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Behind the Line: From Peru with ceviche
Chef Gastón Acurio brings the flavors of Peru to U.S. market
By Lauren Kramer
June 01, 2009
The current economic climate is not a friendly time for any
restaurateur to debut, but Chef Gastón Acurio is confident that
the Peruvian cuisine he features at La Mar Cebichería Peruana
on San Francisco's Embarcadero will be well received by
American diners.
The 11,000-square-foot restaurant opened in September 2008,
featuring traditional and
reinterpreted Peruvian dishes
centered on ceviche, raw fish cubes briefly "cooked" in the
acidic juices of Peruvian limes. The fish is tossed with red
onion and crimson chile and served with corn kernels and sweet
potato in one of La Mar's signature sauces.
A wide variety of seafood, ranging from Dungeness crab to
Kona kampachi and Alaskan halibut, features prominently on La
Mar's menu. There are several varieties of ceviche, as well as
tiraditos or Peruvian-style sashimi, and causas, traditional
Peruvian whipped potatoes with seafood salads. Other classic
Peruvian dishes and stews include Peruvian prawn soup, tiger
prawns with Andean mint pesto and roasted grouper with Manila
clams and calamari, served in an ají panca stew with green
tamale cream.
Acurio is no stranger when it comes to showcasing his native
country's food. The 41-year-old chef has opened 35 Peruvian
restaurants in 14 countries, though La Mar's opening in San
Francisco is his first foray into the North American
market.
"We as Peruvian cooks have a great product, a great food
with fantastic flavors that are modern, light, authentic and
different," he says.
"Sharing our cuisine with the world is an opportunity to
promote our country and to seduce the world with our culture,
much the same as the Japanese did some 30 years ago with
sushi."
Acurio hopes to open more La Mar locations in New York, San
Diego and Los Angeles, but not until he is certain that the San
Francisco restaurant is doing the best it can, and that its
diners really appreciate the Peruvian flavors. How he came to
this point is an interesting story.
A few years ago, he abandoned plans to study law in France
and instead attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. It was there he
met his wife, pastry chef Astrid Gutsche. The couple returned
to Lima, Peru, in 1994 and opened a French restaurant, Astrid y
Gastón.
Within five years Acurio became a master of Peruvian food,
acclaimed particularly for his reinterpretation of classic
Peruvian dishes. Acurio went on to open various styles of
Peruvian restaurants all over Latin America, including the
ceviche chain La Mar Cebichería Peruana, the casual eatery-deli
T'anta, the fast-food Peruvian sandwich restaurant Hermanos
Pasquale and La Pepa, a juice bar.
"This is the right time to get the momentum going on
Peruvian cuisine," says Edgar Perez, who owns a New York-based
Peruvian marketing and catering company, Flavors of Peru.
"Peruvian cuisine is healthy and brings a wealth of flavors to
the American palate, including well-known seafood dishes. Also,
it's very flexible in terms of concepts, and adapts well to
fine dining and casual restaurants."
Acurio asserts that Peruvian products are undervalued, and
that through his work and that of other Peruvian chefs, they
are trying to globalize their country's traditions and create a
global brand. "Peru is a very rich country with a lot of poor
people," he says. He hopes that by exporting the concept of
Peruvian food worldwide, he can help to build supply chains
that will connect Peruvian producers to the world market.
If anyone can do it, Acurio can, according to his peers. The
celebrity chef has helped create dishes based on the
"anchoveta" fish as part of a national effort to promote its
consumption and still finds time to taste food from Lima's
street cart vendors. Acurio has inspired many other Peruvian
chefs to spread the flavors of his local cuisine around the
world. "I'm part of a movement of Peruvian chefs," Acurio says.
"We have a wonderful variety of different flavors in our
cuisine, and our mandate is to try to share this food with the
world."
Contributing Editor Lauren Kramer lives in British
Columbia