People sometimes complain when I review new places, and I get it. The reason I started this gig was to highlight all the places in our neighborhood that don’t always attract attention the new places do, to make sure they don’t get lost in the Gentrification Shuffle. But for me, every restaurant in the Mission makes us who we are. Talking about the new as well as the old gives everyone – newbies and old-timers – an opportunity to learn about the Mission, to sink into it, to grow with it, to make the new old, to make the old new again. That’s what makes a neighborhood, to me. We’re so very lucky to have the best of all worlds right in our backyard when it comes to amazing food, at every price point.
Mi Lindo Peru has been in this spot almost 21 years now, so it’s definitely one of the oldies. I’d been here maybe three times in the last 15 or so years, but I don’t remember being all that thrilled with it in the past. Peruvian is one of my absolute favorite cuisines – even though my family is Bolivian. There is a ton of good Peruvian food in the Bay Area, so it was easy to pass this place up for me. But recently, we were happily surprised at how good this old stalwart really is.
They’ve dolled up the place a bit, covering up the hideous fluorescent lighting (reminiscent of your elementary school) with shell replicas, and a nice splashy paint job on the outside. The place was packed.
First to the table came a basket of squishy white bread, butter, and their addictive hot sauce.
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The salsa is simply chilis, onions, tomato sauce, and cilantro – and it packs a nice wallop – but the secret is paprika, which gives it an addictive smokiness. We slathered the salsa on.
The BF had a Cristal beer, a Peruvian favorite, and I had a glass of sangria. The sangria was a tad sweet for me, but nonetheless refreshing.
I decided to go with all appetizers – both to share with the BF but also as my meal. Peruvian cuisine has so many delicious starter dishes, and they’re so filling, that it’s easy to make a whole meal of them. You get to try so much more that way, too.
First, papa a la huancaina:
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A perfect version of this favorite cold potato and cheese dish. The cheese sauce was creamy, velvety, and slightly spicy.
Next up, ceviche de pescado…
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I have to say, Mi Lindo’s prices for ceviche gave me pause. Nineteen dollars for the ceviche de pescado, which was snapper, and the same for the ceviche mixto, which comes with mussels and shrimp as well as the fish. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful ceviche, wonderfully fresh and loaded up with fish and cancha (Peruvian toasted corn). Nose-drippingly spicy, too. I’d definitely get it again, I just thought that it was a teensy bit more expensive than at other places.
For my last app, I got another favorite, anticuchos
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This dish makes my own heart sing. It’s marinated and grilled beef heart, served with grilled potatoes and a smidge of aji panko (hot Peruvian pepper sauce). Don’t be afraid of innards! The beef heart here is tender – they marinate it all day, and slightly spicy, with a nice vinegary tang and a great char. To think I had to make a second visit here and not order it was already making me sad.
I thought for sure the BF was going to get his usual Peruvian restaurant order, lomo saltado. For me, lomo saltado – a dish of sautéed beef with tomatoes and onions, flavored with soy sauce (there’s a huge Asian community in Peru) and served over rice – is usually tough to the point of being inedible. But he deviated, and with quite a payout…
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He got the lomo a lo pobre this time – in this iteration, a juicy, uber-tender sirloin steak grilled perfectly medium rare, over a mound of rice and served with pan-fried potatoes (Andeans love their carbs) and platanos maduros – very ripe, fried plantains – and a perfectly runny egg….
This is our soul food. “A lo pobre,” or, “In the style of the poor,” refers to a fried egg placed on top of a dish as an economical way to ramp up the protein content of any meal. Even one that already has a giant hunk of beef in it. The egg makes its own sauce on whatever you’re eating. It’s one of my favorite things about my people. Those who think that putting an egg on something is just some foodie trend are missing out on a whole lot of deliciousness.
On our second visit, we started out with papa rellena – a dish that both Peru and Bolivia share, and one my aunt used to make me as a child.
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It’s basically a ball of cooled mashed potatoes stuffed with a stew of ground beef, raisins, sometimes corn, carrots, peas, a slice of hard-boiled egg, and an olive. The ball is floured, egged, bread-crumbed, and then fried. A perfect golden orb! They served it here with a delicious onion salsa, which tasted as if it had been marinated or soaked, because the onions were nice and mild. A healthy splash of their hot sauce and I was in el cielo Peruano.
For his main, the BF had another one of my childhood favorites…
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This is a Peruvian-by-way-of-Italy dish – Tallarin pesto con Milanesa. Pesto spaghetti accompanies a thinly pounded breaded and fried steak (like chicken fried steak or schnitzel, but pounded thin). And of course – because, Andean – the dish also comes with disks of beautifully crispy potatoes. If you look at the picture closely, I think you can determine that the sprinkle of “parmesan” on top of the noodles is the green can stuff of our youth. Ah, culinary nostalgia….
For my entree, I ordered another staple – Aji de Pollo. “Aji” can mean a spicy hot sauce but it can also mean a stew. In this case, it’s a stew of chicken in a creamy walnut sauce, served with white rice and hard-boiled egg slices. Mi Lindo Peru’s version was excellent – nice and mild and with a good creaminess. I added aji verde, the very popular Peruvian green hot sauce – just to ramp thing up a bit.
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Bolivians also make a version of Aji de Pollo, but trust me, the Peruvian dish is better. As I said, I have a very soft spot for Peruvian food. And Mi Lindo makes the case for me, once again.
There’s so much more to try here, including a wonderful selection of seafood dishes.
Happy to have rediscovered Mi Lindo Peru! I know where I’m bringing family next time they visit.
Mi Lindo Peru
3226 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 642-4897