This place is awesome! It is my new favorite restaurant in Chicago (sorry Maza). The food is fabulous. The decor... not so much. But that's ok. I ain't eating the food. If you can get past the 70s feel and the funky out of focus mural on the wall, you will get some truly great Peruvian food. Jenni and I had a $25 off coupon from restaurants.com that got us on our way. It is BYOB so we brought a bottle of our favorite cheap vino with us. We took the #9 bus up Ashland from Bucktown to Irving Park road and walked the block back to Machu Picchu. My childhood friend Mike joined us too as he has been to the real thing in Peru.
When we got there the manager told us we could sit anywhere which was a plus. We told him right away that we had a coupon and he said he loved it since it got new people into his restaurant. What a pleasant surprise and what a great attitude. That set the tone for the rest of the evening.
We started with the Papa Rellana. It is fried mashed potatoes stuffed with ground beef. Tasty! The red onion salad it was served with was very good too.
Then, on to the best soup I've had in years. Sopa a la Criolla. Holy cats was this good. It's a creamed beef in a milk and tomato based broth with angel hair pasta and Aji Panca (sun dried red chili). Yeah baby!
For the entree, Jenni had the skirt steak special that was torched on the grill on the outside and red and tender on the inside. Perfect.
I had the Aji de Gallina which was shredded chicken with sun dried yellow peppers, walnuts, milk and cheese. Very good as well.
Mike had beer.
This is what is left of my shredded chicken and Jenni's steak.Total tab - $63 for 2. We kind of overdid it for a BYOB restaurant but the $25 coupon helped.
The Verdict - Loved it! The food is fantastic. The waiter was great. Decor = meh. This place is definitely in the rotation.
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