Lima (Peru)

How Artist Hector Zamora Built a House on Top of Shopping Carts

15 Great Peruvian Restaurants in Los Angeles

You won't find "Perutown" or "Little Lima" in Los Angeles. The Peruvian and Peruvian-American population is spread out around greater L.A., and so are our Peruvian restaurants. So maybe you haven't noticed these eateries -- often small and unassuming spots, tucked in strip malls far from trendy rest ... More >>

L.A. Weekly Flickr Pool Photo of the Day: Choritos a la Chalaca at Mo-Chica

Our L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day is from photographer Darin Dines, whose photo of Choritos a la Chalaca, a dish of grilled and chopped muscles, prawns, squid and tomato choclo salsa, is on the menu at Mo-Chica. The new one, that is. Ricardo Zarate's original Peruvian restaurant, in the M ... More >>

American Idol Meets Arts Journalism, in KCET's Artbound

Ever been inside a disco ball-esque "steam egg" with a bunch of sweaty, half-naked strangers? Talked to Filipino inmates who wrote, directed and starred in their own musical, filmed within prison walls (and that went viral with more 50 million YouTube views)? Writers for KCET's new arts journalism ... More >>

Takatis Pollo a la Brasa: Sanguchon in the San Fernando Valley

If you wanted to rank L.A. courthouses by approximate distances to good food -- places to console your stomach before or after, say, dealing with a moving violation or outstanding warrant -- the monolithic Superior Court building in Van Nuys would easily rank near the top. Where else could a jury du ... More >>

L.A.'s Capital Cities Are Big ... in Peru

In 2011, the Capital Cities' debut EP was released and got a ton of airplay ... in Peru. Catching wind of the band through the blogosphere, a station in Lima took notice of the band's upbeat, electro-pop single, "Safe and Sound," and immediately put it in heavy rotation. Shortly thereafter, Capital ... More >>

Mo-Chica: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Jonathan Gold Reviews Picca

At Ricardo Zarate's restaurant, Peruvian meets the Japanese izakaya

Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In Which Mr. Gold Considers Picca

Anne FishbeinPicca​ This week, Jonathan Gold considers Picca, Ricardo Zarate's bright red new restaurant on Pico Boulevard (the alliteration is purposeful), the state of Peruvian cuisine and -- albeit briefly -- the culinary dream team recently assembled in Lima. Any good chef in town is lik ... More >>

Sneak Peak: Osaka Opens in Hollywood [Photo Gallery]

Guzzle & NoshThe sushi bar at Osaka.​Adolfo Suaya's (BoHo, Surly Goat) newest restaurant, the Peruvian-Asian concept Osaka, officially opens tomorrow. Given the wave of new Peruvian restaurants like Picca, which offers Ricardo Zarate's spin on Peruvian-Japanese fare, and Chimu, which features ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Picca

First Bite: Picca Mixes Peruvian Flavors With Sushi Aesthetic

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​ If you look at restaurants as movies, and sometimes it's hard not to, Picca is one of those places whose trailers seem to have been running forever. There's Mo-Chica, of course, where Ricardo Zarate first came up with his concept of modern Peruvian food, and his gue ... More >>

Ricardo Zarate: King of Ceviche

Kevin ScanlonRicardo Zarate​ Ricardo Zarate's path has been a little more circuitous even than most chefs', a peripatetic lot in general. His life in the kitchen began in his native Lima, Peru, where as a teenager he cooked banquets for hundreds and learned from a friend's mother how to make s ... More >>

Ricardo Zarate: King of Ceviche

Local's Jason Michaud to Open 2 New Restaurants: Chimú & Red Hill

Guzzle & NoshChimu, slated to open next to the Grand Central Market in downtown LA.​Jason Michaud doesn't do things by half-measures. Deep into the arduous and expensive process of securing a liquor license for Local, his two-and-a-half-year-old Silver Lake cafe, he's opening two new restauran ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Mo-Chica

Ricardo Zarate Wins Food & Wine Best New Chef The Rest of the Winners

Anne Fishbein​ Last night Food & Wine announced their awards for this year's Best New Chefs. The ten winners, picked from around the country, included one chef from Los Angeles: Ricardo Zarate of Mo-Chica, who can now add this award to his accolades, which include showing up on Coca-Cola billb ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: What's The Big Deal With Quinoa?

