El Chalan

I love Peruvian food. I have Peruvian relatives and I’ve spent time there. I’ve eaten Cuy which is Guinea pig. There used to be a fantastic place in Bellevue that served tremendoud Peruvian specialties but they couldn’t make any money and went under.
I really wanted to like this place especially after reading several good reviews. But there’s this phenomenon that happens in Seattle. Whenever there’s a restaurant of an ethnicity or country that’s new to the area the critics treat it like some kind of Holy Grail. So after reading several glowing review I tried this place. Unfortunately it was horrible. We order Papas Huncayina and Escabeche. Papas Huncayina is basically boiled potatoes, boiled eggs and a sauce. Escabeche is a fried and poached fish in a vinegar sauce. We also ordered some beers. We were supposed to get bread with special sauces that never came. We ordered fried yuca which came after our entrees. My escabeche came long after the Papas. We had to ask literally 3 times for the beer we ordered.
I really want a place like this to do well. It’s a labor of love of the owners but unfortunately not enough love.

I was here for lunch not to long ago, I was up for trying something new that day so I met a friend of mine who’s from Peru here for lunch. I let him explain everything and order for me. We started with the Papa a la huancaina the sauce was suppose to be a rich spicy cheese sauce and I don’t recall there being any spice in it. The sauce had a taste and texture unlike anything I’ve ever had before, it wasn’t bad but I don’t think I’d intentionally order it again.
For my lunch I had the adobo de chancho a la arequipena which was a roasted pork marinated in an authentic Peruvian broth, this was flavorful and much better than the spicy cheese sauce the starter was covered in.
I love a good ceviche every now and again and this place had some on their menu but I had a hard time ordering ceviche from a restaurant in West Center that was once a Wendy’s call me silly if you will but I couldn’t do it. I did try their Inca Kola which is a Peruvian soda and I think it’s one of those things you need to acquire a taste for it wasn’t bad but it was odd kind of like a tea soda.
If you’ve ever wanted to try Peruvian food this is a place to do it and check out their website for their Live Music nights, if that’s your thing. And since it use to be a Wendy’s they still have the drive thru working.
If my meal left me wanting to go back again the next week I would have given them four stars but it didn’t so they only get three.