If hipsters
went to heaven, I think it would look like Ayahuasca Bar. Mismatching chairs
and colorful ottomans with decorative fishtanks festively fill a vast Victorian
manor. Dark hallways wind and tunnel with neverending, always-unfolding rooms
and a back-side terrace where you can enjoy a Pisco Sour with an evening breeze.
The food is as
laid back as the decor, but Ayahuasca Bar knows how to avoid the #TTH without compromising
quality. The Parrilla Chalaca keeps
it simple with a mix of rebelliously unique seafood chilling out in butter and
garlic.
I love all
foods Peruana but two weeks in Peru had me missing Americana. The Hamburguesas Junior are a handful of
not-so-junior sliders of ground beef laced with pork. Pink on the inside and
juicy throughout, dip that mystery meat into a mysterious aji pepper sauce for
a kick of Peruana meets Americana.
3 stars for some
solid food by a bar, 5 stars for the bar! We were warned that people often
whittle away hours upon hours at Ayahuasca and I can see why. We probably could
have spent all our lives living in this hipster's paradise.
My hands were
clammy as I looked at my Cuy but I
was too committed to quit. I had already mocked one friend for freaking out, and
I told another to grow a pair. I almost cried when I didn't get to try it in
Cusco and then there I was, at probably the only place in Barranco to serve the
Peruvian delicacy heard around the world.
Everyone else
had it roasted but mine was fried to a perfect crisp. I was spared the head
with beady, reproachful eyes, but still the hand had its fingers twisted in
anguish, an uncomfortable reminder of what I was about to do.
The smell was
mouth-watering, and the crunch was so satisfying when my teeth broke through the
skin. The fat drizzled across my plate as I tore off juicy slivers of flesh. The
texture was tougher but far better than chicken, like a rougher rabbit with a
lot more character and a little more game.
The cuy washed
it down nicely with a traditional Chicha Morada, and the comp’ed Dessert was the perfect finish, a
heavily-honeyed, deep-fried halo.
All
western preconceived misgivings aside, the cuy was delicious, and Tio Mario knows
how to make it. I don’t exactly have a basis for comparison, but I do have a
new-found craving.
