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Lima Rotisserie Chicken & Peruvian Cuisine owner Oscar Escudero is well aware that his restaurant, located in the Publix-anchored New Tampa Center plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (a mile or so south of the Pasco County line), has been among my favorite restaurants in either of our distribution areas since he first opened in Feb. 2020.
“Yeah, we opened less than a month before the pandemic hit,” Oscar remembers all too clearly. “And then, only a few months after we opened, the chef I brought over from Peru, Felix Picasso, suffered a stroke here in the restaurant.”
In other words, no matter how much a certain editor has always loved his place, Oscar has faced several challenges, including having to take over as the main chef in the kitchen — despite previously working in real estate — and even though he had never even cooked in a commercial kitchen before.
“Felix taught me how to take our recipes, which were mostly my mom’s anyway, and cook them for a large number of people,” Oscar says. “I have put in some 100-hour work weeks trying to keep this place going.”
But, not only has Oscar kept Lima afloat, in the five+ years since he first opened, his newfound experience in the kitchen has helped him expand his already-delicious Peruvian-Chinese fusion menu with ongoing specials that are a treat for both your eyes and your palette.
If you’ve been reading my reviews of Lima over the years, I’m sure you know that I’m basically addicted to his all-fish (since I can’t eat shrimp) Ceviché de Pescado, which is as good as any I’ve had anywhere in the Tampa Bay area, with its perfect blend of South American lime juice and spices, those delicious, giant Peruvian corn kernels and sliced red onions. I don’t eat the raw onions themselves, but the flavor they add is a necessity. I also love the wedge of sweet potato that’s soaked in the ceviche’s delectable juice.
Well, on our most recent visit, Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I sampled three new specials, including a “Marina Trio” (above left), which featured a nice-sized portion of that amazing fish ceviche, flanked on one side by Arroz Chaufa (Peruvian-Chinese-style fried rice) Mariscos, with shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams one side and by fried white fish fingers called Jalea on the other. Although I couldn’t eat the fried rice, Jannah and Charmaine agreed that it was delicious. I can vouch for the fried rice with either chicken or beef tenderloin tips, though. Yum!
Next up was the Aticucho de Lomo de Res (top) — tender, tasty beef tenderloin tips (the traditional dish is often made with beef hearts) on skewers on a steaming dish with sizable sides of crispy potato wedges and grilled Peruvian corn. The only warning I’ll offer is that if you don’t like a very spicy dipping sauce, the innocent-looking side of pink rocato sauce is literally an eye-opener.
And, even though Jannah doesn’t like her meal looking back at her, even she admitted that the third special we tried — the whole, deep-fried yellowtail snapper, served with thick yuca fries (right) — was excellent. The snapper was super-flaky and the flavor is unlike other whole snapper/fish you’ll find at other restaurants.
The only regular menu item we sampled on our most recent visit, because we had never tried it before, was the aptly named Lima Bowl (below left) — a heaping portion of creamy (and well-spiced, but not spicy) chicken salad, made with Lima’s signature rotisserie chicken, served over white rice, black beans and Romaine lettuce with Peruvian-style pico de gallo. So good.
Of course, anytime a local place continues to attract my attention, there are always dishes Jannah and I allow ourselves to indulge in on a regular basis. Mine always starts with the aforementioned Ceviché de Pescado (although I also loved the new Ceviché Lima, which adds fried calamari and a savory golden pepper sauce to the usual ceviché), but Jannah’s absolute favorite dish at Lima is the Tallarin Saltado, which is similar to a Chinese lo mein-style dish, but combines flamed, sliced onions, tomatoes and cilantro, blended with fettuccine-style pasta and Peruvian soy sauce with a touch of sesame oil.
I’m also partial to the variety of fried fillet of fish dishes, especially the Pescado a la Chorrillana, which is topped with sautéed spices, onions, tomatoes and cilantro, with a splash of wine, and served with jasmine rice, as well as the Asado de Res con Ensalada Rusa, which was a special I told you about last year that is basically the Peruvian version of beef pot roast/brisket, served with a Russian-inspired potato-&-beet salad.
