Peruvian Street Food @ ALO
Oh dear. I had just literally finished writing a review about ALO when I found out that they’re going to be closed for months because of a kitchen fire that happened Sunday! Looks like a visit from the little dish is just too hot to handle. (Bad joke.)
Anyway, we’re going to proceed with this post because a future visit to ALO is something worth marking on your calendar (apparently sometime during September)…
ALO is La Duni’s diffusion restaurant. They serve lighter fare (Merican and Peruvian street food) and were HIGHLY recommended by a friend a work. When I told her I was finally going, she gave me a list of about fifteen things to try.
You begin with an amuse-bouche: salty, spicy, baked Peruvian corn. (The closest thing to compare them to are fancy cornnuts.) Highly addictive, they were the perfect accompaniment to before-dinner drinks.
Now, there are two things that make me feel terribly uncouth: being baffled by a restaurant’s menu and mispronouncing a designer’s name (by day, I work in the fashion/retail industry).
A lot of time has passed since the first time I ordered french food or had to refer to Ann Demeulemeester. I’ve gained a sense of worldliness – a confidence in my grasp of basic ettiquette and culture. Yeah, the trip to Japan definitely shook that feeling because I walked around quite clueless for two weeks. But, I rationalize this because I wasn’t on home territory…or something.
Anyway, it took about four minutes of pouring over ALO’s menu to put me right back in that uncomfortable place of feeling unfamilar.
Their menu is split into sips, sides, bites (to begin), bites (to continue), and bites (to fill up). While some of that is self-explanitory, some of it was definitely not and the lack of English translations for entree titles didn’t help. To confuse matters, the subhead “share family style” is under every category.
Are we ordering large, family-style entrees? Or is this like Peruvian tapas? What’s a “tiradito” or a potato “causas?” What is going on here? (It was probably fatigue from my day at work or the mojitos I started with that complicated things, because my dinner companion wasn’t nearly as confused.)
Our server was very sweet and explained the situation. The bites (to begin) are lighter, but enough for two to share. Sides are served in family portions for about three to four people, depending on the appetite. The bites (to continue) and bites (to fill up) are the entrees, so to speak.
We ordered a lot, as much as we thought we could eat, and were disappointed that we couldn’t try more; there’s so much on the menu that’s enticing. The highlights of our meal were the beef picadillo tacos with well-seasoned meat, fresh cabbage, pineapple pico de gallo, and shredded jicama. The flautas weren’t out of the ordinary, but well executed.
A rich side of buttery corn rice proved to be an excellent recommendation from my friend at work, and she was right about another thing: you cannot stop by without having the yucca fries. Sprinkled with lime and dipped in salsa, they’re awesome.
It’s sad to think it’ll be months before we can have more because of the fire disaster, but as they put it so poetically on their site, “like a phoenix, [they] will rise again.”
4447 North Central Expressway | Dallas, TX 75205
214.520.9711
this looks terrific! sad to hear of their misfortune – would have loved to try it. hopeffully they’ll be back in action before long!
Their brunch is fantastic, too. Those yucca fries look tasty. I should have grabbed some of those last time I was there.