Qusqo Bistro & Gallery

This quaint Peruvian restaurant  on 1163 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles was where we ended up after seeing the movie "Five Star Life"; a delightful movie of a luxury hotel critic who travels all over the world and gets to eat good food on the side. Who wouldn't love this job?

We first had to order the popular drink they are known for: Chicha, which is a purple corn juice made from Peruvian blue corn. The recipe calls for apple, pineapple, cinnamon and cloves which are added to water then boiled for 2 hours.  The color was vibrant and it looked very interesting. I had Sandi have the first 2 sips. She warned me that it was a bit strange but the second sip got better. She was right on.....it was a peculiar taste only because I have never had anything like it but it grew on me after the 2nd and 3rd sip. The bread was served with a green sauce which was made with onions, garlic and cilantro. This was very edible.

For dinner, we ordered the Qusqo Paella Arroz con Mariscos. Saffron rice tossed with shrimp, mussels, baby scallops, calamari, chilies and vegetables. The mussels came on a separate little plate; I think they forgot to include it in the rice. The other dish we ordered was from the Grill Plate; Parrilla with the chicken. This was served with plantains, rice and beans. We enjoyed both dishes though Sandi had to pick the tentacles off the paella and she happily informed me that I could eat all the mussels as well.  I lucked out!

They had about 5 items on the menu for dessert. What caught my eye was the Alfajor dulce de leche cookie with vanilla ice cream. I figured this Peruvian restaurant will most probably make this native dessert the way it is supposed to be made.  A few minutes later, our server announced to us that they were out of the specialty cookies. We then settled for the Bomba which was described as chocolate ice cream covered in a white chocolate shell. The ice cream arrived. There was no white chocolate, just powdered sugar and cinnamon sprinkled around the plate. It was a regular chocolate ice cream with nuts. Since I do not like nuts in my ice cream, I did not like the dessert. Sandi though was happy as she is a nut lover. So, I got my mussels and she got the nuts. I guess it was just fair.

They had a lot of interesting items on the menu so we will definitely have to go back there and try the Alfajores. We hope we have better luck next time.