Historically, food from Peru, the third-largest country in South America has been overlooked, misunderstood, or reduced to lomo saltado, ceviche, and not much else. But Peruvian cuisine is finally starting to earn well-deserved and overdue recognition around the world. This year, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants named Maido in Lima, Peru as the best restaurant in the world, with a total of five other Peruvian restaurants making it into the top 100.
And it’s none too soon for San Diego locals Silvana and Guillermo Carranza.
The Carranzas are the family behind The Peruvian Spot, a casual counter-service restaurant that opened in January in Linda Vista. Both natives of Peru, Silvana joined Guillermo in San Diego nearly 10 years ago after a successful career as a classically trained chef, caterer, and pastry chef. Her specialty, making desserts—specifically, Peruvian alfajores (a traditional cookie made with two shortbread wafers sandwiching manjar blanco, or dulce de leche) is what she used to launch her own business in the United States.
She worked in a few kitchens around San Diego before launching her own Peruvian dessert company, La Cucina di Silvana, selling to local restaurants, at the House of Peru in Balboa Park, and eventually all over the country as a wholesaler. On top of all of that, she was working as a private chef and had even won the Spanish-language cooking show El Toque De Aarón by the James Beard Award–winning Mexican-American chef Aarón Sánchez. “It was like MasterChef, but in Spanish,” she explains.
But when Guillermo suggested they start their own restaurant to fill the void of high-quality Peruvian food they missed, she hesitated. There were just a few Peruvian restaurants in San Diego a couple of years ago—Q’ero in Encinitas, The Latin Chef in Pacific Beach, and Eli’s Peruvian Kitchen in Colina Del Sol. Since then, Al Toque Peruvian Kitchen opened in Oceanside, Sangucheria Peruvian Street Food landed in Tierrasanta, and Peruvian-inspired Pepino is still in the works. But for a county with over 8,000 restaurants and nearly 3.2 million people, Peruvian food representation remains small.
It took her a visit to a coffee shop in Cusco, a city in the Sacred Valley of the Andes Mountains known as the gateway to Machu Picchu, for her to have an epiphany. There, the all-day cafe offered breakfast, lunch, and dessert in a casual setting—something she didn’t see in San Diego. All of the other Peruvian restaurants were either full-service sit-down restaurants, leaned very traditional without any room for creative growth, or went hard on a fusion approach. She didn’t feel any of these fully represented the diversity of Peruvian food.
“I think [Peruvian cuisine] is one of the most flavorful foods in the world, because we have influence from many countries,” she explains, pointing to Spain, China, Japan, and Italian as major contributors, as well as ancient traditions from the Incan empire.
Plus, Peru has a vast array of ecosystems and microclimates, from the high-altitude mountain ranges to tropical rainforests and the arid coastline, making ingredients and preparation techniques hugely varied across the country’s more than 496,200 square miles. All of these different elements mean one thing—San Diego is just starting to scratch the surface of how complex Peruvian food can be.
It took three years of looking to find just the right place for The Peruvian Spot, but since opening in January, the Carranzas say the timing and location ended up being just right.
“Everything was meant to be,” she says. They’ve been able to introduce the neighborhood to food many of them have never tried before, from traditional lomo saltado plates to Italian-inspired Peruvian spaghetti with basil and spinach, topped with a cheese sauce and chunks of sauteed beef (called tallarines verdes). And, of course, Silvana’s speciality—her desserts. Her handmade ice cream blended with chunks of her famous chocolate cake is a must-try.
They even have plans to open a second location centered around pollo a la brasa, or the country’s famous rotisserie chicken traditionally grilled over charcoal. All of their efforts center around one goal—showing San Diego just what they’re missing.
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“There’s a lot more [to Peru] than just Machu Picchu,” Silvana smiles. “The best restaurants in the world are in Peru… [but The Peruvian Spot] is a place for everybody.
The Peruvian Spot is open Tuesdays through Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 7510 Mesa College Drive.
