Jo Stougaard/MyLastBite

Ceviche Mixto at Mo-Chica

10: Ceviche Mixto at Mo-Chica

When Ricardo Zarate moved his inaugural restaurant Mo-Chica last year, from a tiny food court space in South L.A. to a hip industrial space near downtown (from 37th and Grand to 7th and Grand, technically) it was a cross-town move worthy of Weezy Jefferson.

But for all the changes -- a swank bar program populated by tart pisco sours; walls full of colorful graffiti murals and a bumping hip-hop soundtrack -- Zarate still stuck to his guns in the kitchen. On the menu were many of the same dishes which had brought him to prominence at Mercado La Paloma, none more so than his succulent Peruvian ceviche.

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G. Snyder/Anne Fishbein

Miso paiche with camote (left), Ricardo Zarate (right)

It looks like the Marina del Rey dining scene will get a much-needed shot in the arm in early 2013, thanks to chef Ricardo Zarate and his business partner, Stefan Bombet. The duo behind Picca and Mo-Chica are planning a new concept called Paiche [pronounced pie-chay ] set to open in the Waterside complex on Lincoln and Admiralty (which also houses Sugarfish and Mendocino Farms) within the first few months of next year.

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D. Solomon

Mo-Chica's alpaca and noodles with huancaina sauce

You won't find "Perutown" or "Little Lima" in Los Angeles. The Peruvian and Peruvian-American population is spread out around Greater L.A., and so are our Peruvian restaurants. So maybe you haven't noticed these eateries -- often small and unassuming spots, tucked in strip malls far from trendy restaurant rows. But you probably have been hearing about Peruvian food lately -- some say it may be our next major food trend, becoming as popular as sushi and as widespread as Mexican cuisine. To learn more, turn the page for a list of 15 of the best Peruvian restaurants in L.A. and nearby. And keep reading.

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A. Scattergood

Peruvian chicken at Pollo a la Brasa

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.

94: Peruvian Chicken at Pollo a la Brasa.

The Peruvian chicken joint on Western called Pollo a la Brasa -- which is the same name as the rotisserie chicken dish itself -- has long been one of L.A.'s foodist landmarks. The stacks of wood piled outside the triangular concrete island in Koreatown like an urban fairytale woodcutter's shack. The heady smells of wood smoke and roasting meat and spice like a sudden culinary oasis in the middle of laundromats and convenience stores and Korean underwear shops. People rightly pilgrimage there, locating the place by wood and perfume -- and the sign, in which "Western" is spelled backwards, as if Hans Christian Andersen (or maybe Wes Anderson) was actually running the show.

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D. Solomon

Mo-Chica's kitchen

Ricardo Zarate wants you to know something before checking out his new Mo-Chica. Slated to open Wednesday, May 30, it replaces an earlier version of the same name that closed yesterday. "Peru. It's in South America," says Zarate, mock-serious. "Its limits are Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile." He recalls how one guest had thought Peru bordered Spain. "The point is, I'm trying to introduce my country through my food."

Mo-Chica, a few doors from Bottega Louie in downtown L.A., is poised to become an excellent ambassador. Zarate describes the menu as "comfort food," with cooked foods in large portions -- think stews -- rather than tiny tapas of, say, raw fish, as at his other restaurant, Picca. And the visual style -- red walls, gold accents, a graffiti mural -- is vibrant and fun. "We want to introduce Peruvian food, so we need to be trendy, no?" says Zarate.

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Kevin Scanlon

Ricardo Zarate

This Thursday probably won't be your last chance to try chef Ricardo Zarate's renditions of Peruvian staples such as aji de gallina or lomo saltado. But it could be your final opportunity to eat them at Mercado la Paloma -- the colorful warehouse-turned-marketplace just south of downtown. Zarate has just announced he'll close Mo-chica on May 24. The space "will become an incubator for Ricardo's future concepts," says a press release. Just days later, on May 30, Zarate will debut a new version of Mo-Chica downtown.

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Anne Fishbein

Chicken on the rotisserie at Takatis

If you wanted to rank L.A. courthouses by approximate distances to good food -- places to console your stomach before or after, say, dealing with a moving violation or outstanding warrant -- the monolithic Superior Court building in Van Nuys would easily rank near the top. Where else could a jury duty-sanctioned lunch include options like avocado-smeared cemitas, tamales criollos, roasted hunks of lechon asado or a sinus-clearing portion of bun bo hue?

It was during a post-court day spent driving along Van Nuys Boulevard that the bold Ruscha-esque sign for Takatis Pollo a la Brasa first came into view, flanked by an off-brand mini-mall and a swap meet filled with replica Chivas jerseys fluttering in the wind.

Pollos a la brasa joints are not lacking in this neck of the woods; Takatis isn't even the only one on the block. You can sniff out the good ones by the plumes of rotisserie smoke, or by the lines of overall-wearing mechanics picking up roasted chicken and fries on their lunch break. You can get a reliably crisp-skinned bird at Lola's, just down the street, or at Nazca nearby, a pan flute-soundtracked spot better known for its lomo saltado.

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Flickr/superiphi

Did cavemen sit around the fire stuffing their hairy faces with popcorn? After analyzing recently unearthed ancient corncobs, researchers say people in what's now Peru were eating popcorn 2,000 years earlier than previously thought -- up to 6,700 years ago, National Geographic reports.

Previously, evidence of corn as food before about 5,000 years ago had come from only microscopic remains that didn't reveal exactly what kind of corn was being eaten. Using radiocarbon dating and other tests to examine the newfound corncobs -- along with husks, tassels and stalks -- scientists determined that the oldest cobs were popcorn. The really, really stale corn remains were unearthed at the Paredones and Huaca Prieta archeological sites on Peru's northern coast.

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B. Hansen

Osaka entrance

Osaka, the new Japanese-Peruvian place in Hollywood, has the scariest entrance. It's very dark, and you have to cross over stepping stones in a pool of rippling black water. I subconsciously felt drawn to fall, and all the time I was in there, I worried about how I would get out -- dry.

Osaka is part of a chain founded in Peru. The look was designed by Kristopher Keith of SpaceCraft (probably a good swimmer).

There are nice touches inside, like an overhead rope motif inspired by the ropes of Peruvian fishing boats. The food is Peruvian-Asian fusion, predominantly Japanese, but also with touches of Thai and other cuisines.

It's a small plates place with the expected Peruvian ceviche, tiraditos, anticuchos and cute miniature causitas. But also fish in a banana leaf with anticucho sauce and coconut reduction, miso-truffled American Kobe skirt steak with Peruvian potatoes, Parmesan scallops, grilled octopus with sweet miso paste and duck confit with miso oranges and caramelized onions.

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D. Solomon

Chimú blackboard, drawn by Nicholas Knudson.

A chalkboard drawing of a wild-eyed creature pedaling away on a bicycle greeted Chimú visitors on Sunday, along with the word "FAREWELL."

Chimú has closed its doors, or rather, its take-out windows, which served up steaming plates of chancho, lomo saltado, pollo a la brasa and seco de cordero.

On Saturday, Chimú's last day, chef Mario Alberto was telling customers, "It's time to move on," accented with a good-natured shrug. "I wish we could have stayed open longer, seen it grow, but I also look at it as moving forward," he tells us.

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