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7/11/2015 Review: Rocoto’s Grill San Antonio ExpressNews
http://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/ReviewRocotosGrill6363664.php#photo8250791 1/5
By Edmund Tijerina | July 2, 2015 | Updated: July 2, 2015 6:00pm
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RESTAURANTS
Review: Rocoto’s Grill
Restaurants
Photo: John Davenport /San Antonio ExpressNews
IMAGE 1 OF 11
Peruvian rotisserie chicken, or Pollo a las Brasa, features crisp skin, and tender, juicy meat.
7/11/2015 Review: Rocoto’s Grill San Antonio ExpressNews
http://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/ReviewRocotosGrill6363664.php#photo8250791 2/5
MORE INFORMATION
Rocotos Grill
★★★
10555 Culebra Road inside Loop 1604, 2105214367, www.rocotosgrill.com
Quick bite: Experience the many joys of
One taste of Peruvian pollo a la brasa and you’ll never look at chicken the same wayagain.
The rotisserie chicken, flavored with a mixture of paprika, garlic, soy sauce and otherspices, is one of the most traditional dishes in Peru, and it shines at Rocoto’s Grill, wherechef Damaris Trinidad and her family celebrate the gorgeous and complex interplay offlavors that are the hallmarks of their homeland’s cuisine.
At this familyowned restaurant just afew miles from SeaWorld SanAntonio, the bright and tart cebiche(Peruvian spelling) sings with anunforgettable clarity, while the smokybeefiness of anticuchos satisfies deeplyand the butterscotchlike flavor of thetropical fruit lucuma shines in alicuado (smoothie) and an ice cream.
Both the menu and the friendlysincerity of the Trinidad family entranced me when I first reviewed the restaurant, but Iwas curious as to how the place was holding up five years later. In restaurant terms, fiveyears is an eternity and most independently owned restaurants don’t last that long, andthose that do usually change considerably.
Fortunately, Rocoto’s still captivates. Of the few changes I noticed, they were for thebetter.
To be sure, the food still is the mainattraction. Service is friendly andknowledgeable — family members andtheir staff gladly take the extramoments to explain the cuisine to thoseunfamiliar with it — but the place iscasual and the polished interior evokes
7/11/2015 Review: Rocoto’s Grill San Antonio ExpressNews
http://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/ReviewRocotosGrill6363664.php#photo8250791 3/5
Peruvian home cooking
Hit: Cebiches, escabeche de pescado, alfajores
Miss: Pescado a lo macho could have beenspicier
Hours: 11 a.m.9 p.m. MondaySaturday; noon6 p.m. Sunday
Price range: Appetizers, $3.99$19.99; piqueos(appetizer samplers), $13$40; pollo a la brasa,$7.99$19.99; main dishes (chicken, beef,seafood, pork), $9.99$19.99; desserts, $2$7.
★★★★Superior. Can compete nationally.
★★★Excellent. One of the best restaurants inthe city.
★★ Very good. A standout restaurant of itskind.
★ Good. A restaurant that we recommend.
(no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurantat this time.
ExpressNews dining critics pay for all meals.
the feel of a chain restaurant. All themore reason to focus on the dishes.
Peruvian cuisine is one of the world’sgreat fusion foods, combininginfluences from Spain, Italy, WestAfrica, China and Japan, whilemaintaining its roots in the indigenouspopulations that predated the arrival ofthe conquistadores more than 500years ago. Around the world, it’s huge.This year a restaurant in Lima made itin the top 20 list of the world’s finestdining establishments, while culinarystars Ferran Adrià of Spain and AlainDucasse of France tout Peruviancuisine’s importance.
Globally, Peruvian cuisine is bestknown for its cebiche, the lightlymarinated raw seafood. At Rocoto’s,the fish, shrimp or mixture of seafoods are tossed in freshly squeezed lime juice withslightly hot rocoto peppers, thinly sliced red onions, minced garlic and minced cilantroand served with housemade corn nuts, boiled corn kernels, a slice of boiled white potato, aslice of boiled sweet potato and a small glass of the marinating liquid for sipping. By theway, that elixir, leche de tigre, or tiger’s milk, is considered an aphrodisiac.
The dish that should rise to a similar level of fame stars cooked fish and is calledescabeche de pescado, a fillet of mahi mahi seasoned thoroughly, fried until crisp and thentossed in a vinegary tomato sauce with sauteed onions. There’s just enough sauce tosoften the crust slightly but not render it soggy. By itself, the fish would make for asatisfying dish, but the tartness of the sauce elevates the fillet into transcendence.
Juxtaposing flavors highlight the homecooking classic lomo saltado, a mixture of
7/11/2015 Review: Rocoto’s Grill San Antonio ExpressNews
http://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/ReviewRocotosGrill6363664.php#photo8250791 4/5
Falafel for pharaohsand Texans alike
The new goto chilledsoup of the summer
A salad for summer,cool and pretty
The Weeknight Dish:Grilled Scallop Tacoswith Orange Crema &
This week, the TasteTeam is cravingbarbecue butter
Austin chef’s dish a‘beautiful mess’
In the Neighborhood:West HildebrandAvenue
RESTAURANTS
marinated beef strips that are stirfried with a slightly tangy and salty sauce with slicedonions and red peppers and then tossed with french fries and served with white rice. Now,the restaurant offers a version of the dish with shrimp, or a shrimp and beef mixture, butthe best option still is the original beef.
If you want a pure beef flavor, try theanticuchos. Although similar inappearance to the Fiesta anticuchos,these are not sirloin cubes but ratherthin, marinated slices of beef heart,skewered, briefly grilled and servedmediumrare to deliver an intensityreminiscent of a dryaged steak.
Among the appetizers, the causa depollo is a must. Traditionally, it’s adumpling of stuffed mashed potatoes.At Rocoto’s, it’s a torte with two layersof mashed potatoes seasoned withlemon and slightly spicy aji amarillosandwiching a layer of shreddedchicken with mayonnaise and more ajiamarillo. The texture of mashedpotatoes and shredded chicken feelinstantly familiar, but the seasoningsare new for those not acquainted withPeruvian cooking, and the overalleffect is at once comforting andexciting.
Aji amarillo also flavors a creamysauce that covers slices of boiledpotatoes in a dish called papa a lahuancaina. The texture almost looks
7/11/2015 Review: Rocoto’s Grill San Antonio ExpressNews
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like melted Velveeta, but it’s a cool,spicy sauce that will banish anycomparisons to the processed American cheese.
At this point, even though you’ll be stuffed, you’re going to want dessert. My suggestionis to get the combination of arroz con leche (rice pudding) and a fruity purple puddingcalled mazamorra morada that tastes of cooked pineapples and figs. Then take home anorder of alfajores, the sandwich cookies of shortbread and dulce de leche.
When I last visited, I wished that the restaurant offered beer and wine. The owners wentone step further: They added an allPeruvian wine list, several beers and evenpisco sours,the national cocktail of Peru.
Maybe it’s good that my own house is far away from this restaurant. Otherwise, I’dpractically live here.
etijerina@expressnews.net
Twitter: @etij
EdmundTijerinaFood and dining writer
| San Antonio ExpressNews
© 2015 Hearst Communications Inc.
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