Homey, rib-sticking fare: cau-cau, patasca, carapulcra ($8-$10 each). Cau-cau is an Afro-Peruvian potato stew that traditionally features tripe; turmeric provides the color. Patasca, a hominy soup of pre-Columbian origins, is even heavier with off-cuts; our bowl boasted oxtail, cow foot, and tripe from at least two stomach chambers.
By some accounts carapulcra, which also dates to the Incan empire, was first prepared with llama; most recipes now use pork. But the potatoes — small Andean specimens freeze-dried in the open air, thereafter called papa seca or chuño, and incorporated in a peanut sauce — are unchanged.
Somos Tu Perú
94 Market St. (Main-Cianci Sts.), Paterson, New Jersey
862-264-6555
Also at 270 Union Ave. (Preakness-Edmund Aves.)
973-942-5400
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