Machu Picchu Restaurant
Tel: (506) 222-7384 / 255-2243
Specialty: Exotic seafood dishes from coastal Peru.
Chefs: Owner Fausto Jaime Martínez.
Recommended Dish: Assorted Seafood Platter (serves two), with a variety of Peruvian delights including Parmesan shrimp, garlic octopus and marinated sea bass.
Prices: Dinner entrées range from U.S. $4.50 to $14, including sales and service taxes (23%).
Location: Calle 32 between Ave. 1 and 3 in San José, 125 mts. north of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Paseo Colon.
Directions for Taxi Driver: Calle 32 y Ave. 1 y 3 en San José, 125 mts. norte de Pollos Kentucky, Paseo Colon.

The food is deliciously different and the service is exceptionally good at Machu Picchu, Costa Rica’s first - and arguably most popular - Peruvian restaurant.

The modest-but-dignified San José restaurant, owned and managed by Peruvian-born chef Fausto Jaime Martínez, has been satisfying its clients for decades with authentic seafood dishes from the coastal region of Peru. Machu Picchu, Costa Rica, is the place to go for unrivaled Peruvian-style “ceviche,” marinated chunks of fish or octopus, seafood “chaufa,” or seafood rice, pickled beefheart, pepper chicken, tenderloin stir-fry and stuffed potatoes smothered in onion sauce.

Most of the entrées at Machu Picchu are served with potatoes, a Peruvian staple. No less than 78 varieties of potatoes exist in Peru, explains Martínez, who imports freeze-dried Peruvian potatoes to use in his kitchen. After all, the Incas used to freeze-dry potatoes near the summit of his restaurant’s namesake… Martínez also imports some seafood from Peru. Other essential ingredients in his kitchen include the slightly spicy “aji” peppers used in many typical Peruvian dishes, black olives and purple corn.

When Martínez bought Machu Picchu more than 13 years ago, it was the only Peruvian restaurant in town. He purchased it soon after moving to Costa Rica, from a Peruvian man of Japanese descent, who had started the restaurant about 20 years earlier. When Martínez acquired it, the establishment had only seven tables in one small room. The menu, no doubt reflecting the founder’s heritage, included many Japanese specialties as well as a few Peruvian dishes.

Today the restaurant, still in its original building, has flourished under Martínez’s dedicated and experienced guidance. The dining area has been expanded to include about two dozen tables in three different dining rooms. The menu boasts a wide array of authentic Peruvian-style recipes, ranging from appetizers and main courses to desserts and mixed drinks.

The restaurant is a family endeavor, Martínez is quick to point out - his partner and wife, Mirla Madrid, runs the cash register. He has owned three restaurants, and originally learned to cook from his father, who was a chef for the Hilton chain of hotels. Cooking definitely runs in the family - Martínez’s two brothers also own restaurants in Panama.

The menu at Machu Picchu includes delicious and exotic appetizers such as crispy roasted octopus and squid “chicharrones” and “Pulpo al Olivo,” chunks of octopus bathed in virgin olive oil and fresh parsley, accompanied by a delectable black olive sauce for dipping. Exquisite!

Or try the Causa Limeña, mashed potatoes stuffed with spiced shrimp and smothered with a savory onion sauce; or the Parmesan Shrimp, baked with cheese in small scallop shells. The restaurant’s most popular appetizer, according to Martínez, is the Peruvian-style “Queen Sea Bass Ceviche,” made with bite-sized pieces of fresh sea bass cooked in lime juice and garnished with marinated onion; served with sweet potato and corn-on-the-cob to put out the fire of the restaurant’s “famous aji pepper sauce.”

Entrées that must not go unmentioned include the Stuffed Sea Bass, a filet stuffed with jumbo shrimp and covered with its own sauce. Another recommended dish, one of the chef’s specialties, is the Sea Bass a lo Macho, prepared with a dressing made of garlic, onion, and aji pepper with a variety of shellfish, all highlighted with white wine.

The Seafood Chaufa is a Peruvian version of Cantonese rice with chunks of ham, chicken, eggs and seafood. Those looking for a little spice in their dinner will enjoy the Picante de Camarones, succulent shrimp prepared in a sauce of onion, cream and mildly spicy yellow aji pepper, or the Aji de Gallina, spicy slices of tender chicken prepared with aji, nuts, milk and breadcrumbs.

Dessert-lovers are in for a treat at Machu Picchu. Standing out from various other sweet concoctions is the “Suspiro Limeño,” a heavenly dessert with sweet whipped cream and caramelized milk with chopped nuts and a dash of Pisco, a grape-based spirit from Peru.

The restaurant’s “Chicha Morada” is a refreshing non-alcoholic drink made with purple corn boiled with pineapple and lemon, cooled and served with tiny bits of chopped fruit. The purple drink (not be confused with the traditional alcoholic “chicha” made by Costa Rica’s indigenous people) contains chunks of apple, melon and other fruits, and tastes similar to (but far more complex and intriguing than) lemonade.

The restaurant’s famed Peruvian-style alcoholic drink, the Pisco Sour, has almost become a trademark cocktail at Machu Picchu. Made with Pisco, lemon juice, egg whites and sugar, blended with ice and served with aromatic bitters, the drink adds a spark of Peruvian festivity to your meal. The restaurant also offers a varied selection of red and white wines from Europe and South America as well as a variety of mixed drinks and cocktails.

Machu Picchu is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, and 6-10 p.m. for dinner. Checks are not accepted.