Peru Cafe Express

3885 Southwest Freeway

Peru Cafe Express has moved (correct address above) and Empanada Factory has commenced operations in the space at 3833 Southwest Freeway.

The owners of this place and Argentina Cafe on Sage have recently opened a new Peruvian-Argentinian place, Che Inka, on Memorial, in a former Los Cucos.  My friend Lambowner checked it out and reported on it on Hungry Onion.  When we checked out the website we learned this place is slated to become an Empanada Factory.  I stopped by today to check it out.  It's still Peru Cafe Express and I saw no mention of an Empanada Factory but there were signs in the window announcing this place is moving a few doors down to a larger space soon so I guess the Empanada Factory is on hold until then.

I was very impressed with Argentina Cafe but had never checked this place out because it's mostly take-out and it's a little far from my home for that.  Today I picked up a 'sauteed beef sandwich' - i.e., Pan Con Lomo Saltado, and a Peruvian pork tamal with salsa criolla.

I'd never tried a Peruvian tamal, not even sure I remember seeing them on any menus, but this was the real winner here for me.  It had already been stripped of whatever it was steamed in (corn husks and banana leaves are mentioned in online recipes) when it was stuffed in the clam-shell but it stayed moist enough on the trip home.  The color comes from a Peruvian red chile, aji panca I think, and it was delicious with a generous filling of chunks of pork.  The salsa criolla, a ubiquitous condiment in Peruvian cuisine so I understand, is red onions sliced a la pluma (like a feather), dressed with fresh lime juice, a little salt, maybe a hint of chile.  There was also a container of a salsa verde in the bag.

The sandwich didn't fare so well; closed up in a clam-shell the bread lost any crustiness it had and the handful of potato chips included wilted as well.

I'll be looking forward to the new location for this place, where presumably there will be better accommodations for sit-down dining, and to the new Empanadas Factory.

Peru Gourmet

10804 S. Post Oak @ Willowbend, Suite 375

This is the second Peruvian restaurant along this stretch of S. Post Oak.  A half mile away, Super Chicken has been open for a couple of years serving Peruvian style charcoal rotisserie chicken, Pollo a las Brazas.  This new place is smaller but more nicely appointed and with a broader menu including seafood plates and ceviche, Creole plates and sandwiches, plus a very small menu section (8 items) of Mexican food.  There is no rotisserie chicken on the menu here.

I've been on a ceviche kick of late and I tried two of the four offerings here.  The Tostada de Ceviche, on the appetizer menu, came with a pile of fresh fish marinated in lime juice and Peruvian spices, with red onions, cancha (Peruvian roasted corn) and steamed camote (sweet potato).  Though it was on the appetizer menu this could have served as an entree it was so large.

Ceviche de Tres Pasiones featured fresh fish marinated with Peruvian spices and lime juice three ways, with aji amarillo, Peruvian yellow pepper, on the right, aji rocoto, Peruvian red pepper that is supposed to be pretty spicy but wasn't, and a house made cilantro sauce on the left.  This was garnished with hominy and camote.

I also ordered the Empanadas de Carnes appetizers and was taken aback when they arrived completely coated in powdered sugar.  I thought there had been some mistake and didn't remember any dessert empanadas on the menu.  But there was no mistake, this is the way they are served.  The filling of ground beef also includes raisins so it is slightly sweet itself.  This came with a sauce that is a variation of the Argentine Salsa Golf or British Marie Rose sauce, the basic ingredients of which are mayonnaise and ketchup.  You can see the leftovers of that sauce in the upper left corner of the Tres Pasiones picture.  I was initially hesitant but these were really good.

Chifa is a term which indicates dishes which are the result of a Chinese influence on Peruvian cookery which came about as a result of an influx of Chinese laborers to fill jobs once slavery was abolished in Peru.  It also denotes restaurants which serve these dishes.  They have their Chifa just as we have our Chinese American food and it is very popular.  One of the most popular dishes is Arroz Chaufa, a Peruvian version of fried rice, and another is Lomo Saltado.  I had the Lomo Saltado sandwich and never would have guessed the dish had Chinese roots if I hadn't read it.  This is tender chunks of been tenderloin, stir-fried with tomatoes, aji amarillo and red onion, in a red wine sauce, on a light and lightly toasted baguette.