And yes, I’m also a fan of Lima’s signature crispy-skin, Peruvian rotisserie chicken, but I get almost as much enjoyment simply from the aroma of the chicken anytime you enter the restaurant.
“It’s a very special oven we make the chicken in,” Oscar says. “We have quite a few regular customers who never get anything else.” If you’re one of these regulars, I get it, but my opinion is that you need to broaden your horizons.
Don’t forget dessert. Charmaine and I both flipped for last year’s Cake de Maracuya, which is sort of like a passion fruit cake & flan combo. It’s light, airy and delicious. We also agreed that the special we tried this time around — the Tres Leches de Lucuma (right) — definitely had a different flavor than any tres leches we’ve had before, thanks to the South American lucuma fruit which we agreed is a combination of maple, butterscotch and caramel that is light and not too sweet.
Other desserts include a creamy torta de chocolate, arroz con leche (rice pudding) and alfajores, which are crumbly cookies filled with dulce de leche (always on the front counter).
Lima also serves beer (I usually get the Peruvian Cusqueña) and wine, as well as Inca Kola (regular and diet) and Peruvian juices in passion fruit and mango. The kids menu includes Salchipapas (French fries topped with diced hot dogs), as well as chicken tenders and fried fish strips.
Lima (19062 BBD Blvd.) opens every day at 11 a.m. & stays open until 8 p.m. Mon.-Thur., 9 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & 7 p.m. on Sun. For more info, call (813) 304-0205, order on UberEats or DoorDash, visit LimaTampa.com — and please tell Oscar I sent you!
If you’ve somehow still never sampled Peruvian food — despite having an outstanding Peruvian restaurant right here on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. — I implore you to go visit Lima Rotisserie Chicken & Peruvian Cuisine in the Publix-anchored New Tampa Center.
Lima, which is owned by Oscar Escudero, who was raised in Lima, Peru, continues to add amazing new dishes, thanks to Oscar’s passion and his happy supporting cast. The food at Lima is a fusion of Peruvian and Chinese cuisines, since Peru is on the west coast of South America and located directly across the Pacific Ocean from China, which means that in the same place you can find several varieties of authentic Latin ceviché, you also can find wok-sautéed lo mein-style noodle and fried rice dishes.
If that sounds too good to be true to you, trust me, it’s not. And, if that combination doesn’t make your mouth water, trust me, it should. I named Lima my Favorite Latin Restaurant in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel for 2023 because no other place in either of our areas offers a wider variety of uniquely spiced and tasty dishes. And, feel free to research why Peruvian food has been named as the best Latin American cuisine and among the favorite cuisines in the entire world by several trusted sources.
Speaking of unique, not only does Lima offer vinegar-and-lime-marinated ceviché options like shrimp, mussels and calamari, as well as my favorite Ceviché de Pescado (raw white meat fish), Oscar recently added — as a special only, at least for now — his own twist on the classic dish that he calls Ceviché Lima, which adds a savory golden pepper sauce to the fish and two types of corn kernels, as well as a generous helping of flash-fried calamari. The sauce is so delicious that not only does it give the ceviché itself a delightfully different flavor, with just a hint of spice, it also may be the best dipping sauce for fried calamari I’ve ever tasted. I told Oscar that I would tell my readers to ask — no, make that demand — that he add Ceviché Lima to the regular menu, so please feel free to do just that!
Speaking of new specials that definitely should be added to Lima’s regular menu, Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I also got to sample Oscar’s Asado de Res con Ensalada Rusa, which is slow-cooked-to-incredibly-tender beef tenderloin in a brown gravy of its own juices, with a side of Russian-inspired potato-and-beet salad. Jannah, who saw the purple color of this entrée’s side dish and immediately thought she wouldn’t like it, said the beef tenderloin was better than my mom’s brisket (pot roast) recipe, which might have started an argument between us if I didn’t kind of agree with her! And, although my wife didn’t love the beet-and-potato salad, Charmaine and I agreed it was pretty delicious, too. Feel free to also beg Oscar to add this one to the menu.
