La Mar Cebicheria Peruana A Feast for All Senses

… And this one is purple potato, Ahi tuna, avocado… A server pointed to a whipped potato shooter, one of four, as bright as a plastic toy on a rectangular white dish. I marveled at the colorful display. You know what causas are, half-asked our waiter, Alejo Veiga at La Mar on Embarcadero. Shamefully, I didn’t know. A novice to Peruvian cuisine, I also didn’t know that so many colors in chilies pack each a different punch, and that traditional seafood cebiche is a national dish of Peru, made with leche de tigre (tiger’s milk) marinade of lime juice and various peppers. I learned that cebiche can be chifa (Chinese) or nikei (Japanese) influenced by the respective populations of Peru, and have their own ingredients and flavors, similar only in their deliciousness. Good there are always new things to learn… My lunch companion and I settled on an open terrace of the spacious waterfront restaurant on one of those ripe sunny September days when you can get tipsy just by breathing the air and everything around you seems Photoshop-sharpened. Ready to be wowed, we didn’t have to wait long. First, plantain and sweet potato chips arrived with a trio of pepper dips, from mild to spicy, all in fall colors, accompanied by a perfect glass of house-special pisco sour. Then, our educational cebiche tasting followed, thoughtfully served with a big spoon for easier consumption of that refreshing tiger’s milk sauce. And then it was time for causas. Perfectly balanced flavors in limena – Dungeness crab, avocado puree, quail egg, cherry tomatoes and the ubiquitous aji amarillo sauce made a nice contrast to casera – a vegetarian visually stunning treat of class A golden greens – artichokes, avocado, asparagus – bound with a drop of mayo and packed into a tiny violet basket. Discoveries continued with anticuchos de pulpo – a skewer of grilled octopus, Mexican variety, that does not hold water and therefore is softer, less chewy, in a pungent dark chimichurri sauce, and with cau cau – melt-in your mouth roasted scallops bathed in a clam and mint broth and served over Peruvian risotto. A sweet finale to our feast for all senses came with more surprises. Bunuelos de chocolate caliente – little beignets with warm liquid chocolate center were complemented by a scoop of banana ice cream, and traditional piracones – pumpkin and sweet potato fritters served with spiced Chancaca honey were almost guilt free thanks to their vegetable content. La Mar Cebicheria Peruana is located next to the Ferry Building, at Pier 1.5 Suite 100, The Embarcadero, San Francisco. Call for reservations 415-397-8880 or visit www.lamarcebicheria.com. Photography by Emma Krasov. 1. Purple and yellow causas. 2. Cebiche tasting. 3. General Manager Andrew Generalao. 4. The view from the terrace.