Review: Rocoto`s Grill

7/11/2015
Review: Rocoto’s Grill ­ San Antonio Express­News
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Review: Rocoto’s Grill
By Edmund Tijerina | July 2, 2015 | Updated: July 2, 2015 6:00pm
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Photo: John Davenport /San Antonio Express­News
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Peruvian rotisserie chicken, or Pollo a las Brasa, features crisp skin, and tender, juicy meat.
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7/11/2015
Review: Rocoto’s Grill ­ San Antonio Express­News
One taste of Peruvian pollo a la brasa and you’ll never look at chicken the same way
again.
The rotisserie chicken, flavored with a mixture of paprika, garlic, soy sauce and other
spices, is one of the most traditional dishes in Peru, and it shines at Rocoto’s Grill, where
chef Damaris Trinidad and her family celebrate the gorgeous and complex interplay of
flavors that are the hallmarks of their homeland’s cuisine.
At this family­owned restaurant just a
few miles from SeaWorld San
Antonio, the bright and tart cebiche
(Peruvian spelling) sings with an
unforgettable clarity, while the smoky
beefiness of anticuchos satisfies deeply
and the butterscotchlike flavor of the
tropical fruit lucuma shines in a
licuado (smoothie) and an ice cream.
Both the menu and the friendly
sincerity of the Trinidad family entranced me when I first reviewed the restaurant, but I
was curious as to how the place was holding up five years later. In restaurant terms, five
years is an eternity and most independently owned restaurants don’t last that long, and
those that do usually change considerably.
Fortunately, Rocoto’s still captivates. Of the few changes I noticed, they were for the
better.
To be sure, the food still is the main
attraction. Service is friendly and
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knowledgeable — family members and
their staff gladly take the extra
moments to explain the cuisine to those
unfamiliar with it — but the place is
casual and the polished interior evokes
Rocotos Grill
★★★
10555 Culebra Road inside Loop 1604, 210­521­
4367, www.rocotosgrill.com
Quick bite: Experience the many joys of
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7/11/2015
Review: Rocoto’s Grill ­ San Antonio Express­News
the feel of a chain restaurant. All the
Peruvian home cooking
more reason to focus on the dishes.
Hit: Cebiches, escabeche de pescado, alfajores
Peruvian cuisine is one of the world’s
Miss: Pescado a lo macho could have been
spicier
great fusion foods, combining
influences from Spain, Italy, West
Africa, China and Japan, while
maintaining its roots in the indigenous
populations that predated the arrival of
the conquistadores more than 500
years ago. Around the world, it’s huge.
This year a restaurant in Lima made it
in the top 20 list of the world’s finest
Hours: 11 a.m.­9 p.m. Monday­Saturday; noon­
6 p.m. Sunday
Price range: Appetizers, $3.99­$19.99; piqueos
(appetizer samplers), $13­$40; pollo a la brasa,
$7.99­$19.99; main dishes (chicken, beef,
seafood, pork), $9.99­$19.99; desserts, $2­$7.
★★★★Superior. Can compete nationally.
★★★Excellent. One of the best restaurants in
the city.
dining establishments, while culinary
stars Ferran Adrià of Spain and Alain
Ducasse of France tout Peruvian
cuisine’s importance.
★★ Very good. A standout restaurant of its
kind.
Globally, Peruvian cuisine is best
known for its cebiche, the lightly
Express­News dining critics pay for all meals.
★ Good. A restaurant that we recommend.
(no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant
at this time.
marinated raw seafood. At Rocoto’s,
the fish, shrimp or mixture of seafoods are tossed in freshly squeezed lime juice with
slightly hot rocoto peppers, thinly sliced red onions, minced garlic and minced cilantro
and served with housemade corn nuts, boiled corn kernels, a slice of boiled white potato, a
slice of boiled sweet potato and a small glass of the marinating liquid for sipping. By the
way, that elixir, leche de tigre, or tiger’s milk, is considered an aphrodisiac.
The dish that should rise to a similar level of fame stars cooked fish and is called
escabeche de pescado, a fillet of mahi mahi seasoned thoroughly, fried until crisp and then
tossed in a vinegary tomato sauce with sauteed onions. There’s just enough sauce to
soften the crust slightly but not render it soggy. By itself, the fish would make for a
satisfying dish, but the tartness of the sauce elevates the fillet into transcendence.
Juxtaposing flavors highlight the home­cooking classic lomo saltado, a mixture of
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Review: Rocoto’s Grill ­ San Antonio Express­News
marinated beef strips that are stir­fried with a slightly tangy and salty sauce with sliced
onions and red peppers and then tossed with french fries and served with white rice. Now,
the restaurant offers a version of the dish with shrimp, or a shrimp and beef mixture, but
the best option still is the original beef.
If you want a pure beef flavor, try the
anticuchos. Although similar in
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appearance to the Fiesta anticuchos,
these are not sirloin cubes but rather
thin, marinated slices of beef heart,
skewered, briefly grilled and served
medium­rare to deliver an intensity
reminiscent of a dry­aged steak.
Among the appetizers, the causa de
pollo is a must. Traditionally, it’s a
dumpling of stuffed mashed potatoes.
At Rocoto’s, it’s a torte with two layers
of mashed potatoes seasoned with
lemon and slightly spicy aji amarillo
sandwiching a layer of shredded
chicken with mayonnaise and more aji
amarillo. The texture of mashed
potatoes and shredded chicken feel
instantly familiar, but the seasonings
are new for those not acquainted with
Peruvian cooking, and the overall
effect is at once comforting and
exciting.
Aji amarillo also flavors a creamy
sauce that covers slices of boiled
potatoes in a dish called papa a la
huancaina. The texture almost looks
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Falafel for pharaohs
and Texans alike
The new go­to chilled
soup of the summer
A salad for summer,
cool and pretty
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7/11/2015
Review: Rocoto’s Grill ­ San Antonio Express­News
like melted Velveeta, but it’s a cool,
spicy sauce that will banish any
comparisons to the processed American cheese.
At this point, even though you’ll be stuffed, you’re going to want dessert. My suggestion
is to get the combination of arroz con leche (rice pudding) and a fruity purple pudding
called mazamorra morada that tastes of cooked pineapples and figs. Then take home an
order of alfajores, the sandwich cookies of shortbread and dulce de leche.
When I last visited, I wished that the restaurant offered beer and wine. The owners went
one step further: They added an all­Peruvian wine list, several beers and evenpisco sours,
the national cocktail of Peru.
Maybe it’s good that my own house is far away from this restaurant. Otherwise, I’d
practically live here.
etijerina@express­news.net
Twitter: @etij
Edmund
Tijerina
Food and dining writer
| San Antonio Express­News
© 2015 Hearst Communications Inc.
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