Other dishes that aren’t new to the menu that we sampled for the first time on our most recent visit include the Lima Wrap sandwich, which is a tasty chicken salad wrap that adds small tomato wedges and cilantro, which gives the chicken salad an unusual zing. The fries were a perfect complement, even though I would order them extra crispy next time. But, since we had some of the Ceviché Lima sauce left over, we all dipped a lot of the fries in both that sauce and the gravy from the Asado dish until all of the fries were gone. Yum!
And, although the Tallarin Saltado de Pollo (flamed diced chicken breast with sliced onions, tomatoes, scallions, julienned peppers and cilantro blended with pasta and Peruvian-style soy sauce) is still Jannah’s favorite dish at Lima, she and Charmaine both also raved about their first sampling of the Tallarin Saltado de Mariscos, which is the same dish, but with shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams, instead of chicken. And, although I couldn’t sample it because of my hated shellfish allergy (I could eat the calamari and clams, but not in the same dish as the shrimp and mussels), Charmaine said that all of the seafood was cooked to perfection and the flavors all blended amazingly well together. There also is a Tallarin de Carne, which replaces the chicken or seafood with tenderloin tips that I also love.
Similar wok-sautéed style dishes also are available without the pasta — replaced by sides of both white rice and French fries — in Lima’s Lomo Saltado, as well as in Oscar’s Arroz Chaufa (fried rice) with the same protein options as the Tallarin and Lomo Saltado. These also are excellent, but there’s just something about the way the pasta blends with the Peruvian soy sauce that makes it my preferred choice.
And yes, Lima does feature its perfectly spiced rotisserie chicken, available as chicken-only or with side dishes that include some of the best black beans and rice in town. Other sides include pico de gallo, a zesty house salad, yuca fries and tostones (twice-fried green plantain slices).
Other appetizers include Papa (boiled potatoes) or Yuca Huancaina (covered with cold yellow pepper cheese sauce) as well as tostones topped with chicken salad, tenderloin tips or shrimp, and choros a las Chalaca (mussels on the half shell topped with pico de gallo). There also are several soups on the menu, including Aguadito (cilantro chicken soup) and two different types of mixed seafood soups. And, there is a variety of other sandwiches, as well as a Lima Bowl (jasmine rice topped with black beans, romaine lettuce, pico de gallo and Lima chicken salad with cilantro house sauce).
Save room for dessert, too, as Lima has a number of new options we hadn’t sampled before, including the refreshing and light passion fruit Cake de Maracuya and Tres Leches de Lucian, which has hints of coffee and caramel. Kids will enjoy Lima’s chicken tenders with fries and Salchipapas, which are fries topped with diced all-beef hot dogs and a choice of sauces. Domestic and imported beer (including Peruvian Cusqueña and Sierra Andina) and sangria also are available for adults.
Lima Peruvian Cuisine (19062 BBD Blvd.) opens every day at 11:30 a.m. and stays open until 8 p.m. Mon.-Thur., 9 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & 7 p.m. on Sun. For more info, call (813) 304-0205, visit LimaTampa.com, or see the ad on pg. 43 for 10% off any take-out or dine-in order. Delivery also is available through DoorDash and Uber Eats.
For me, this was one of the toughest of all categories, as virtually every place on the list has multiple dishes among my favorites. But, Lima’s ceviche and tallarin saltado de pollo (photo) keep it ahead of the merluza at Las Palmas, the ceviche at Pisco, the chicharrons at Rice N Beans and the cachapas at Chamo Bites.
1. Lima Peruvian Cuisine
2. Las Palmas Latin Grill
3. Pisco Express
4. Rice n Beans Puerto Rico
5. Chamo Bites
6. Rice n Beans Express
7. Mojo Grill
8. La Creacion Xpress
9. Latin Twist Café
10. Arepa Mia