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​ Dear Mr. Gold: What's the big deal with quinoa? I couldn't even pronounce it right when I first saw it on the menu at Hugo's in Studio City. Then I saw it at Trader Joe's and then I saw it everywhere. It has probably been around forever, but has on ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Tabasco Reports, Tips Reflect Breast Size Mad Men Cocktails

-- Matt Armendariz reports from Avery Island and the center of the Tabasco universe. [Matt Bites] -- The larger the breasts, the bigger the gratuity. (This is not a surprise, is it?) [LA Observed] -- America's Weirdest Restaurants. [CNBC] -- Ricardo Zarate fights hunger in his native Peru via ... More >>

Peruvian Farmers to Send 1,500 Potatoes to Arctic Seed Vault

Global Crop Diversity TrustFarmers working at the Cusco Potato Park in Peru.​ Aiming to preserve the biodiversity of the world's potato crop, Peruvian farmers yesterday launched a historic collaboration in which they will send 1,500 varieties of potatoes to a remote seed vault. From the potat ... More >>

Untangling Roots of Chicha

Born of Peruvian poverty, genre gained worldwide exposure thanks to a Brooklyn Frenchman

First Listen: 'Roots of Chicha 2' Samples the Best of Psychedelic Peruvian Surf Cumbia

First Listen: 'Roots of Chicha 2' Samples the Best of Psychedelic Peruvian Surf Cumbia

A New Look for Los Balcones del Peru

Barbara Hanseninterior of Balcones del Peru​ Los Balcones del Peru reopened last Thursday after a makeover that kept it closed for five weeks. Walk in now and you could just as well be in Lima. A giant photo of the city's historic downtown square covers the back wall. The cathedral is in the c ... More >>

This Week's Forecast: Peruvian Causas

D. GonzalezCausa del Dia at Mo-Chica​ So much of what we eat hinges on the weather. There are days where we seriously consider surrendering to a diet of popsicles , and other times where anything sounds good as long as it's covered in gravy. However there are dishes, such as the uniquely Per ... More >>

Q & A With Mo-Chica's Ricardo Zarate: Moche, Ditching the Venice Commute A New Anticucho Bar

Go slightly south of downtown, to a concrete and warehouse neighborhood just off the 110, inside the colorful market of La Paloma Mercado, and you'll find, in addition to the last remaining outpost of Chichen Itza, Mo-Chica, undoubtedly the best Peruvian restaurant in Los Angeles. Behind the casua ... More >>

99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die

Fugu to foie gras, pizza to panuchos

Mo-Chica: The Best Peruvian Ceviche Might Be in a Warehouse South of Downtown

Raw deal

Fishing for Ceviche: Los Balcones

A lot of pescado in the sea

Nightlife Nobu

Matsuhisa dresses up at home

Where to Eat Now

Hearts On Fire

A Peruvian exile pines for anticuchos

Where To Eat Now

Where to Eat Now

Swimming to Peru

Quest for Fire: Out of the Flames

L.A.'s best roasted, grilled sizzled and wood-baked cooking

Get Shucked

Lima and Vine

The Gringo Killer

Where To Eat Now

Love, From Los Angeles

Pan-Latin

Chicken Madness

Ghosts in the Machine

When you're lost in El Centro's immigrant detention center you may be lost for good

Just for the El of It

And let us shed a little tear for the late El Mr. Cat No. 1

The Best of Counter Intelligence

The Other Continental Cuisine