Alright, now it’s time for my first food post! We had a farewell lunch for one of my coworkers at Limon Rotisserie, a Peruvian restaurant in Burlingame. (There are actually locations in SF as well which is how I first heard of this restaurant, but I haven’t been to those locations yet.)
We were originally going to be a party of 14 but our party size dropped down to 10 that day. (Oh work, always getting in the way haha.) I told the hostess, and she thanked me for the heads-up and wound up taking one of the tables they’d set up for us away due to our decreased party size. But once we sat down, we felt squeezed in like sardines! Managed to flag the hostess down to ask if we could get that other table back so we could spread out a little more. She took one look at us and hastily agreed, whew. We needed the breathing room for all the gorging we were about to do. Bellies about to get stuffed!
Appetizers
We started off with the ceviche trio: pulpo camaron crema de aji amarillo, ceviche pescado leche de tigre clasico, and ceviche camarones pimiento leche de tigre. All were well prepared; my favorite was the ceviche pescado because fish is my favorite ceviche base. We also ordered the carne and veggie empanadas. I wound up not trying the carne empanadas but loved the veggie empanadas. I love mushroom and cheese empanadas, and these veggie ones had mushroom and cheese as well as spinach and choclo. It was the right balance of vegetables and cheese. (One of my coworkers liked the empanadas enough that he wound up ordering it for his entree.) The yuca fries were a big hit so we kept ordering more. The exterior was nice and crispy while the interior was nice and soft. We also ordered the truffle mac & cheese. I’d say that was just ok. I can rarely resist ordering mac and cheese when I see it on a menu despite feeling dissatisfied half the time because I’m actually semi-picky about my mac and cheese. The pasta shells were small, the sauce was soupy, and I couldn’t really taste the truffle.
Entrees
I ordered the arroz con mariscos. Considering how small I thought the tapas were for their price, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the entree was a decent size. There was a good mix of seafood and an appropriate ratio with the rice. Normally I order lomo saltado when I’m at a Peruvian restaurant, but I didn’t think I could handle the fries and rice that comes with that dish, especially since I’d had a large dinner the night before. I tried a bite of my friend’s though, and the beef was really tasty. Another friend ordered a half chicken of their open flame marinated rotisserie chicken and offered me some. I asked for a little bit of dark meat and he wound up giving me a whole quarter! Although it was worth it to try the chicken since the restaurant does have Rotisserie in its name after all. The chicken thigh was nicely juicy. Our group has a couple of vegans and unfortunately I hadn’t vetted the menu as thoroughly as I normally do to check for vegan options since this farewell lunch was planned on short notice. (Why does Brian have to leave?? Waaaahhh!) Luckily the restaurant’s dressings for the salads they ordered were vegan friendly.
Drinks
We ordered a pitcher of sangria. It was light and smooth, one of the better sangrias I’ve had and worked well as a lunch drink. A pisco sour would’ve been more Peruvian (and I do love those) but the sangria pitcher that the group could share was too good to pass up.
Final Thoughts
I thought the food was quite tasty but many of the dishes were pricey for their size. And I somehow managed to not cry crocodile tears into my food thinking about my coworker’s departure. The food was good enough to distract me haha. But seriously, all of us are going to miss Brian. We’re ready to throw him a welcome back lunch anytime!
Rating (out of 5)
I should have suspected that your first post would go live only hours after the site was set up. Looks like lunch was delicious – how can you go wrong with dough-wrapped-filling? My only complaint about South American food is that it all blends together – where does Peruvian ceviche end, and Mexican ceviche begin? Perhaps a finer palate than mine can discern the difference.
Haha, I felt so gung ho last night and I wanted to see how a post would look on this thing.
Lunch was sooooo good. Almost made up for the fact that my coworker’s leaving. And yes, things wrapped in dough are the best!
I’m not sure I can discern the difference between the ceviches either haha, but I’m sure my Peruvian friend would say that the others are a pale imitation of the Peruvian version. And don’t even get him started on whether Peruvian or Chilean pisco sours are better, lol.