It was that time of the year again, the V-day. Last few years my husband and I had been cooking at home. This year we felt like splurging so we decided to check out Picca, a modern Peruvian restaurant that has been popping up everywhere on all the “Best new restaurants in LA” lists. I’ve been to its Chef Ricardo Zarate’s other place Mo-chica when it was in USC before, unfortuantely I forgot my camera at the time so couldn’t blog it. I enjoyed the food greatly, the ceviche was fresh and flavorful, and the fish and meat dishes were tasty.
Back to Picca, the food is Peruvian with Japanese influences. For Valentine’s Day they have a special prix-fixe 6 course truffle menu for $79 per person with optional wine pairings for $24. Jon got the wine pairing while I didn’t since I’m a lightweight.
The restaurant is in a townhouse building. Upstair is Picca and downstair is to an Italian restaurant called Sotto. I like the space a lot, we sat at a loft upstair area which is quite fun for people watching.
1st course: Traditional Peruvian oyster chowder with truffle essence
There’a piece of fresh oyster in the soup. The truffle was very subtle in this. It’s pretty good, not too memorable.
2nd course: sea scallop causas with Perigord truffle aioli and micro herbs
Lots of flavors, good! Pity it’s only two small bites.
3rd course: shooter of maracuya fruit and truffle pisco sour
A palette cleanser.
4th course: Chawanmushi (steam egg custard) with mixed seafood and black truffles
Delicious! The steam egg was very smooth and there’re lots of seafood inside. The truffles were used well in this dish.
5th course: truffle-stuffed grilled chicken, quinoa risotto and 65 degree truffle-infused egg
I have to say at first I was a little disappointed at the main meat course being a chicken dish, but I end up really enjoying it more than I expected! The dish smelled wonderful with truffle. The chicken was moist and I love the Quinoa risotto and truffled-infused egg very much. Everything works together and it’s kind of an interesting take on Oyakodon.
6th course: Creme caramel, black truffles, vanilla essence
Good and very rich.
I was a little worried that we won’t get full based on the first 4 course as they were small in portions, but we were both stuffed at the end. All the ingredients were fresh and the dish were well executed. Even though it got a bit rich toward the end but we didn’t have that sick feeling afterward from overeating. The wine pairing was excellent also. I definitely want to go back to try their regular menu which has lots of really interesting sounding dishes.
Picca
9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
