Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Weekend Celebrations

Larry and Rick

We continued celebrating Larry's recent birthday throughout the weekend. It turns out that Rick's b-day is 5 days earlier than Larry's, so we had a little b-day dinner at our house on Saturday for the occasion. Yes, my dinner was fine....Latin salad, chicken mole', rice, Oaxacan succotash.

The divine wine and flourless chocolate cake were supplied by our guests. It was a fun evening, filled with laughter and good times.
On Monday, our friends Audrey and Jeff came over and we zoomed toward USC, ending up at Mo-Chica Peruvian Restaurant at the Mercado La Paloma on Grand Ave. Many of Audrey's friends had been here and gave rave reviews. We had been to Mercado La Paloma before to eat at Chichen Itza, a Yucatan-style restaurant. Mo-Chica was a totally different experience. The food was very continental and elegant. I've never eaten such marvelous cuisine....EVER!
We started out with the recomended ceviche. It's way different than the tomato broth-based ceviche we're used to. It was good, with unusual accompanying ingredients.

Ceviche

There are many Japanese living in Peru, so their cooking methods and ingredients have intermingled with the typical Peruvian beef and potatoes.
Audrey had arroz con mariscos...rice with seafood. Jeff had arroz con pollo....rice and chicken. Larry had oxtail risotto and I had seco de cordero...lamb shank with all kinds of amazing sauces and side ingredients. Check out the menu for exact descriptions. The ingredients for all of the dishes were all very fresh and inventive. We shared a passion fruit crème brulée for dessert! Yum!!

Mariscos
Pollo
Oxtail
Lamb Shank
Passion Fruit Crème Brulée

The table service was attentive and helpful. Only two of the many restaurants were open at night. I'm sure this place is booming during the day. The atmosphere was food-court fancy, but definitely not deluxe. Remember, you can't eat atmosphere. We were recently at a trendy newish restaurant in Culver City and the food at Mo-Chica was waaaaaaay better. Of course, there is no alcohol served at this mall. You might have to smuggle in a flask. We were so pleased with the food and service at Mo-Chica, that we will definitely visit again. I can't wait to go back and try other dishes! Thank you, Audrey and Jeff for introducing us to this restaurant with such tasty food!

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2 Comments:

At 4:30 PM PST, Anonymous Jo Anne said...

So bizarre....a friend of mine ate at the same restaurant on Saturday night! We went for a long walk on sunday and she told me all about both restaurants (they have eaten at both). They prefer Chichen Itza. Also she did not really care for the ceviche - it sure looks different then any ceviche I have eaten! All of it does look pretty interesting though. I remember when I was in Peru the different combos of food.

As always looks like you are having a good time.

 
At 10:08 PM PST, Anonymous Trace said...

All the food looks so yummy! Are those Madonna Inn glasses on your table? My mom has a whole collection from that great place (I went to Cal Poly SLO and loved their cakes). Love your blog!! Trace

 

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