[dropcap size=big]W[/dropcap]alther Adrianzen squeezes behind the small counter at Lonzo’s in Culver City, arranging a fan of delicate yellowtail shards across a violent yellow splatter of aji amarillo sauce and the spilled guts of passion fruit.
He dots the fish’s bright pink center with tiny black pearls of caviar before tweezing colorful nasturtium flowers onto the periphery.
The entire improvised arrangement stretches across a weighty, chipped platter resembling a black pumice arrowhead forged in magma.
In 2013, the late critic Jonathan Gold dubbed Adrianzen’s Peruvian cooking at Lonzo’s, “unusually good” in the L.A. Times. Today, it is unquestionably still among the most beautiful.
Lonzo’s was opened as a modest bakery in 2007 by his uncle, Jose Ramirez, who over the years has been gradually pushed towards the back to make room for Adrianzen's daily lunch rush.