On Tuesday, world-acclaimed chef Gaston Acurio was joined by his leche de tigre gang and they continued their ceviche tour with a stop in one of the chef's outpost -- La Mar -- where Miami chefs and industry folks gathered for the chance to be in the presence of the culinary mastermind.
The Astrid & Gaston chef and owner recently announced that he'd be retiring from his beloved restaurant that was just named number two in Latin America after 20 years. We presume to do more stuff like traveling the world sharing the secrets of Peruvian cuisine, as he did Tuesday.
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In an emotional Facebook post, the chef announced he'd be stepping down from his acclaimed outpost to do an expedition through Peru in 2015 through every town in search of history to then continue to share Peruvian culture and gastronomy with the world. This is in fact the unifying theme for Acurio.
"Trying to share with you guys one of the most loved dishes in Peru which is Leche de Tigre and ceviche is what today is about. As chefs, we celebrate food and we don't compete. We learn together and eat together. We expect a Miami gang will do this in the future with the cuisine and culture from here and they will come to Peru," said the chef as part of his speech.
His gang, which consists of Hector Solis (Fiesta), Virgilio Martinez (Central), and Micha Tsumura (Maido) joined Acurio as they all used traditional Peruvian ingredients to make a handful of dishes and feed a hungry room that was craving ceviche.
Fish was the theme of the night, and although it smelled fishy when walking in thanks to all the freshly displayed sea creatures every dish we had was clean, flavorful and ultra-fresh.
Hector Solis cooked up some hot leche de tigre, both in temperature and taste. The spicy soup had aji amarillo, habanero, mussels, crab and other deliciousness.
