Mango Peruvian on Washington Ave. in St. Louis 2-22-2020

OK, first thing to know...parking.  We parked in a safe, well-lit lot behind this restaurant.  It was $20!  I thought that was kind of crazy!!  I know Washington Ave. is kind of a hip spot for restaurants, but they've got to do something about the parking.  Maybe everyone uses Ubers, but we were going from the restaurant to the Fox, so we needed our car. 

We had a great waiter who, once he found out we'd never dined here before, explained everything well.  We were served fried plantains with a chimichurri sauce.  It was good.  Kind of like a weird chips and salsa.  On the recommendation of our waiter, we ordered the national drink of Peru, the Pisco Sour.  I swear...it was VERY like the Mexican margaritas we had a Lily's Mexican restaurant in south St. Louis city a few weeks ago.  I even told our waiter about it and he lives down by the Bevo neighborhood, so he was going to check it out.  There is a frothy top made by putting egg whites in the blender when making the drink.  It is still tart with lime juice, but sweeter than a typical margarita.  They were good.

Of course, I'd researched the wine list.  When we ordered our appetizers I asked the waiter to open a bottle of the red we'd chosen.  He came back and told us they were out of that (bummer), so he brought us a different one to try...we didn't like it at all.  Thank goodness I research a whole bunch of wines on their list and keep a photo of the list and my notes in my phone.  I asked for our 2nd choice.  It was called Tonel 46.  We REALLY enjoyed it.  It was from Argentina and went with this food well.  It wasn't expensive.  We'd order it again in a heartbeat.  Yay, the research paid off, again!

We each got an appetizer and ate 1/2 and brought 1/2 of it home.  I got their special (the ceviche).  Because it got it with all the kinds of seafood, this appetizer was more than a typical entree at many restaurants.  It was good.  It had all the usual parts (shrimp, calamari, mussels, octopus, lime juice, garlic, red onion), but it also had a few odd things (hominy and what I would call "corn nuts").  The only thing I found odd...usually when I've had ceviche at a hispanic or seafood restaurant, it is served with chips or crackers to accompany it.  This wasn't. 

Mike ordered "Antichuchos" (grilled marinated meat on skewers).  They came with a citrus dipping sauce, fried chunks of plantains and hominy.  That hominy, corn nuts, or actual corn popped up in many places.  He really liked both the beef and the chicken.  He said they had been seasoned well.  The dipping sauce was like and oil with lemon and lime juice in it.  He didn't care for it and like the meat fine without it. 

For dinner I ordered the Pescado a la Macho ("Roasted fish of the day with mussels, calamari, octopus & shrimp in a ají rocoto sauce with white rice & potatoes"). The fish was fine.  The sauce was just not that flavorful.  It was a roasted red pepper sauce and that's it.  The rice was served in a separate dish and the rice had corn running through it.  I'd give this dish a 7/10.  It wasn't bad, by any means, it just wasn't special

Mike got the Lomo Saltado.  Our waiter told us that we'd see the word "saltado" all over the menu and that kind of means "stir fried together."  Mike's was: "Beef tenderloin stir-fried with sweet onions, tomatoes, garlic & Peruvian spices tossed with steak fries and served with rice."  When it came it was rather odd, as the fries are thrown on the top at the end.  The sauce was a super good demi-glace.  I had one bite of Mike's and even though I prefer seafood, Mike dish was better than mine. 

We were pretty full, but we split the "dessert of Peru" and Mike had some coffee at the end of our meal.  We had a warm piece of Piono Manjarblanco Roll.  It was sponge cake with warm caramel and little pieces of mango on the side.  It was the perfect 3-4 bites each. 

This was a fun place to try.  It was kind of expensive and I don't know that we need to come back any time soon, but I'm glad we came.