Ay Ay Picante – Peruvian Cuisine
4569 North Elston
Chicago, IL 60630
Open 7 days 11am to 10.30pm
BYOB
Call for reservations
1.773.427.4239
Summary
Mike: “I’m not quite sure how to begin my rant about Ay Ay Picante. I could tell you about how Check, Please! made my mouth water, or how channel 7 made me pop a woody over what I thought would be a new local favorite but sadly, I cannot. My duty is the truth and the truth is that Ay Ay Picante is average at best.”
Ken: “All in all, this restaurant didn’t live up to it’s Check, Please! hype. Maybe they were having an off night, maybe they ran out of spices just as we walked in. [...] I would go back, but only if someone else were buying.” Ken rates it 4 out of 10 stars.
Mike’s Review
I’m not quite sure how to begin my rant about Ay Ay Picante. I could tell you about how Check, Please! made my mouth water, or how channel 7 made me pop a woody over what I thought would be a new local favorite but sadly, I cannot. My duty is the truth and the truth is that Ay Ay Picante is average at best.
Our meal began with two appetizers, peruvian tamales and fried calamari with peruvian spices. The tamale appetizer was just that, one long flat tamale with hardly any taste or filling. I feel it’s strange to serve one of anything for an appetizer since they are generally shared. The calamari was perfectly breaded and not greasy in the slightest, however there were no noticeable spices whatsoever, and the garnish consisted of cold canned corn.
Moving on to the main course. For myself I ordered seco de carne, which I gathered from reading the menu was going to be beef in a flavorful sauce hopefully a little spicy with white rice and beans. What I got was a low quality chuck pot roast with little taste and no zing at all. The rice and beans were fine.
On a positive note, the place itself had a very warm feeling and the service was very good. If they sold the salsa that came with the bread, although i’m not sure if it really is a salsa, I would get in line to buy it by the bucket as it was the only thing I ate at Ay Ay Picante that was exceptional. I would not flat out refuse to go back but it wouldn’t be my choice. If I was somehow talked into trying it again I would try one of the soups.
To sum it up… Good prices, big portions, average at best food that I consider too bland.
Ken’s Review
Ay Ay Picante was just average.
Yes, the atmosphere and service were both good. The restaurant is very cozy, romantic and softly lit. There are the normal candles on each table, and flamenco guitar music playing on loudspeakers (but not so loud you have to shout over it). The waiters and servers are all very attentive without being intrusive. No water glass remained unfilled for very long, and our iced teas were topped off in a timely fashion. But let’s back up a bit, and paint the entire picture for you…
When we arrived, the host/head waiter guy tried to seat us at the table next to the door. A tough sell for any restaurant in Chicago, the table next to the door at this establishment was less than three feet from the door. The door table, at most restaurants, is a very unpopular table, especially in winter. Note to restaurants: during the winter, seat people at your door-side tables only as a last resort. We quickly expressed our unease at that choice, and the host happily seated us at a better location.
Once seated at a warmer, more respectable distance from the door, we perused the menu. Everything looked and sounded fantastic. While we were deciding on our entree, we ordered the Peruvian Tamales and the Chicharron de Calamares. The menu descriptions of these appetizers was pretty straightforward, so we were expecting some tasty tamales, and some spicy fried calamari.
While we were waiting, the waiter brought us a starter of bread and their specialty garlic and avocado salsa. Oh. My. God. At once it was salty, garlicy, creamy, sweet, with just a little lingering heat. If I couldv’e rubbed it on my nipples, I would have; pure sex-on-the-tongue good (here, I digress). We would order seconds of that salsa to take home with us.
Now, down to the hard work: to choose an entree. From their descriptions, everything on the menu sounds fantastic (it didn’t help that we walked in hungry). This was one of those times when I was tempted to point at the right side of the menu and tell the waiter “I’ll have that. Yes, all of it.” But I showed restraint, and ordered Ají de Gallina. I was actually torn between that and what Mike ended up ordering, the Seco de Carne o Cordero, but after a rigorous game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Mike had the Beef entree and I had the chicken.
The first disappointment was the first appetizer: the Peruvian Tamales. Well, somehow, the Peruvian Tamales was actually just one, solitary tamale. One four-inch by four-inch square tamale. After a moment of blank stares and wondering where our other tamale had gone, we shrugged, cut it in half and gave it a try. The masa was silky smooth — perfect texture, really — but the tamale on the whole had nothing else to offer. The red onion-based Salsa Criolla served with the tamale made it better (a theme which would repeat through the meal, we would find), but on the whole the tamale was lifeless. There was a minuscule chunk of chicken, a strip of some limp green chile, a bit of garlic. Poor value for money, that tamale.
Maybe I was expecting too much. Let’s take a look at what the menu told us to expect:
Peruvian Tamales 4.50
Large cooked corn dough filled with chicken & black olives, wrapped in banana leaf. Accompanied by Salsa Criolla (thinly sliced red onions marinated in limejuice, salt & pepper)
Yeah. Right. There was nothing like that actually served to us tonight.
Disappointment Number Two was served next: Chicharron de Calamares. Now, take a look at what the menu foretold:
Chicharron de Calamares 7.50
Deep-fried breaded calamari seasoned with Peruvian spices.
Huh? What we actually were served was normal, plain-Jane, I-Coulda-Got-It-At-Any-Sports-Bar fried calamari. No spices whatsoever. And, to make matters worse, it was served with a heap of whole kernel corn. Cold, whole kernel corn. Oh, and some of that wonderful red onion salsa. The calamari, in the restaurants defense, was cooked perfectly: tender, not greasy, not overcooked. It just had zilch in the way of seasoning.
Now, our entrees came out. They came to our table piping hot, and the portion sizes were well above average.
Mike’s steak was obviously chuck roast, sliced thin. But, it hadn’t been braised or slow-cooked, so it remained tough and grainy in texture. The sauce it was cooked in was nothing special; flat, spice-less, bland. It certainly didn’t live up to the description in the menu:
Seco de Carne o Cordero 11.90
Lamb or Beef cooked with chicha de Jora (Peruvian corn beer) cilantro, green peas, onions, garlic, ají special (sun-dried red chili). Accompanied by white rice & beans.
My chicken dish was ho-hum as well. It reminded my of the creamed chicken dish my mom used to make us when we had the flu. Bland shredded chicken in a cream sauce over rice was nice when I was ten and was home with flu and couldn’t keep anything spicy or interesting down, but I’m an adult now, and I expect more. Frankly, the menu promised far more:
Ají de Gallina 11.90
Shredded Chicken cooked with Peruvian spices, walnut, ají panca, onions, garlic, milk & cheeses. Accompanied by steamed white rice.
The food we were served was just average home cooking. Nothing special. Nothing we were served warranted the flowery descriptions in the menu, or the high price tags on the food. We were left with a single taste in our mouths: poor value for money.
All in all, this restaurant didn’t live up to it’s Check, Please! hype. Maybe they were having an off night, maybe they ran out of spices just as we walked in. I’ll never know, because I probably won’t be back. Wait, that’s a little harsh. Let me re-word that…
I would go back, but only if someone else were buying.
Links:
