Mo-Chica
3655 S. Grand, Downtown

We visited Mo-Chica on Saturday @ 3 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Lomo Saltado $13

Restaurant Visit
What an adventure we had this week! Simply getting downtown to the restaurant proved an urban challenge, thanks to USC closing several roads due to it being their graduation day. Before you head out, you may want to check the USC sports schedules and try to avoid going on a big game day as well.

Let’s just say that Mo-Chica is quietly tucked away inside the Mercado La Paloma industrial building in downtown Los Angeles. Had we not known such an acclaimed restaurant was housed in the complex, we probably would have continued driving. But not us, oh no. When our viewers vote their favorite restaurant, we pick up the gauntlet and deliver. They are open for lunch Monday-Saturday 11am-4pm and dinner Monday 6pm-8pm, Tuesday-Saturday 6pm-10pm. Note, they do lot server nor allow you to consume alcohol at the restaurant.

Los Angeles magazine featured Chef Ricardo Zarate and Mo-Chica as #4 in the March 2010 Best New Restaurants edition. He also works at Wabi-Sabi in Venice and word on the street is he is looking to open a new restaurant downtown near Nokia Live.

There is free parking (such a rarity these days) in a lot beside the building. Once inside, try not to be distracted from all the businesses that, quite frankly, make you feel like you are in a mall food court. Mo-Chica is easy to spot towards the right. We took at a seat at one of the black metal, tile topped tables positioned outside the “restaurant”. Seriously, it looks like one of the eating places inside a mall, except they do take your order at the table.

While the menu is small, it is diverse. And luckily, there is a detailed description and picture under each menu name, should you be new to Peruvian food. We started with a causa crab (Peruvian potato salad with crab meat) $5, and for the main course we chose the oxtail risotto (braised oxtail, barley huancaina risotto) $13, and lomo saltado (beef filet, salsa criolla, fried potatoes) $13.

The causa crab was recommended to us as the least spicy of their cuasa, yet it still delivers quite a punch. It is plated as a tower of food, not your traditional scoop of potato wedges. This is much more refined. On the bottom are slices of avocado, with a thick layer of creamy crab layered on top. Next is a thin coating of Peruvian style mashed potatoes. A dollop of what we think is olive crème fraiche completes the causa. The dish is delicious and is a nice way to start off a lunch or dinner because it will remind you of the familiar tower sushi dishes you order at Japanese restaurants (Peruvian food is actually heavily influenced by Asian foods and flavors.)

Both main courses are brought to the table in a bento box style presentation. A bowl of rice, slice of garlic bread and small dish of pickled green beans are on the side of a large brown wooden tray, with your entrée in a bowl on the left.

Romeo found the exotic oxtail risotto quite enjoyable (Amanda, sadly, couldn’t bring herself to eat oxtail.) The meat is very tender, falling off the bone similar to eating ribs. Broth from the oxtail lends the dish a ton of hearty flavor and is then combined with red onion, toasted hominy, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.

If you like steak and potatoes, you will love the lomo saltado. The presentation alone, with the fried potatoes artfully stacked on top, will make you smile. Beneath the potatoes are tender, juicy chunks of beef filet nicely seasoned again with a bit of a kick but not spicy. The beef was beyond tender and left ever so slightly pink in the middle. Juicy wedges of tomatoes and thick slices of red onion are also in the broth but left with a bit of crunch to them both.

With those two main dishes, aren’t you glad we picked the lomo saltado? Seriously though, some of you may wish we’d chosen the oxtail but since we feel the majority of our readers may be newbies to Peruvian food, as we kinda are, we wanted to present a recipe that is not only enjoyable to eat but also approachable to make in the kitchen. The trick will be figuring out what spices are used and replicating the flawless techniques.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods-
Thai Jasmine Rice $3.49
Beef Tenderloin, 1lb. $24.63
Ginger, fresh $1.33
Gold Yukon Potatoes, 2 lb. $4.42
Red Onion $2.75
Roma Tomatoes, .9 lb. $2.24

Ross-
Carbon Steel Wok $16.45

Recipe
Below is our take on Peruvian lomo saltado. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for traditional recipes and combined that with the flavors we tasted at Mo-Chica, and went from there.

Makes 2 large servings.

Fries-

2 yukon gold potatoes
Cold water
1/2 gallon peanut oil
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, immerse potatoes in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from turning brown. Peel potatoes. Cut the ends and sides of the potatoes so each side is flat. Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1 1/4” x 1 1/4” sticks. Place back in water. Next check oil. Once oil is at 275 degrees potatoes are ready to fry. Remove potatoes from water. Pat potatoes completely dry over paper towels. Place some of the potatoes in the oil, making sure not to overcrowd the saucepan. Cook fries for about 10 minutes. Remove from oil and drain over paper towels. Repeat process until all the potatoes are cooked. Sprinkle with salt.

Stir Fry-

1 lb prime beef tenderloin
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tsp aji amarillo paste (or any other chile paste)
2 roma tomatoes
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
4 TBSP vegetable oil
2 TBSP fresh parley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

NOTE: Be sure to prepare every ingredient and have them ready before cooking. Cooking time is very fast.

Cut beef against grain into 2 inches long and 1/3 inch thick strips. Next cube the beef by cutting them crosswise. On a separate cutting board, slice onion lengthwise the same thickness as the beef. Next cut tomatoes lengthwise into eighths. Heat a wok on very high heat. Add 2 TBSP oil and coat wok. Add beef and stir fry until just cooked through, about 1 minute. Transfer to plate and set aside. Add remaining 2 TBSP of oil and return wok to high heat. Add onion, chile paste, garlic and ginger and stir fry until onion is cooked yet crunchy, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, then immediately return beef to wok. Add soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. Add parley. Immediately remove from heat and transfer to plate.

NOTE: Make sure not to overcook. Onions and tomatoes might look undercooked, but will continue to cook once removed from heat. Onions should be cooked through but still have a crunch and tomatoes skins should not be peeling.

Plating
In a shallow bowl, place half the stew. Stack six fried potatoes on top in three rows, two per row. Serve with a side of thai jasmine rice.

Rating- We give our dish 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Our thoughts- One of the hardest parts of this dish was getting over just how expensive beef tenderloin is. While we wanted to prepare the entree as close as possible to Mo-Chica’s you can buy lower priced beef. Just be sure to buy a grade that will still be tender and not chewy. Since the dish cooks very quickly, if the meat isn’t already tender, the cooking process won’t soften it up. On the other hand, we are now proud owners of a wok and look forward to incorporating it into our cooking.

We feel we were quite successful with the lomo saltido. Preparing each ingredient is really quite simple, as is cooking with a wok. The magic all comes down to the spices used for flavoring. We aren’t sure we figured out every spice he used, but we came close and we feel our recipe represents the traditional dish very well. This is one recipe that is so easy to make, we know we will be preparing it more often.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys on how you think we might have been more successful. Have a favorite Peruvian dish that you feel our readers will like? Be sure to drop us an email after visiting Mo-Chica and let us know what you enjoyed. Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the baking instructions and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

Tags: beef tenderloin, lomo saltado, Mo-Chica

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Beef. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.