(This venue is closed.) I've had dinner here a number of times, though not for a while; today was my first lunch. From the outside, Rinconcito Peruano still bills itself as a coffee shop; inside I found new menus, new chairs, and slightly higher prices.
Meals always start with a little bread and butter, dipped in a hot sauce (careful, it builds) freshened with a squirt of lime. For an appetizer, I deviated from my favorite, papa a la huancaina — a platter of potato slices slathered with spicy, creamy cheese sauce, with olives and a sliced hard-boiled egg — in favor of yuca a la huancaina ($5). I like fried yucca, and the menu spelled out that the sauce came on the side, but I was disappointed that the olives and egg were absent, and it seemed to offer less for the price. It was still very filling, though, the sauce was its usual spicy and creamy self, and the yucca was nice and hot, and nicely fried.
I stuck by my favorite entrée, lomo saltado ($10): chunks of beef with onions, tomatoes, and fries in a sweet and tangy sauce. This came on a full-sized dinner plate with a little dome of white rice on the side, and as usual I layered some beef, onions, and tomatoes, with plenty of sauce, on the rice and let that soak in while I had at the larger plate. I've had lomo saltado at several other restaurants and never found the sauce quite sweet enough elsewhere; on this visit it tasted just as I remembered, though I was surprised to see that the menu now describes it as soy sauce.
Washed it down with a cebada ($1): a glass of barley juice that's not unlike apple juice without the tartness. It's good.
My waiter today spoke better English than any of my servers on previous visits, and during a quiet lunchtime, things moved right along. Dinnertime service here has always been leisurely at best; this may have changed, but I'm still not ready to try Rinconcito Peruano for a pre-show meal.
Rinconcito Peruano Restaurant
803 Ninth Ave. (53rd-54th Sts.)
212-333-5685
