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Eats - Peruvian
Cities covered: San Mateo, San Francisco
Karamanduka Peruvian Cuisine
1801 Clement
St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415/422-0502
www.karamanduka.com
Dinner:
5-10 pm, Lunch: 11 am - 3 pm, Brunch: 11 am - 3 pm Sat & Sun
We were looking for parking so we could go to a Russian
Bakery we'd spotted a few weeks ago on Geary (near the big
Russian gold-domed church) and this place was right on the
corner. The last time I had Peruvian food, I was foolish
enough to try a specialty called cow feet, which I describe
in another review.
This is a smallish and fairly non-descript family-run place,
which is to say the best kind of restaurant. Who I'm guessing
were the father, mother, and two sons were on hand as well
as some helpers bussing tables. They brought bread and a
small plate of what we think was their version of tapanade,
a greenish aioli or mayo, and fried, salted corn kernels
for snack.
We started with the carapulcra mixta, mostly because it
contains papas seca or dried potatoes. The texture is something
like a thick, slightly spicy brown gravy with bits of potato
in it. Very nice with bread and for dipping, but a little
flat on its own. The tradito de camarones y pescado ceviche
was very citrusy and delicious with nice-sized shrimp and
chunks of halibut. We'll probably try all of the variations
at some point.
They were out of the tamales that day. My boyfriend really
liked the slice of corn on the cob, which had huge kernals
like those used for pozole.
For entrees we opted for sandwiches.
I had a butifarra, which is sliced pork with a nice tangy
mustard dressing, plus some fixings. Delicious and simple.
One thing to note is that if you're wearing something you
cannot have crumbs all over, the sandwiches are served
on enormous slices of bread (as in from 4" thick loaves).
You have to press them down to get them in your mouth unless
you can dislocate your jaw. My boyfriend had the Pan con
Lomito a la Caserola, which was a decent steak sandwich,
but less interesting and tasty than the butifarra.
This place is super affordable, and worth visiting now before
they figure out they can charge more. Total was $35.81 before
tip. Service was excellent. Cute waitors. August 5, 2007 |
