PREVIEW: Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the soft opening of a new restaurant in the Kendall area , Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar. Officially set to open later this week, Pisco Y Nazca offers traditional and not so traditional Peruvian cuisine.  Yes, it has your typical Peruvian ingredients but they have been taken up a notch. 

Executive Chef Miguel Antonio Gomez Fernandez has created a delicious menu that is not the traditional Peruvian cuisine that we are accustomed here in Miami. Chef Fernandez comes by way of San Francisco, where he was Chef de Cuisine at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, celebrity chef Gastón Acurio’s world-class Peruvian restaurant.
I believe you will be pleasantly surprised and impressed.  The restaurant has found its home in the Palms at Town & Country shopping center, next to Blue Martini. 

The design of the restaurant offers an open layout, a decent sized bar, and an open kitchen where you can see and smell what the Chef is cooking! They also have a private dining area for private parties.

The staff was both welcoming and efficient. Our server, Liz , proceeded to tell us a little bit about the restaurant and the type of food that we would be having. She painted a colorful and flavorful picture when she described the dishes on the soft opening menu and her recommendations.

I ordered a drink called LA COQUETA- a drink made with vodka and watermelon. It was good, I mean, it must have been as I drank it all.

We proceeded to order our appetizer and selected the EMPANADA AL AJI- a Chicken empanada with a spicy sauce on the side and an onion/lime chutney, when I bit into the empanada, juices were oozing from it and it was just heavenly, if you like spicy by all means dip it in the sauce; however, I think the empanada itself had enough kick for me.

We also ordered the CEVICHE CREMOSO, not your traditional Ceviche, as this was creamy one made with leche de Tigre , a traditional Peruvian drink. For my husband and I, this was the best dish of the night and I can definitely see us ordering again once they open.

For our main entrée, we relied on our server Liz to help us decide what we should order and based on her description we chose to go for the BESTIA BURGER, an 8 oz Angus beef burger served on a pretzel bun with a Peruvian BBQ sauce, and it was cooked to perfection and juicy.

Throughout the restaurant you admire the details that went in building the layout and designing the dining room, bar and kitchen area. It is an elegant restaurant with prices not out of line.  Background music was at a pleasant level so you could actually hear your partner speak. 

We are forgetting one very important part of any meal and that is the dessert, we really wanted to try the decadent chocolate cake that Liz had recommended at the beginning; however, when we were done with our dinner and ready for dessert the chocolate cake was totally gone ( NOTE TO OWNERS: make sure you have for opening week! )   We opted for the ORANGE PANNA COTTA made with CHICHA MORADA a traditional Peruvian drink, chunk of pineapples and a topped with a wafer. The panna cotta was delicious, the pineapple chunks were a little too sour for my taste but overall it was a solid dessert, and it hit the spot.  I am sure, the full menu will have many other options and it will have something for everyone.

This is a place that I feel Kendall needed. Yes, there are plenty of Peruvian restaurants in the area but this has an upscale ambiance and if the service continues to be like last night’s service, this restaurant will be a hit.  So go check it out. 

Grand Opening: Thursday 11/ 19 2015

Where:  Palms at Town & Country, 8405 Mills Dr, 260, Kendall, FL 33183 305 630 3844

For more of Maria's writing, please visit her new website Foodlvr.com