So, I wasn't sure if I should do this post. After all, these days, if in San Diego, based on price, I try to do more than one visit. It's something that I took to heart a long time ago. Though in this day and age, with prices going thru the roof, not only for food, but for fuel, it's been kind of tough.
Like I said, this is a one visit post, on a mom-and-pop place that serves one of my favorite "cuisines", not sure if that's grammatically correct, but I hope you understand.
Anyway, a while back I read about a new Peruvian restaurant opening in the Southcrest Barrio Logan area. If you've been reading long enough, you know that I have a love for Peruvian cuisine which first started when we were living in LA and visiting places like El Rocoto and El Pollo Inka. Over the years, our travels have taken us to Peru, which has only stoked the flame.
So, upon reading about Chimpum Callao, I had to check the place out. And so, here's where it gets interesting. Our friend Google and that favorite 4 lettered site and even Instagram (at that time) listed a 10 am opening time. So, once done with my Saturday errands, I headed over, not at 10 am, but 11 and arrived in the rather gritty strip mall at 11. Only to find the place closed.
Notice the business hours…… Sigh…..
Still, being the hard-headed person I am, I returned after my usual Saturday errands the following Saturday and got there at 1030 and the place was open.
So, I sauntered on in.
The place was quite empty when I arrived. There were two young men working the front of house, one was really friendly, the other was quite busy on his phone. This was so obviously a mom-and-pop shop.
The menu had the usual suspects….and even pollo ala brasa which wasn't ready yet.
I decided to go with a basic; the Lomo Saltado ($15), a dish that I've had at so many places, here in the states and Peru as well.
And of course an Inka Cola….
As for the Lomo Saltado.
This was interesting as in terms of flavor, it seemed to lack the sour vinegar tones. Though, I had to remind myself, when reading tomes like the Exotic Kitchens of Peru, which is probably the first Peruvian Cookbook that I owned, the recipe for Lomo Saltado did not include vinegar. But, it did not include soy sauce either, which goes against everything we've had in Peru.
I was brought a little bowl of what they told me was "hot sauce". It was quite good, nice heat…when I asked if it was "aji rocoto" the young man stood back and said "yes", it is!
Anyway, in terms of the dish, the beef was really tough, and quite "metallic" in flavor. There wasn't enough tomatoes to add a nice acidity to the dish. As for the papas fritas….well, I had to "dig" to find them. There were a few quite dry pieces of potato provided. In terms of flavor, this was slightly salty, lacking in the sour tones, with metallic tones. The rice was fine, though also on the dry side.
Not quite what I had in mind when I ordered this. As I paid and left, the young man approached me and held out a plate saying, "please take one"……it was a plate of Alfajores.
It was a nice touch. He also asked me if I was "nikkei", as in Japanese from Peru. I was ever so humbled, but told him that I wasn't. I asked for a confirmation on hours and was told that 10am was the opening time for the place.
The menu was quite limited, but with the recent cooler weather, I thought that some Seco de Cordero might be really good. So, on a recent Saturday, I headed back down and arrived at 11am; only to find the place closed.
At which time, based on my previous visit, I decided to just put this one away for now. After all, while I really love all these mom-and-pop places, my one meal here wasn't very good. And I know there's a recently opened Peruvian Restaurant closer to where I live.
What do you think? I went one for three…..it's a bit of a drive; should I have given it another try? I did ask to confirm the hours; but perhaps I should have called to confirm….but really????
Chimpum Callao Peruvian Restaurant
3582 National Ave.
San Diego, CA 92113