newsletter
may 2007
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GRAND OPENING:
Bienvenido! Welcome to Pica Peru Culinary Vacations.
This first edition of our monthly newsletter is a thrill to write. It means that after months of planning and honing our skills and experience, we finally have a Peruvian cooking vacations company that we want to share with the world. Since October 2006, Kazia Jankowski and Peruvians Sandra and Norma Gamio have been throwing back and forth ideas about how to best let foreign tourists experience the richness and depth of Peruvian food. Kazia, as restaurant critic for Denver's 5280 Magazine and author of the second edition of the Moon Peru guidebook, threw out her ideas. And Sandra, an organizer of gastronomic trips for international press, and Norma, an upscale events planner, answered back with their ideas. The result of all the conversations is Pica Peru Culinary Vacations.
CEVICHE IN THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER:
As Lima summer fades into fall, the days of cold garúa (drizzle) start to outnumber those of crisp blue skies. So on the chance Sunday when a brilliant sun rolls in, a summer lunch of ceviche, seafood, and fish is in store. Francesco (Malecón de la Marina 526), looking over Miralfores' cliffs onto the Pacific, is rumored by many locals to be Lima's best fish and seafood restaurant, and the crowded waiting room at 3 p.m. confirms the gossip. When you are finally able to wedge your way to a table, we recommend that you start with a frothy pisco sour, follow it with the exceptionally tender grilled baby octopus appetizer, and finally top it off with the richly-flavored chita al calamari (grouper with calamari). If room permits, dessert should be a crocante de lucuma, a custard made of the brown-sugar tasting lucuma fruit. Should the Lima location seem a bit far for a Sunday lunch, Francesco also has a Miami location: 325 Alcazar Ave., Coral Gables, tel. 305-446-1600.
FESTIVAL DE FRIJOLES:
Under the commanding hands of Teresa Izquierdo, oil wouldn't dare splatter out of the frying pan. Izquierdo, with such impeccable behavior in her kitchen, has shaped the flavors of her restaurant Rincón que No Concoces, The Corner You Don't Know (Av. Bernardo Alcedo 363, tel. 01/471-2171) into model dishes of criollo and Afro-peruvian food.
The last Friday of each month, Izquierdo hosts a Festival del Frijol (Bean Festival), where she whips up twenty-three different varieties of bean stew, a traditional Afro-peruvian dish. The last Friday of this month (May 25), Izquierdo inaugurates her Festival del Frijol for the year 2008, and if the past speaks to the future, she will be serving up acclaimed dishes like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (black beans and fennel) and beans a la Casilda. Although this month's celebration is invite only, most Festival del Frijol are not. Call in advance for a reservation.
- Kazia, Sandra, & Norma