Peruvian @ El Huarique, Venice Beach (LA, California)

After a glorious day hanging at the beach and cycling into Santa Monica, we headed to El Huarique on Venice Beach to take away some Peruvian food for our dinner. El Huarique is a self-proclaimed "The Hole in the Wall", and it was quite literally a hole in the wall. A tiny counter accommodated perhaps four bar stools, so the take-away option was the sensible choice. We were keen to try Peruvian food for the first time, though the kitchen had already ran out of certain dishes by 6pm. El Huarique was a popular choice, and though the guys in the kitchen were working hard to get through orders, we waited a good 15-20 minutes for our food. As we have never had Peruvian before, it is hard to comment on the authenticity, but the food was delicious! I would love to try some of the other dishes on the menu.

The narrow space inside this building of various food vendors:

A view inside the kitchen:

The 6-year-old wanted noodles, so I ordered Tallarin de Mariscos (US$13.99) - stirfried linguine with seafood green onions, red peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and ginger. Very tasty with a generous smattering of seafood:

We ordered for ourselves a recommended dish, the Ceviche de Pescado (US$11.25) - fish cooked in lime juice, Peruvian spices and aji limo (Lima peppers), rocoto aji (a type of capsicum), served with Peruvian corn (purple!), sweet potato and leche de tigre (lime-based marinade). This ceviche was not like any ceviche we've had, but it was yummy:

El Huarique gets the thumbs up from us, and is a good take-away option in Venice Beach, perhaps for a beach picnic!

[The prices quoted above do not include tips and taxes.]

El Huarique
1301 Ocean Front Walk
Venice, CA 90291
United States
Tel. +1 310-452-1254