Beverages include Chicha by the glass or pitcher and Inka Kola plus the usual American soft drinks, coffee and tea.  Desserts include Flan and Alfajores plus Pionono de Manjar Blanca, a sponge cake roll with the same filling as the Alfajores.

Yelpers have claimed the restaurant is the same owner as the Peru Gourmet food truck and that is confirmed by the Facebook page.  I don't know if the food truck is still on the road.

This section of South Post Oak just below the corner of the Loop is not a street one drives down expecting great culinary discoveries.  Peru Gourmet is a big addition to the dining out options in the S. Post Oak/Willowbend area and convenient also to Meyerland and Westbury.  It's an unpretentious, very small hole-in-the-wall serving up some very good food.   I hope there are enough Peruvians and at least mildly adventurous eaters otherwise to sustain it.


Peru Gourmet on Facebook.  Note many of the pictures on FB were apparently taken at a catering event and do not show the interior of the restaurant. 

Openings and Closings 2013 - 2014 (Edited 10/3/14)

So I don't go out for a year and a half and there are all these changes.  Who knew this was going to happen?

Around the intersection of Hillcroft and Bissonnet, which I once bragged about as one of the most diverse in Houston the kosher pizza place Aroma Pizza Cafe has closed.  It looked for a while like a pizza chain was moving in but the space is now vacant.  Tortilleria La Reyna and Birirria La Reyna, next door to each other, have merged into just the tortilleria.  Their Miercoles con Pollo Wednesday special is a cheap eats bargain - a whole rotisserie chicken, a cup of rice and half cup of a decent ranchero type salsa for just $6.  Fresh, warm, corn tortillas are extra but just $1 per pound.

Sheba Cafe has apparently become Habesha although the Sheba name remains on the building.  Sometimes it's closed when the sign says it's supposed to be open and other times a I see the Open sign lit in the window.  Next door, which long ago was Hoagies and More offering banh mi and pupusas, is now Ostioneria La Reyna.

South on Hillcroft, Istanbul Market has closed and Pollo Loco Charcoal Roasted Chicken has moved into the strip center with Pupusa Buffet.

On South Post Oak where Willow dead ends, Super Chicken offers Peruvian style charcoal roasted chicken with sides.  There's a dining room but I've never seen any one dining in the couple of times I've stopped in.    SUPER CHICKEN HAS CLOSED.
 
On Fondren at South Braeswood a shop offering cake pops, donuts, cupcakes and coffee according to signs in the windows has taken over the space formerly occupied by the Chili Bowl and before that Luke's.  There's still no sign on the building or streetside but a banner on the building now announces the Grand Opening of The Cake Fairy.  Maybe the third time will be the charm for that space.  ETA:  There is now a street-side sign, although it's mostly obscured by trees.

Shortly after I reviewed it, East Africa and Middle East Restaurant changed names to Mandi Halal and was identified online as serving Somali and Yemeni food.  Now Mandi Halal has closed but a new place has opened at 8403 Almeda at Holly Hall named House of Mandi.  Mandi is a Yemeni dish. 

Our second Afghan restaurant, Afghan Village, 6413 Hillcroft, has been open for about a year and I still haven't gotten around to going; now another Afghan place, Afghan Dastarkhwan, a word which I understand means something like smorgasbord, has opened at 6800 Southwest Freeway, back behind Lucy, which I've never been to either.  Edit to add:  a second location of Afghan Dastarkhwan has replaced Durrani's Tandoori Grill at 10581 S. Hwy 6 at West Bellfort, Sugar Land.

On Gessner between 59 and Beechnut, Taqueria Cancun has closed.  A block south of 59 Taqueria Arandas has become Don Rey Mexican Restaurant.  The huge streetside sign is new, as is the hand-painted plywood sign saying they're open.

