Who knew that I would end up at a peruvian restaurant in a random town in connecticut? Certainly not me. Empire of the Incas Restaurant is in the teeniest least attractive strip mall ever. When I arrived, there were a few people at the bar, but I was the only person in the dining room. Awkward.
I didn’t know toasted bread and butter was peruvian. Well, these peruvians made some damn tasty toast!
I asked the server for some recommendations and he told me that this papas (potato) dish would be excellent. Sorry, I forget the actual name of it. Man, was this thing amazing. It was like football shaped mashed potato that they fried on the outside and then filled on the inside with delicious meat, funny colored hard-boiled egg, and supposedly olives. I did not taste any olives. It was awesome, even though the inside was a little bit cold, but perhaps it was supposed to be that way. And they served an amazing green hot sauce, probably made with habanero. There was also an onion salad. I figure if you slice something up, put a little lime on it, and chop some cilantro onto it, it becomes a salad?
So I ended up with a seafood rice dish for my entree, which the server also recommended. It may be called arroz con mariscos, if I was to take an educated guess. Man, this thing is huge. I barely made a dent in it. It’s basically like a paella with mixed seafood and peas. It was pretty good and had tons of seafood in it. I liked it but it wasn’t mindblowing or anything. The appetizer is really what got me. I could eat that all day long. The server was very nice but not particularly attentive. I guess since I was the only diner, he just decided to leave me alone.

Welcome back to another installment of boozings, where we try all of Philly’s Top 15 Drinks! Next up we go to Chifa, for the Chicha Morada. It is a Peruvian drink (Chifa is Peruvian/Chinese), but it’s Chifa’s own modern interpretation of it. Instead of the traditional chicha morada which is made by a human chewing on purple maize, this much friendlier version is made with spiced rum, purple corn, and pineapple, and served in a wine glass over ice and garnished with lime.

Wow, this is a good drink.  And can I also say wow, this is a beautiful restaurant? Because of the spiced rum, it definitely has that spicy and warm fall/winter taste to it, but sweeter. It’s kind of like sangria but not, because it’s definitely not made with wine. But it is reminiscent because of the hunks of fruit. It was just plain delicious, warm and sweet and slightly spiced. I drank it down way too fast. And it’s not super strong. It is strong, but not overly so. It goes down super easy.

We also tried the mula cuzco, which is vodka, ginger liqueur, Cusqueña Lager, and lime, served in one of these long skinny glasses. We got this because the bartender said it was incredibly refreshing. And on this sunday after a few feet of snow, we wanted some refreshment. This was also quite amazing. It’s very light and refreshing, indeed, and the hint of beer is quite nice.

Ok, 11 down, only 4 more to go!