Restaurant: Chifa LA
Location: 4374 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041. (323) 561-3084
Date: January 9 & October 21, 2022
Cuisine: Peruvian Chinese (Chifa)
Rating: Amazing
Jeffrey had the hookup here at this awesome Peruvian Chinese fusion place in Eagle Rock. Yeah it’s far, but it seems to be one of the only Chifa (Peruvian Chinese) places in LA that’s middle/high end. Most just serve on styrofoam. This is a composite of two visits but in both cases we ordered 80% of the menu, so between them I’ve covered almost all the dishes.
The jazzy interior.
A huge patio.
Our table.
The grill.
The menu 1/22.
The menu 10/22.
Brûlée Char Siu . Wood fired pork toro marinated in house made Chinese BBQ sauce. Insanely good (and sweet). The meat itself was super tender with that porky goodness. The sauce is incredibly sweet, almost dessert sweet, but does pair very nicely with the pork.
The caramelization is gotten via blow torch.
See it in action.
Tiradito. Fresh Japanese sea bream chilled in a peppery orange and lime sauce. Hint of garlic and yellow chili topped with salsa criolla, sweet potato, and toasted Peruvian corn. The actual contents of this dish were irrelevant (in a good way) to the zesty Leche con Tigre sauce. It was so limey spicy and so delicious it would have made fabulous “pickles” out of just about anything. I could have soaked a big pile of the onions and carrots with it and devoured them no problem.
Anticucho (GF). Peruvian street style skewered beef heart with cilantro & serrano chili sauce. Beefy! Chewy, because it was heart, but full of deep beefy flavor.
Traditional Zongzi. With lap cheung, pork belly, shiitake mushroom, duck egg yolk, wrapped in bamboo leaf. Sticky rice texture with a very interesting herbal and deep flavor much like the stuffing for Beggar’s Chicken. Quite nice.
Si Yao Chicken. 1/2 free-ranged chicken poached in Popo’s fragrant aged soy sauce with garlic steamed rice. Soy sauce chicken but the sauce was a very lovely aged soy with notes of star anise and cooked down rock sugar. This is known as “aromatic” or “seasoned” soy sauce in Chinese cooking.
Mapo Tofu (VG). Wok cooked tofu and OmniPork Ground in fermented bean sauce with Szechuan peppercorn, garlic, scallion. This has a bit of numbing flavor, but not much, and isn’t nearly as hot as a real Sichuan Mapo but it was also quite pleasant with great texture.
Braised Spare Ribs. Caramelized in soy sauce, shaoxing wine, golden sugar, ginger, garlic. Very soft and yummy spare ribs, although not as spectacular as the pork belly.
Dan Dan Mian (VG). Fresh noodles with spicy Szechaun sesame sauce tossed with pickled radish. This isn’t a classic Sichuan dan dan as it’s not very spicy and has no chili oil or the layers of fermented flavors, but it was delicious. The sesame flavors dominate making it a great version of “sesame noodles.”
Lomo Saltado. Filet Mignon, wood grilled and sautéed with cherry tomatoes and onions.
Green sauce.
Special order Cowboy Lomo Saltado. Cowboy Tomahawk Ribeye steak, wood grilled and sautéed with cherry tomatoes and onions. This was an incredible steak with great smoky flavor that was really amped up by the veggies. The beef fat soaked fries were incredible too. A real meat and potato feast.
Black Pepper Lobster. Lobster wok tossed with sweet and spicy black pepper sauce. This was perhaps the best stir fried lobster I have ever had, like a lobster version of black pepper crab. This is a great “Chinese” lobster dish. The lobster was perfectly cooked and easy to extract from the shell and the flavor of the sauce was incredible. It’s related to the Singapore style black pepper crab dishes.
Meat on the grill.
Cowboy Steak. Delicious with an incredible smokey flavor.
Marinated Jalepenos for the steak.
Garlic and Scallion whole Crab.
Dessert menu.
Black Sesame Cheesecake Tart. Smooth black sesame cream cheese Chinese almond cookie crust. Also a little on the dry side, but kind of addictive.
Alfajores. peruvian shortbread cookie with dulce de leche filling dusted with powdered sugar. A touch dry, as these South American treasts always are, but very pleasant.
Lavender and Truffles Mint Strawberry Ice Cream. This vegan ice cream was coconut milk based and had a very lovely mint punch (stronger than the stawberry) and good texture for being vegan. It wasn’t nearly as rich though as a “proper” (dairy) ice cream would be.
Lavender and Truffles Salgona Coffee Ice Cream. This vegan ice cream was a touch grainy and while the coffee flavor was nice it was certainly missing that rich milk coffee combination.
I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate
Le tab in 10/22.
Chevy with the owner.
Wines in 1/22.
Wines in 10/22.
Chifa was really awesome. Basically super zest latin flavored Chinese food, so what’s not to love?
Service was great and the outside patio was nice and huge. Did end up surprisingly pricey though, particularly the lobster. We were treated like royalty. The family that owns it know Jeffrey and his wife and are incredibly nice with a real sense of hospitality. Highly recommended as this is the only “serious” Chifa I know of in Los Angeles.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
We weren’t really hungry, but there was a “famous” taco place across the street…
Al pastor. Aka Mexican gyros/shawarma. Looking it up, I read that it’s ACTUALLY based on shawarma which Lebanese ingredients brought to Mexico! But it uses the “other white meat” instead of lamb.
They fry the tortillas with cheese.
Sauces. Street tacos are not a neat food.
Taco al pastor. Tasty.
A beef taco of some sort.
