Things may be even more colorful than the tablecloth, if not hotter than the hot sauce, on weekend evenings when Cumbre assumes an additional identity as a peña, a home for traditional Andean music. To date I've been by only for weekday lunch, when the lights are up and the chow is workaday and filling. (When in doubt, ask for a small portion or consider sharing.) Shown below: sopa de cordero, or lamb soup; the spicy pork soup called fricasee; picante mixto, a combo of beef tongue stew, chicken stew, and charque (though this last, "beef jerky," seemed absent); lomo, which tops a thin steak with a fried egg, and provides carbs via both rice and potatoes; and pique macho, sauteed sirloin steak with sliced franks, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cubes of mild white cheese.
Below the chow is a glass of moco chincha, which you might mistake for iced tea except for a touch of cinnamon and a more prominent, fruity flavor from imparted by the item resting at the bottom: a dried Bolivian peach.
Raices Bolivian Restaurant
67-03 Woodside Ave. (67th-68th Sts.), Woodside, Queens
718-476-2200