I watched for months for the opening of Lahori Maza on Bissonnet next door to Afrikiko Ghanaian Restaurant, then I found out it was only open in the evenings or maybe only after dusk.  I still haven't checked it out.  Signs in the windows have advertised supari, bun kabob, keema paratha, samosas, tea, chess, and pool.  The other Desi game rooms I've been to, Salaam Namaste, Alpha Capri and Mehfil Grill, have more than just snacks on the menu.  The strip center parking lot up front is notorious for prostitution activities and raids

And probably the two best for last - AA Supermarket, 9896 Bellaire, is in the process of becoming an H Mart.  I read about it on Yelp and went to check it out.  There's no indication outside or in except that your receipt will show H Mart and you groceries will be in H Mart bags.  It's not a bad supermarket but it has a long way to go to match the H Mart on Blalock.  Still, I'm excited to have an H Mart much closer to home.

And Pho Binh, the acclaimed pho restaurant, has opened it's fifth location, Pho Binh Grill, in the shopping center at the corner of Gessner and the SW Fwy, between Maharaja Bhog and Peking Cuisine, making that strip center a great destination for dining.

Edit to add:  India Grocers, 6606 SW Freeway @ Hillcroft, has become Subhlaxmi Grocers.

Pollo Bravo

6015 Hillcroft #2800, 1/2 block south of US 59

I first visited Pollo Bravo back in May when I was sampling pollo asado at various places on the Southwest side, hoping to find some purveyor close by so I didn't have to make the trip all the way up to Longpoint and one of the El Norteno buses/trailers up there. I had the Pollo Rostizado with Maduros and both were excellent with generous sized pieces. The staff was very friendly, the decor very appealing (brushed stainless steel, varnished pine, bright yellow and rich apricot colors). The other dishes I saw being served looked very good also and I resolved to return but never got around to it until recently.

I was in the mood for some ceviche recently and this place came up in a search for Peruvian restaurants on our local review site, b4-u-eat.com. I have a copy of the menu I picked up in May and nowhere on it do the words Peru or Peruvian appear but now the menu identifies some dishes as Peruvian, some as Mexican.

Once again I found the staff very friendly and helpful; there had been a minor language problem before but none this time.

I tried the Ceviche Mixto, one of two ceviches on the menu. It included fish, calamari and octopus that I could identify plus corn, Bermuda onion, cilantro, lime juice, camote (sweet potato) and iceberg lettuce and was appropriately spicy. It came with a small bowl of a very creamy, rich salsa verde which might have actually been intended to accompany the other appetizer I ordered, the Aguadito, the house soup.

The soup included chicken, corn, onion, tomatoes and peas and was rather bland until I observed another patron adding some of the salsa to it which improved it considerably.

I also tried the Chicha Morada, a popular Peruvian beverage similar to an agua fresca although it's not listed on the menu with the other aguas frescas. It's made from purple maize, pinapple and cinnammon in the classic formulation but I thought Pollo Bravo's version included pear. It's described sometimes as resembling Kool-Aid but it was not sweet at all. I was a little disappointed in it although it is said to be beneficial for blood pressure.

The two appetizers and drink left me so full I could not comtemplate a dessert as I had hoped. Besides the Helado de Lucuma listed on the menu a sign indicates Pollo Bravo now serves Helado de Chirimoya.

I'm looking forward to more visits. The only complaint I have about this place is the cramped parking lot.

UPDATE: I've enjoyed several more visits to this restaurant over the months. On one occasion I had the meal pictured above, a quarter chicken with Chilaquiles in Salsa Verde. The chicken remains amazingly moist and tender for roasted chicken and the restaurant (original location) remains an excellent alternative in the area if you don't want to hit up one of the ubiquitous Indian or Pakistani places.


Re: the top picture above. At least three years I've had this camera and I still couldn't take a decent close-up. The shot of the ceviche was blurred and out of focus so I have only the shot of the soup across the table with a little of the ceviche in the foreground. There are more pictures of the food on the website.

Pollo Bravo