Finding Peru in a Mini-Mall

Modern Lima is a huge, sprawling place, home to a third of Peru’s people. The old part of town is known as Lima Virreynal, because it dates from the 17th and 18th centuries, when Lima was the capital of the wealthy Spanish viceroyalty of Peru.

There is also a Lima Virreynal in Santa Fe Springs--the far west part of town, just steps away from the “Pico Rivera Welcomes You” sign. Lima Virreynal Peruvian Restaurant is a small and basically plain place in a mini-mall dominated by something named Rim Ram, but it advertises its affinity with Old Lima by mounting wooden structures that look like miniature houses on its walls. They’re actually miniatures of the enclosed balconies that typify Old Lima’s architecture. (There’s a lightbulb in each, in case the restaurant feels like altering its usual bright lunch-counter lighting to something dimmer and more romantic.)

Lima Virreynal has a huge menu of more than 120 items, though not all are available at the same time--some are lunch dishes, and I’ve been told jalea (breaded chicken or seafood) is not served after 4 p.m. It does this largely by offering chicken, beef, fish or shrimp versions of a number of basic preparations. Generally, the food is vivid and attractive.

One of the great examples is camarones (or mariscos) a la parmesana. This stunning appetizer is shrimp or fish covered with Parmesan (and probably some other cheese such as Jack) along with quite a bit of garlic and then stuck under the broiler. Wow! It really shouts in your mouth.

Naturally, you can get the universal Peruvian appetizer, papas a la huancaina, three or four slices of boiled potato in a mildly cheesy sauce. I think it’s improved with a dash of the thick, lime-green hot sauce they serve in pitchers. There is also a range of quite rich causas rellenas, which are neat oval patties of mashed potatoes mixed with chicken, tuna, shrimp or peas and mayonnaise (verduras).

Most of the soups are substantial chowders (chupes), but there are a couple of first-course soups, such as sopa de pollo a la minuta estilo virreynal: vermicelli and some chunks of carrots, green beans and chicken, all in a surprisingly rich, milky broth.

The most impressive dish I’ve had here is tallarin verde con pollo saltado. It’s a plate of spaghetti--not al dente at all, as soft as Chef Boyardee’s--in a rich, garlicky, stunningly flavorful spinach and basil sauce green enough to put your eye out. It’s topped with bits of chicken violently sauteed (you can see flames leaping in the kitchen when it’s made), giving it little blackened spots. There are also beef and seafood versions.

Bisteck a la chorrillana is a paper-thin steak smothered with onions and a few potato and tomato slices. The thing that really makes it is the slightly hot yellowish sauce, which appears to be vinegar, garlic and pureed yellow peppers.

A lot of other dishes are in the usual Latin American style, such as fish or shrimp picante in a rather salty and not terribly spicy tomato sauce, or chicken stewed in white wine (pollo al vino). The place makes something of a specialty of roast chicken--there’s a rotisserie in the front window. But there are also surprises. Mariscos al ajo virreynal, unless there was some mistake in my order, scarcely had any garlic, and it was smothered in . . . bean sprouts.

As it happens, many of Peru’s restaurants are Chinese-owned and regularly feature chaufa (chow fun, that is; fried rice). Lima Virreynal has beef, chicken, shrimp and fish varieties, and a chaufa combinado with everything. This is basically good old fried rice, only with scarcely any rice in it--you do find some rice at the bottom, soaking in a slightly vinegary sauce under the big pile of meat, bell peppers and bean sprouts.

The dessert choices are the usual flan and rice pudding, together with a few odder choices like mazamorra, a purple corn pudding. And don’t pass up cancha, which the menu describes as Peruvian corn nuts. Sometimes they’re still popping-hot from the frying pan, and they taste like (trust me here) the world’s best popcorn duds.

BE THERE

Lima Virreynal Peruvian Restaurant, 11411 E. Telegraph Road, Santa Fe Springs, (562) 942-2299. Open 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, noon-9 p.m. Saturdays; closed Sundays. No alcohol. Parking lot. All major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $18 to $24.

What to Get: camarones a la parmesana, sopa de pollo a la minuta estilo virreynal, tallarin verde con pollo saltado, bisteck a la chorrillana.