Mo-Chica ~ Mercado Paloma ~ 3655 S. Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90007 (213) 747-2141
Even when catching it yourself, fish does not feel as fresh as it does from the plates of Lima native Ricardo Zarate, Executive Chef at Venice's Wabi-Sabi and the proud new papa of month-old Mo-Chica Peruvian Restaurant, in Expostion Park-adjacent Mercado la Paloma. Of course, we all know Peruvian eats for the legendary ceviche, and while Mo-Chica's is the best we've had in eons, it is only a tiny part of Zarate's powerful paeon to his home country's cooking. We spent a mellow evening in fits of ecstasy as Ricardo guided us through his short menu of soulful, beautiful recipes filled with sharp, clean, and thrilling flavors. It was surely one of the best meals we've had in 2009 and provides a chance for Angelenos to eat innovative cooking by a sophisticated expert chef at his stride, at prices even the foreclosed on can afford.
We were met with a cloudy brown concoction of barley iced tea. A sip seems to place an invisible bag made of thin viscous jelly into your mouth that pleasantly gives way to a refreshing light tea bearing sweet tones of chocolate, lemon, malt, and the bite of ginger. My tastebuds and brain grappled with defining the delicious tastes at first, and now bug me for more as I write this.