with a bit of a crunch from the deep-frying. I didn't love the rice too much, which was on the dry side but not a huge deal.

The Arroz Chaufa de Mariscos -- seafood fried rice with scrambled eggs and green onions -- was good, although not as good as the steak. The dish represents Chinese immigrants' influence on Peruvian cuisine, in the form of chau fan, which I believe is "fried rice" in Chinese. One can find restaurants serving "chifa," Peruvian-Chinese food, all throughout Peru as well as in Chile and Argentina, the latter of which aren't considered as authentic. Don't mean to belabor the point, but I did like that the fried rice wasn't as greasy as I usually find in Chifas and Chinese restaurants. The seafood tasted fresh and my only complaint was that it was on the bland side. Then again, everything else was pretty strongly flavored so it's no wonder that it must have tasted flat in comparison.

Service was great. I didn't like the typical Peruvian drinks but that may be a matter of taste. I didn't care for maracuya juice or the chicha morada, which is made from black maize and boiled with pineapple and spices.

I look forward to returning and trying other dishes, like the classic lomo saltado (more fries!).

Inti
5870 Melrose Ave. #105
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 962-2027