Joining Paradita, Limón and El Mono, Lucuma stands at the forefront of a Peruvian culinary renaissance in the Bay Area. Although this is their first restaurant together as both partners and co-owners, Renzo Roca and Garrett Morris aren’t amateurs. For many years, Roca was the general manager at Piqueos, a Peruvian restaurant in San Francisco.
One of the smartest decisions the two made was to bring some members of the Piqueos staff along with them to Oakland. And, with chef Wilbert Ek Tun executing and fine tuning their vision, Lucuma already feels like a vital neighborhood gathering place. While the buzz is still buzzing, reservations are a must.
Roca introduced Morris to Peruvian food. Between visits to Peru and Roca’s family’s visits to the U.S., Morris fell in love with the cuisine. “The great thing about Peruvian food is the influence from different countries,” he said. “As long as you get some of the essential peppers and flavors they use, it’s limitless what you can create.” The biggest challenge is importing the produce, which includes over 4,000 varieties of potatoes and many other fruits and vegetables.
Their goal was to keep the menu “authentic, truly Peruvian but incorporating a little bit of California into it to keep it modern and fresh,” Morris said. This “wow factor” Lucuma is aiming for showed up on the first plate out of the kitchen. The short ribs, or asado de mamita ($21), were some of the tenderest my fork has ever had the pleasure of cutting into.
They were accompanied by a mashed potato that had turned a delicate, pale shade of green. I assumed peas were the secret ingredient but Morris said it was, in fact, spinach. The chef finished the plate with plantain chips and four dots of aioli turned bright pink from beet juice.
Lucuma’s causa criolla is an elegant savory potato cake accompanied by shrimp, vegetables, chicken or a sampler plate of all three. We tried the chicken ($17), which was prepared very much like a milder tuna salad and then sandwiched between a shelf of avocado slices and two potato layers. The potatoes took on a yellow hue from the aji amarillo, the pepper most commonly associated with Peruvian food, at least here in the Bay Area. An aji sauce also ran yellow down the side of the cake. Fresh herbs and a hard-boiled egg were displayed on top. The dots on this plate were more chaotic, like the atoms or stars that appear on 1950s wallpaper patterns.
The visual presentations were fun and engaging. While the plating nodded toward the minimalism of nouvelle cuisine, the portions were substantial. We shared three dishes and didn’t leave feeling hungry. After a single meal, Ek Tun appears to be a master with proteins. The cook on his oven-roasted salmon andino con honogos ($30) couldn’t have been improved. It was served with a creamy white sauce that looked heavy but turned out to be light and citrusy.
I was intrigued by the idea of ordering anticuchos de corazón, or beef hearts ($22), but shied away from them. Morris understood why. “I’ve tried beef hearts many times at Peruvian restaurants, and I never like them,” he said. “They were terrible, always dry.” In Peru, street vendors sell them. “They’re just amazing, so juicy and tender. The flavour is incredible.” He and his team worked hard to get that recipe down. Morris encourages diners to try them once. “If you eat steak or any other type of beef, I guarantee you’ll like it,” he said.
At the end of this inventive and satisfying meal, only the dessert didn’t work. The chocolucuma dream ($14) was described as a chocolate and lucuma—a Peruvian fruit—tres leches cake. Tartine makes the most luscious tres leches cake, the standard by which I judge all others. Lucuma’s version came across as a dense, nada leche cake, topped with a rubbery disc of custard. It was the only dish I tried that sacrificed substance for style.
Lucuma, 1700 Franklin St., Oakland. Open Mon-Thu 11am to 9pm, Fri-Sat 11am to 9:30pm, Sun 10am to 9pm. 510.607.8110. lucumakitchen.com
