Veggie Risotto at Surfish

The cookery at the new Fifth Avenue Peruvian spot isn’t exactly all Peruvian.

Sure, there are your ceviches, your lomo saltado and your tacu tacu. But there is also a miso-based soup and taquitos—as well as one very well done risotto.

Though many Peruvian dishes are heavy on the rice, and some even seem congruent to the basic notions behind a classic Italian risotto, the veggie risotto at Surfish bares no resemblance to any Peruvian dish I’ve ever had.

It is, however, delicious.

Here, Japanese rice is traded in for the typical Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice. Stirred in are  corn, mushrooms, peas, cauliflower and zucchini, making for a dish that is creamy and rich at the same time as being crunchy and fresh. In a nod to more classical interpretations of Peruvian cooking, the dish is plated with a stripe of aji sauce (though I couldn’t help but wish it had been more that a stripe.)

The dish is satisfying in all the ways that the most perfect risotto is—without having to wait in line for hours at Al Di La.

But, if you typically dine at Peruvian eateries with the hopes of eating something Peruvian, I would order something else.