Estampas Peruanas in Redwood City

We have a couple of days in Redwood City this week, so are taking the opportunity to try some restaurants we don't have down this way.  (I know, to some of you Mountain View & Redwood City are so close as to be interchangeable, but as noted, I don't generally go far.)  The first stop was the Peruvian restaurant, Estampas Peruanas. I'll leave you in suspense for the second stop tomorrow -- or at least not make a fool of myself in case it falls through.

Estampas Peruanas couldn't be described as a "fine" restaurant, but it had a nice homey feel, and an interesting menu.  It was one of those times where there were more things I wanted to try than would make a reasonable order (which is better than the reverse, to be sure), so we just had to pick a few things.  My wife was pretty set on the seafood rice entree, so we got that, and it was predictably huge.  The clams & squid were quite good (the former the freshest, and the latter marinated until very tender), while the mussels & shrimp were OK but unremarkable.  We got the kind with a cilantro-sauce base to the rice.

I got more appetizers though.  I'm a sucker for ceviche, and got the fish ceviche.  It was very unpretensious and tasty.  I'd eat something like that often.  It was served with two kinds of potato, marinated onions, and some of those toasted Peruvian corn kernels (whose name I don't recall; they're rather like corn nuts, but not quite the same).  For a little switch, I got the chicken escabeche, although I kind of wanted to get fish escabeche too.  It was tasty... boney & tasty, which is sort of how it works.  I also got a cold mussel dish which sounded quite good, but was unremarkable.  My wife got a slightly thickened beef broth, which was very simple and tasty.

I would have liked to try one of the kinds of tamales they had (appetizers), and also the empanadas.  This place is a possible answer to the "Where to buy empanadas?" question that I and others had, as they even suggest takeout on the menu for that item.  I did not try them, however, because as chance would have it, my wife made empanadas last week.  While we were eating, a larger group, apparently Peruvian, arrived and they seemed to have some interesting items not on the menu.  I asked about the papas rellenas I saw there, and asked if we could have some too.  Our waiter said, sorry, he had made only 4 of them, and it was too late.  Too bad for us. They had some other tasty-looking things, but I didn't inquire as to what they were at that point.

The lunch specials had the "seco" Peruvian stew I like, but it wasn't on the dinner menu.  I probably couldn't have eaten it all anyway.  We like to make seco (especially duck) at home, and use Rojas-Lombardi's Peruvian cookbook fairly regularly, although we had never eaten in a restaurant before.  The restaurant food didn't present any surprises, so I guess that's good.

Anyway, we got a Peruvian cookie (powdered sugar & butter & a little jam inside) and a blackberry pudding with pineapple and figs for dessert.  The latter was very good... again totally homestyle, and a bit strange with the fig, but the blackberry (he didn't name it in English, but that's the word) pudding was great... great flavor, lots of body, no seeds.  I guess that was the one surprise.

If I try Estampas Peruanas as a "destination" again, I'm going to call and ask for some of the "special" food, although I'm not sure exactly what I'll say!  The rest was definitely a more-than-edible meal though, and not too salty or at all greasy.  The seafood rice was $11, a huge plate with lots of squid, the ceviche $8, the soup $4, the blackberry pudding $2... oh, and I had a Peruvian "Pilsen" beer (it was not more than OK) for $3.

Oh, nothing much to say about the service... no problems or special needs.