Peruvian Food At Coney Island Taste Is The Place To Go When Warm Weather Arrives – The Bite

THE BITE: Brooklyn got a whiff of spring, and I just couldn’t help it. I had to have my favorite warm weather foods, even if warm weather is still around the bend.

When I think warm, I think of my time in the north coast of Peru, just a short hop-skip-and-jump from the Ecuadorian border. Mancora, Peru, where years ago I sat at a plastic table munching fresh-caught fish and watched the deep green waves of the Pacific crash down upon the sand, dotted with tireless surfers eager to get back out to the action.

Lord, when will spring really spring?

Coney Island Taste will be one of the 21 delicious restaurants at The BITE, the new name for A Taste of Sheepshead Bay, taking place on Thursday, May 28, 2015. Get tickets now!

Reality be damned, I’ll eat like it has, aided by our friends at Coney Island Taste (2580 Coney Island Avenue), whose owners Fabiola and Jesus Roa hail from that same part of Peru where my imagination travels.

Seated in the cushioned booths of the understated storefront, I ordered a trio of cold dished, my favorite Peruvian summertime eats: ceviche mixto, causa rellena de atun, and papa a la huancaina.

Ceviche mixto ($14.00)

This crown jewel of Peruvian cuisine is often described by natives as “Peruvian sushi,” but I’ve always felt that sold them short. By and large, sushi is delicate, mild in flavor, and, frankly, entirely unfulfilling. In my experience, Peruvians don’t do well with a blank plate, and this dish is certainly an expression of that.

Order the ceviche mixto and you’ll receive a mountain or fish, shrimp, squid and octopus, tossed with thinly sliced onions in a lime marinade, heaped next to a boiled potato, a sweet potato and some boiled Peruvian choclo – a fat kerneled starchy corn with a mild taste. The fish in ceviche is cold cooked – meaning the acid in the lime marinade, which also includes minced pepper, olive oil, parsley or cilantro, and salt and pepper, kills the bacteria. In mixto, the squid, octopus and shrimp are cooked beforehand.

Ceviche is increasingly popular in the states, with varieties arriving from not just Peru, but just about every South and Central American coastal nation. But Peru’s is the original, having emerged from Lima and brought to other parts of the continent by Spanish colonists.

At Coney Island Taste, the mix is authentic, with Fabiola’s cooks usually using corvina fished from the South American coast – but also substituting tilapia and red snapper if necessary.

Order the spicy – don’t worry, it’s not much more than a kick – and enjoy the texture of each little critter, diving into the sweet potato or choclo to clear the acid off your palate and begin again.

Causa rellena de atun ($6.00)

And just why should tuna or chicken salad be limited to sandwiches? Break the mold; get some causa.

A tower of layered seasoned mashed potatoes with tuna or chicken salad betwixt, and topped with a boiled egg, smear of mayonnaise and garnish of olive and pepper, the causa is a great lunch course, even if it is listed as an appetizer. I got the tuna version, which is finely seasoned and graced with a nice balance of minced celery and onions.

I never have identified the potato used at Coney Island Taste, and with that country boasting nearly 4,000 types of the tubers, each has its own flavor and texture. Regardless, the potato here is rich and velvety – delicious, and the dish altogether is much better than any tuna sandwich you’ve had lately.

Papa a la huancaina ($6.00)

Probably the most famous of Peru’s appetizers, papa a la huancaina combines some of the most prominent ingredients of that country’s palette – potatoes, aji amarillo (a yellow pepper native to Peru), queso fresca and a boiled egg.

It’s another cold dish, with the potatoes boiled, thinly sliced and chilled (though at Coney Island Taste, the potatoes still come slightly warm). The sauce is a blend of the aji amarillo, the fresh Andean farmer’s cheese and various seasonings, poured over the potatoes and garnished.

Get this, and you’ll be spending a bit of time trying to make sure each bite of potato is smothered in the sauce – and then searching the table for whatever else you can find to soak up the remainders.

Summer might not be here yet, but my stomach is primed for another round at Coney Island Taste as soon as the sun comes back out. I hope to see you there to support one of the neighborhood’s most under-the-radar spots. Be prepared, though: it’s cash only.

Coney Island Taste, 2580 Coney Island Avenue, (718) 339-8371. Cash only.

The Bite is Sheepshead Bites’ column exploring the foodstuffs of the Sheepshead Bay area. Each week we check out a different offering from one of the many restaurants, delis, food carts, bakeries, butchers, fish mongers, or grocers in our neighborhood. If it’s edible, we’ll take a bite.