Lima is a land of wondrous sandwiches, and we’ve been working hard to sample as many as we can. While we’re never going to stop looking, there’s a really good chance we have found the Best Sandwich in Lima.

P U L P O

HOW GORGEOUS IS THAT?? Photo credit to Nat. So, background. This is an off-menu sandwich from La Leche Cebicheria. A few weeks ago, Natalie met a friend of a friend for lunch near the US Embassy (pretty far out from our normal stomping grounds, about 5 miles East of our apartment). The original La Leche is out that way, and is a popular haunt for Embassy workers. This sandwich (pulpo a la llama) isn’t on the normal menu, but Nat’s lunch companion said it was a must-try, and they ordered two off menu. What followed were borderline manic texts from Natalie raving about this sandwich, and a Marriage Promise to eat one together asap. Yesterday, it finally happened.

There’s a second La Leche in San Isidro, about a 45 minute walk from our place. It’s been tough to get there since, like many cevicherias on our to-eat list, it’s only open for lunch, and closed on Sundays. Yesterday we found ourselves with a rare plan-free-Saturday-midday (or a PFSM), which meant time.

Oh wow.

This sandwich.

Oh wow

Octopus (pulpo) is maybe our favorite protein in Peru. The flavor, in general, is better than any octopus I’ve had outside of Peru. And everywhere—from the two buck ceviche cart to the fanciest restaurant in the city—has mastered the dark arts of tender octopus. This pulpo might be the best we’ve had anywhere (including Central). Truly magnificent pulpo on a truly magnificent sandwich.

So, what was on this bad boy? The pulpo itself was marvelous. It was finished on the grill (the “llama” in “pulpo a la llama” refers to flame (not, a bit dissapointingly, some sort of eight legged Andean super cephalocamelid)), so while the inside was amazingly tender—soft without being mushy, giving without chewiness—the suckers on the outside got all crispy and charred.

There was also a mound of stellar carmelized onions. Super soft, super sweet, seriously seriously flavorful. There were some little bits of ají mixed in with the onions (the waitress said there wasn’t any ají on the sandwich, but there were bits of red in there for sure, maybe they sneaked in. Where there are onions on Peruvian cutting boards, chilis aren’t far away), also carmelized—soft, and sweet.

Onion shot

Then there were big chunks of Peruvian avocado, which, I just. I just have no words. The avocados here, y’all. If you are in Lima and you only have an hour layover at the airport, I will meet you at security with an avocado and two spoons. They are magical. And on this sandwich. Well I mean come on now. Then there was garlicky mayo (I’d imagine made in house), mustard, and a leaf of lettuce. The only other ingredient the waitress mentioned (after much obnoxious-but-maybe-I-hope-endearing? questioning) was “salsa inglessa”, or worcestershire sauce. It may have been mixed in with the onions, and very likely was also a marinade for the (tenderizing it, and also leaving some sugars on the outside to get carmelized on the grill). I love worcestershire, it’s in a way (bear with me) a super Peruvian sauce. Like Peruvian food, it’s really balanced. But it’s not balanced like we (in US/ French inspired kitchens) often think of it, where sweet/salty/sour/bitter all subtly balance each other other (which is wonderful, don’t get me wrong), it’s balanced like Peruvian food. In the best ceviches, you taste a lot of acidity, and a lot of sweetness, and a lot of the salty sea all at once, but the flavors are still distinct, and the fish still shines. And in worchestershire sauce (or in this heavenly, glorious, seriously superlative sandwich), there’s a wonderful balance of sweet and salty and sour and bitter hitting hard all at once. This sandwich. Oh man. Sweetness from the onions and the , acid and heat from the mustard, a hint of bitter char, plenty of creamy fat in the mayo and the avocado to stand up to the big flavors and balance out the sugar. Unreal.

And just as carefully as the flavors were balanced, the textures were perfect too. The insides were soft on soft on soft (carmelized onions, ripe avocado, tender ), but the bread was absolutely shatteringly crispy. The crust was super crunchy without being chewy at all (it was a mess to eat, but not because we had to yank it apart with our teeth. More, each bite was like breaking a chunk of ice loose from a floe—a sharp crack of crust, then a bite broke free, gently floating into your mouth on an ocean of sweet onions). The bread would be way too crunchy for a burger or a BLT, but was perfect for all these soft textures. The lettuce added another layer of crispness, and the carmelized suckers on the outside of the tentacles left little pops of crunch on the inside of the sandwich.

It was just perfect. Certainly top Lima sandwich (so far), probably top five all time. Amazing. Let’s look at it again.

Work it

Besides eating a sandwich, we had a really stellar day yesterday. Before Pulpo (BP), we walked to a lovely English language book fair, and picked up some great finds, then shared a wonderful leche de tigre as a sandwich appetizer. And AP, we discovered our new favorite park in Lima, parque el olivar which is filled with beautiful old olive trees. We also met up with the parents of a friend who were in town, had a lovely stroll and cocktail, then had a really stellar dinner at Hanzo, a wonderful Japanese/Peruvian restaurant, with absolutely stellar wine pairings, run by a friend of ours (who co-owns the wine importing company). That dinner deserves a full post, sometime soon.

It was a marvelous, delicious day, and made me fall in love with this city all over again. In general, we’re trying not to repeat too many meals, but we’ll be back for another sandwich. Soon. Seriously really really soon.

To the last drop