While driving down Packard Avenue in Cudahy, it’s hard to miss La Serenata, a brightly painted periwinkle corner restaurant. The space hosted a number of corner taps over the years before being converted to La Serenata Mexican restaurant. That business closed a few years ago and the space sat empty until reopening this past year under new management, also under the name La Serenata, and also with Mexican fare. Just recently, La Serenata revamped its menu with an array of Peruvian cuisine.
Appetizers include traditional papa a la huancaina, yellow potatoes in a creamy sauce; or ceviche rocoto, featuring a Peruvian chili pepper served with potatoes and corn. However, tucked into the sides menu along with French fries and white rice was fried yuca (not to be confused with the yucca plant), the tuberous root of the cassava plant. La Serenata serves its yuca perfectly fried, not greasy, with a tasty seasoned house-made dipping sauce simply referred to as “green” sauce. With hints of cumin and Peruvian chili peppers, the creamy green sauce was a perfect complement to the yuca. A $3 portion was enough for two people to snack on.
La Serenata’s menu is divided into comida criolla, meaning traditional dishes ($8-$13.99), with several choices including tallarines verdes con bistec en su jugo, a Peruvian-style spaghetti with green pesto and sirloin steak, or ali de gallina, a spicy shredded creamed chicken with rice and potato. The chifa peruano, or Peruvian-Asian fusion section ($7-$16), has an array of stir-fry and soups. Chifa emerged as a culinary tradition of Chinese and Peruvian fusion after the late 1800s, when thousands of Chinese immigrants went to Peru to work on the sugar plantations. These immigrants noticed the public’s growing interest in Eastern culture and started chifas, restaurants that served Chinese food made with some South American ingredients.
The fish and seafood section ($10.99-$16) offers sedado de marisco, Peruvian steamed seafood stew, arroz con marisco, which is Peruvian-style seafood rice, and parihuela, a slow cooked mixed seafood and fish soup.
As a vegetarian, I slightly panicked when I saw virtually no meatless options listed on the menu, but La Serenata’s owner, who was doing triple duty on that slow weekday afternoon as also our server and chef, offered to make several entrées vegetarian. He suggested stir-fry (arroz chaufa) with vegetables, so I went with that ($8). My husband, an omnivore, was intrigued by Peruvian-Asian fusion, so he ordered the arroz chaufa de puerco, or pork stir-fry ($8).
The owner/server/chef popped out of the kitchen a few minutes later to check if, as a vegetarian, I could have fried eggs in my stir-fry. Despite the one-man operation, our generous portions of food arrived a short time later. The green onions, bean sprouts and bok choy in the veggie stir-fry were cooked tender and retained their snap and flavor. The rice had well-balanced hints of soy sauce, garlic and ginger. My husband praised his dish, noting that the pork was tender with a slight smoky flavor.
A full-sized Formica-topped bar was a nice retro fit against energizing yellow walls, but the drink selection was minimal. Bottled beer was the only alcoholic beverage available. Non-alcoholic options included Coke, Peruvian soda or chicha morada, a sweet Peruvian beverage made with fruit, sugar and purple corn, with a slight cinnamon flavor. But despite the current lack of drinks, La Serenata has good food, a friendly, accommodating owner and unique Peruvian offerings not found at many other restaurants.
