I’m not going to say that this last week was typical, as usually I don’t have quite so many things all happen in the same week. At the same time, it’s not really all that unusual. These weeks pop up repeatedly during the year….

We Are the Champions

Last Sunday I was invited by friend and chef Gusti Granados to be one of four judges for the 1er Campeonato del Mejor Cevichero Peruano en Argentina (1st Championship for the Best Peruvian Ceviche-Chef in Argentina). He’s the big guy two to my right in the black chef jacket, the other two judges are on either side of me, a local radio talk show host and a guy who makes “cajas chinas”, which are sort of the Peruvian equivalent of a family-sized bento box. The emcee for the day is the youngster next to Gusti. And, the seven cevicheros who showed up (out of ten who said they’d be there) are on either side.

The competitors competed a couple at a time, given twenty minutes to make a presentation plate, from start to finish. Most of them finished well before that, in ten to fifteen minutes. And, all of them did a great job, there was not one single ceviche that we didn’t like, which in many ways made it harder to judge – the scores were all fairly close.

We scored on a mix of presentation, taste, and also the chef’s comportment and self-presentation.

Interestingly (not really, just coincidence), the three in the front of each of the three photos of chefs are the ones who won the top three spots. The winning ceviche was the last photo here, unusual in several ways – instead of the typical white fish, which all of the others used, he used mackerel; he also filleted his fish in the moment, the others brought fillets that they’d already removed the bones from; and he presented creative takes on the usual accompaniments, like yuca, sweet potato, and adding in beans and a couple of interesting herbal and spice flavors.

All in all, a fun day, and an honor to have been asked to be a part of what was a very Peruvian community event. Henry says I’ve become Peruvian by absorption.

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Korean Food Week

Not that Korean food doesn’t pop up regularly in my weeks, as you well know, but this was a concentrated event that went from last Friday to this one, called Gastro Corea Food Week. While it might have been fun to get out for lunch and dinner every day, neither I nor my friends had that kind of time. But we did head out to two spots.

Two spots that were of particular interest, were two home cooks who are apparently well known in the Korean community. Both of them were offered the use of a neighborhood sushi bar on its closed days to offer up their vision of a traditional Korean dinner. Timing wise we were only able to make it to one of them, Sandra Lee Kyungah who offered a choice of two menus, one featuring bulgogi, a stir-fry of sweet and salty beef, and the other with a calamari and panceta spicy stir-fry. Since we were four, and the menus were designed for two, we just got all of it put together from each menu. Delicious! A shame she doesn’t have her own restaurant where we could go to more often.

I had no idea that this place existed. I’ve never seen it noted on lists of Korean restaurants here in town. The outside makes it look like a catering hall or events hall – which, apparently, it used to be. You’d think they’d put something on the outside to let people know that it’s now, and for years apparently, has been, a Korean bbq restaurant, Dae Won Jung, Av. Gaona 3979, Floresta, kind of right on the edge of that part of Koreatown.

We were surprised to be one of only two groups at the dinner here. Then again, that may be partially because of the place simply not being well known. Though the same could have been said about the above offering, and that was packed. Who knows?

Essentially, they didn’t do a different menu from their usual – it’s a Korean barbecue, featuring bulgogi, cooked at the table, and, by the waiter, rather than leaving it in our hands, which is a nice touch. Though, that may have been because there were so few people there, and four waiters, plus the owner and someone at the register. Of particular note, the mandu, Korean dumplings, some of the best around, and the scallion pancakes, plus excellent kimchi of both Asian cabbage and daikon. It’s all you can eat, and runs, I think, 700 pesos per person, plus beverage. We liked everything, and while it doesn’t knock any of my Korean bbq spots off of my top favorites, it’s certainly well worth going to. And, they’re open Monday through Saturday, lunch and dinner!

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An Island of Mexico

Almost three month ago, I started hearing about a new Mexican spot that took over the space formerly occupied by Elote. The new place, Ulúa – Cocina Mexicana, Av. Jorge Newbery 3791, Chacarita, has been getting great writeups. It’s only open at night, except on Saturdays, and now and again, I get a Saturday free for one reason or another. I’m guessing that the name comes from San Juan de Ulúa, which is the island fortress (formerly presidential palace) that overlooks the harbor of Veracrúz (and, bit of trivia, was the fortress used for the various fortress scenes in Romancing the Stone). [Closed somewhere during or shortly after the height of the pandemic]

I’ll just say upfront, we liked or loved everything we had. Makes it easy. And we tried almost the entire menu.

 

Cucumber-lemonade. Three of us, six glasses of it.

You wouldn’t think we’d be wowed by tortilla chips, but these were freshly made, crunchy and not greasy, and had a great corn flavor. The refried beans underneath were excellent, and the little onion and cilantro salad on top was a perfect foil for both. Added a dash of their housemade hot sauce and we were golden.

Some of the better chilaquiles I’ve had – an amazingly rich broth, more of those excellent tortilla chips, now soaked through, and a fried egg. What more could we want?

Well, maybe an ooey, gooey, melted cheese and mushroom quesadilla?

Or excellent tacos de carnitas?

None of us had had tetelas before – lovely little triangular puffs of dough topped with a slow cooked oxtail barbacoa, fresh cheese, and a chili-peanut sauce.

I’ve had gorditas before, but never like this, puffed up like a chinese lantern, light and delicate, and filled with grated fresh cheese and crunchy, fried sweetbreads. Not to be missed.

And, we finished off with a chicken mole – though not specified, this was a semi-sweet, chocolate based mole, more or less a mole poblano, though it’s unlikely they found poblano chilies here, so probably made with something local like aji panka. Despite the common wisdom that mole is a chocolate based sauce, few of the many moles out there contain chocolate. It was good, if a trifle sweeter than we’d have preferred.

[I am reminded by my friend Jennifer in Mexico that mole poblano is named as such because it is from the state of Puebla, not because it uses poblano chilies, because it actually uses ancho chilies, which are dried poblano chilies, although a brief dive into my Mexican cookbooks and such says they’re really mulato chilies, which are still dried poblanos, just fully matured ones, so they’re darker in color, and neither of which are likely found here, so…]

All, in all, a complete winner. We’d happily eat there again. A shame the only lunchtime they’re open is Saturdays!