Los Balcones and Chef Ricardo Zarate Pairs Up to Serve Mestizo Cuisine in Studio City

Los Balcones has been dishing up traditional Peruvian food for a few years now in LA, but the Studio City location (which took over the old Girasol space) has partnered up with Chef Ricardo Zarate to revamp the whole menu along with chef Polit Castillo. The result is mestizo cuisine, referring to the multicultural influence both in Peru and on the menu, in particular the mix of Peruvian and Spanish cultures.

You won't find the traditional Peruvian food that you see at the other Los Balcones locations here. Beyond lomo saltado and ceviche, they want to show more of what modern cooking in Peru is like. We started with the Salmon tiradito, beet tiger's milk, roasted baby beets, orange miso, beet powder ($16)

Is this not the most beautiful tiradito you've ever seen? It was overall a great tiradito, although the beet slightly overpowers the salmon flavor.

Los Balcones also have some good cocktails, like this Margarita Sofia (tequila, passion fruit, lime, huacatay)

Ceviche frito, striped bass, rocoto leche de tigre, roasted sweet potato, cancha corn chulpe ($16)

This was my first time having ceviche frito (fried ceviche). It's apparently a fairly recent trend in Peruvian cooking where the seafood is marinated in leche de tigre (a la ceviche) and then fried. Adding this to the menu is a nod to the evolution of Peruvian cuisine.

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Spread the Love: A Dinner Series Featuring and Supporting New Immigrants in LA

On Valentine's Day I attended a special dinner at Spread Mediterranean Kitchen in downtown LA. It was the first of their "Spread the Love" dinner series which benefits Miry's List, a non-profit which helps new refugee families settle into their new lives in the LA area.

Miry's List curates an Amazon wish list, so anyone can easily go and purchase an item to help a new refugee family. Not only do the proceeds from the dinner series go to support Miry's List, but the dinner series also partner a chef with one of the refugee family cooks to prepare the dinner together.

The first dinner I attended had Evan Kleiman cooking along Abeer Aljrafi from Syria. It was a five-course dinner, served family style (what better way to spread the love, right?)

We started with some delicious trio of Syrian dips (hummus, baba ghanoush, mutabal)

We knew more food were coming but we couldn't stop eating the dip until all the pita chips were gone.
Next up: Carrot falafel (tehina, mango amba, fresh herbs)

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Global Menu at Filipino-Owned Mambo International Kitchen (Northridge, CA)

I recently tried a new spot in Northridge, Mambo International Kitchen. It's a casual spot owned by a Filipino family. In fact, the owner (and the ones who developed all the recipes), is the son of former Filipino president, Ramon Magsaysay. He had a jingle for his presidential campaign that had the line "Mambo, Mambo Magsaysay". It stuck as a nickname for the grandson, Raymond Magsaysay, when he was growing up and that's where the restaurant's name came from.

Mambo has build-your-own rice bowls, Chipotle-style, but there are signature rice bowls, tacos, and more you can order.

Being a Filipino-owned restaurant, there are of course Filipino dishes like tapsilog. It's typically a breakfast dish of beef tapa, garlic rice, and fried egg.

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