Recently, I'd been wondering how things were going at Latin Chef, I hadn't been by nearly three years. Once upon a time LC used to be almost a weekly stop for us. But over the years things changed; first they lost their original chef who went back to Cusco, so there was no one to make that wonderful tiradito. Then on my last visit, LC had started serving Brazilian food. So now three years later?
Well, there was a little placard on the table that says Latin Chef now serves a buffet lunch. And looking through the shelves, I did indeed see a buffet set-up....they also put in a sink, a toaster oven, and a microwave.....in plain view of the customers. The seating has been cut back too.
The dish I had been wondering about was the lomo saltado; once my favorite version in San Diego was served at Latin Chef, it had the right amount of soy sauce, the tomatoes were firm, but just breaking down, the sauce not too salty, but full of flavor, and the meat, toothsome, like it should be, but not tough. So I decided to get the Lomo Saltado ($13.50) which made me want to cry......
The sauce, what little there was, just had no flavor; the tomatoes weren't cooked enough, look at the meat, it barely has any color, was tough, and had that mild metallic flavor of something starting to go south. Two of the papas fritas were not cooked fully. Even the quality of the rice was terrible.
It really made me sad. Once upon a time, this was the typical Lomo Saltado at Latin Chef.
Over the years there are more than few places that have fallen off our list. And while Latin Chef had been off our radar for a while, this meal particularly bothers me. Once upon a time, the food here was quite good. Good enough to inspire us to travel to Peru, where I had one of the most memorable meals of my life. That was about 8 1/2 years ago...sadly, things do change over time.
Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
:(
Posted by: kat | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 02:54 AM
Bummer about this place. It used to be so good.
Posted by: Caninecologne | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 06:50 AM
Totally Kat!
I know CC........kind of sad.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 06:58 AM
Doh! Have you tried Nazca Grill lately?
Posted by: Soo @ hungryones | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 10:26 AM
Not in over a year Soo:
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2015/03/revisits-to-szechuan-taste-and-nazca-grill.html
I may just have to head back to Peru.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 10:39 AM
Oh no!
Posted by: Junichi | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 11:29 AM
It was pretty bad Junichi....might be because Freddy wasn't there, but still....
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 01:24 PM
Too bad. I had a lot of good meals there.
Posted by: Ed (from Yuma) | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 01:49 PM
Very sad Ed......
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 07:18 PM