Hello from St. Petersburg, FL

[KevinG]

Hello everyone. I'm a food writer / restaurant reviewer, and private chef. (I've had a couple of fine dining, tasting menu, pop-up events too.) I love all of the world cuisines that I have eaten and cooked.

 

I cook - 

 

Italian
Chinese
Japanese
Indian
Mexican
Mediterranean
American
Middle Eastern
Peruvian regional and Nikkei

 

I can't believe how long these forums have been around and I just found them now.

eGullet has a brief, one line mention near the end of the book - "The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution", which is how I found my way here.

I'm looking forward to participating here.

[Alex]

Welcome, Kevin. Lots of fun and informative rabbit holes here—many from way back when.

 

Speaking of way back when, I also found eG via a one-line mention, but in 2003, in the third paragraph of this article in the New York Times Magazine—and in a quote from pre-Alinea Grant Achatz, no less. 

[C. sapidus]

Welcome @KevinG - I look forward to your contributions!

 

I have always wondered - if food is your job, do you also cook for fun?

[Smithy]

9 hours ago, KevinG said:

Peruvian regional and Nikkei

 

Welcome! All the other categories are at least familiar to me although I know that each covers quite a bit of ground. This grouping, however, is quite unfamiliar to me. Can you describe it/them a bit? And how did you arrive there?

 

 

[KevinG]

8 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

Welcome @KevinG - I look forward to your contributions!

 

I have always wondered - if food is your job, do you also cook for fun?

Yes! I'm glad it's still fun.

[KevinG]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Welcome! All the other categories are at least familiar to me although I know that each covers quite a bit of ground. This grouping, however, is quite unfamiliar to me. Can you describe it/them a bit? And how did you arrive there?

 

 

Last year in June for some reason, all things pointed to Peru for our next place to visit. Our friend was traveling there and posting about it. We were scheduled to visit Miami, and another friend that is a restaurant consultant recommended the restaurant Osaka, which is Nikkei and we loved it.

I started studying the cuisine and found out that it is quite varied from hearty / homey dishes to Nikkei, which is Japanese influenced from the sushi / sashimi side, and  they have their own unique version of ceviche that is different than the Mexican and Spanish versions.

 

There are also three distinct regions - coastal, Andes mountains, and rainforest.

 

I took three courses and made many dishes from June - October 2025, and we made a 16 day visit to Peru in October.

 

Here's my favorite dish from Osaka Miami that I replicated - first photo is from the restaurant, second is my dish.

Wasabi Ceviche with Hokkaido Scallops, Red Snapper & Furikake

 

 

[KevinG]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Welcome! All the other categories are at least familiar to me although I know that each covers quite a bit of ground. This grouping, however, is quite unfamiliar to me. Can you describe it/them a bit? And how did you arrive there?

 

 

Btw, Peru is the global epicenter of potato biodiversity, cultivating over 4,000 native varieties in the Andes, alongside roughly 55 indigenous corn types.

[Tropicalsenior]

Welcome, Kevin, I think you're going to like it here.

My husband and I spent some time in Lima and we really enjoyed it and the cuisine. It's a beautiful city and probably the cleanest city that I have seen in Latin America. Their anti littering laws are absolutely Draconian.

We have several Peruvian restaurants in Costa Rica but since the Peruvian food is generally quite spicy, most of them have been dumbed down to cater to the rather bland taste of the Costa Ricans. We are able to buy some Peruvian products, though.

Peru produces wonderful olives and olive oil. I'm able to buy them here and they are great. The olives are called Botija Acertunas and have a unique Tangy flavor. Well worth looking for.

 

I'm looking forward to your contributions to this forum and I hope that you will include some recipes for some of that great looking food.

Edited 3 hours ago by Tropicalsenior (log)

[ElsieD]

Hi Kevin.  Glad you joined this great forum.

[KevinG]

2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Welcome, Kevin, I think you're going to like it here.

My husband and I spent some time in Lima and we really enjoyed it and the cuisine. It's a beautiful city and probably the cleanest city that I have seen in Latin America. Their anti littering laws are absolutely Draconian.

We have several Peruvian restaurants in Costa Rica but since the Peruvian food is generally quite spicy, most of them have been dumbed down to cater to the rather bland taste of the Costa Ricans. We are able to buy some Peruvian products, though.

Peru produces wonderful olives and olive oil. I'm able to buy them here and they are great. The olives are called Botija Acertunas and have a unique Tangy flavor. Well worth looking for.

 

I'm looking forward to your contributions to this forum and I hope that you will include some recipes for some of that great looking food.

Thank you! We loved Lima, but loved Cusco even more. Funny thing is I had no idea about the olives, but I will look for them.

The best olives we ever had were in southern Italy  - in Naples and Sorrento. I do not think they export them. I looked everywhere.

[Tropicalsenior]

18 minutes ago, KevinG said:

We loved Lima,

It's a beautiful old city with lots of History. One funny side note. Years ago the city fathers commissioned a statue, similar to our Lady Liberty for the plaza in front of the presidential Palace. They wanted a statue with flames coming out of her headdress. The word for flames in Spanish is llamas. They chose a Peruvian Sculptor and told him what they wanted. Yep, you guessed it. It's a beautiful statue with three little animals sitting on her head.