Living in Peru : your everyday companion

This article was authored by María Elena Cornejo in her Mucho Gusto Perú blog, where she posts many of the articles she publishes as a restaurant critic at CARETAS, a leading Peruvian magazine.


(by María Elena Cornejo)

Isabel Quispe Aquino's life took quite a turn when it was touched by Gastón Acurio's magic wand.

An excellent cook, she has long owned a stand in the Chorrillos market, next to the fishmongers and the shellfish vendors, from whom she always obtains the freshest products available. Her marketplace stand has four high stools at an immaculate, white-tiled counter, and nearby, two small tables, with blue tablecloths and flower vases. For the past 25 years, she has been serving the locals her seafood dishes, never once stopping, never once throwing in the towel.

Isabel Quispe Aquino knows about seafood.

At the age of 15, she began working at the Muelle de Pescadores, the Fisherman's Wharf, in Callao. Later, she married Papo López, a born fisherman who knows all the secrets that hide just beneath a fish's scales.

One fine day, Gastón Acurio, known as el curioso, the curious one, 'discovered' this marketplace hole-in-the-wall, and he included Isabel's name in one of his books, declaring she made the best parihuela, Peruvian seafood soup, in the world.

Abracadabra!

The next day, there was a a line around the block, waiting to sample Isabel's parihuela, which was immediately christened El Campeón, The Champ.

And in fact, it is a champ. At just ten soles, this succulent dish can raise the dead.

Isabel decided to rent a bigger space on the outskirts of the market, where she could have more tables, all with their distinctive blue tablecloths, and more straw-seated chairs. Every table has its own distinctive napkin dispenser, and on the wall, there was a blackboard where she noted the daily specials.

A colorful sign, decorated with a palm tree and a mermaid, declares: Cevichería Restaurante Isabel.

After I greet her, doña Isabel shows me the famous book in which she is mentioned. The pages have been carefully encased in plastic.

Over time, people kept coming and filling her second locale as well, so she opened a third one, much larger, with wooden chairs and even posters on the walls. In her third restaurant she plays salsa music, has a long counter, and displays hand-drawn art on the walls. Now, she has business cards embossed with the palm tree and the mermaid, which say: Reconocido con la parihuela en los libros de la gran cocina peruana de Gastón Acurio, Recognized by her parihuela in Gastón Acurio's books on great Peruvian cuisine.

"This last place I named Isabel y Papo," she says. She also raised the prices a bit, but explains, "I charge the regulars from the market the same as always."

In October, Isabel wants to hold a Ceviche Festival, so she can celebrate her seafood cooking. Of course, she hopes her mentor, Gastón himself, will attend and sit at the place of honor she has reserved for him.

Meanwhile, she does her homework for her classes at Universidad del Pacífico. She began taking classes, she tells us at a mile a minute, because "I was told I should learn more about gastronomy and food handling and all the other subjects I'm studying."

If you go there, and you should if you like seafood soup, it doesn't hurt to have a reservation, just in case.

All three locales are in or around the Mercado Modelo in Chorrillos.

Isabel Quispe: Three Locations

Mercado Modelo Número 1, in Chorrillos
Puesto 39
Avenida Alejandro Iglesias 649
Reservations: 234-8311.

Av. Alejandro Iglesias 633
Reservations: 260-2729

Avenida Ferrocarril 154
Reservations: 252-1225

(Translation by Alejandro in "Peru Food" - link -)

tags : Peru food cuisine lifestyle IsabelQuispe Chorrillos ceviche parihuela

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2 Comments

# Carmen F. Mendoza says :
25 September, 2006 [ 08:12 ]

Dear everyone at livinginperu.com Thank you so much for the excellent articles. Being so far from my country and having been away for more than 20 years, it's great to keep in touch with what goes on in our homeland. Kudos, Carmen Mendoza The Chronicle of Higher Education Washington, D.C.

# Alex says :
9 July, 2008 [ 03:43 ]

Isabel was a well known person and her place regulaly busy by "chorrillanos" way before Mr. Acurio met her. I remember, as a child, sitting at her blue-tableclothed tables many a time. In fact, everytime i am back home (i was born and raise in chorrillos, just like most members of my family) i stopped at her place on Ferrocarril St. (my family lives a few blocks away) to enjoy a little time with friends and of course, her cooking. I am happy to know she is been increasing her knowledge about food and food handling, as a cook, one never's done learning and growing.

As a footnote, chorrillos is a district with great seafood overall, someone should do a little article about the festivities of St. Peter and St. Paul, the last weekend of june, a festivity not just for the the kids but also, for all of those who enjoy food: picarones, frejol colao', champus, escabeches, etc...

Congrats to Isabel, i should pay my respects next time i visit home.

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