A few weeks back, we traveled to Union Square, a section of Somerville to try out Celeste, a Peruvian restaurant that opened in March of 2018 and has since earned much acclaim both locally and nationally. It was chosen Restaurant of the Year by Eater Boston and was included as one of Esquire’s Top 20 Best New Restaurants in America.  Quite a freshman season!

The story behind Celeste is inspirational.  JuanMa Calderon, a chef and filmmaker and his partner, Maria Rondeau, an architect and producer, run a pop up restaurant named Kriollo Real from their Cambridge home for roughly five years.  They host dinners for up to 24, the number of seats that now fill Celeste’s tiny space.  They decide to switch gears and formalize the pop into a restaurant to feature the foods of Calderon’s native Peru.

If you blink, you will miss Celeste (pronounced Celestay) as there is not much signage except for a name on the door of a brick building that looks as much doctor’s office as Peruvian restaurant.  Step inside, however and the space is light and bright with an open kitchen, 6 bar seats overlooking the kitchen and maybe 6 additional tables that on the night we visited were all full.  Best to make a reservation!  Maria greets you with a warm smile, giving you the feeling that you are a guest in her home.  In fact, the entire evening feels as though you’ve stepped into someone’s private home for a dinner party.

Colorful music plays in the background as you settle in.  A special exhibit of photos by Peruvian artist, Yayo Lopez is hung on the walls for viewing and for purchase should you desire.

Let’s get to the menu.

Chef Calderon prepares recipes taught to him by his mother in his native Peru.  Some of the dishes are attentively plated, while others based on their nature are served directly from a simmering pot on the stove.  Creative combinations, native ingredients, and traditional preparations provide the framework for the menu at Celeste.

The menu includes several kinds of ceviche ($17-19), including the hearts of palm and artichoke version that inspired my recipe for Hearts of Palm “Ceviche” in last week’s post.  Causas ($13-15), which are cold terrines of mashed potatoes that are layered with various fillings such as shrimp, and avocado with tomato also serve as a starter along with some salads.  Entrees include a variety of traditional stews, stir fries, and steamed fish, prepared in a Peruvian-Chinese style ($18-27).  In fact, many of the dishes on the menu are inspired by the cuisines of Japan and China that have influenced Peruvian culture.  Plenty of vegetarian options are on offer.

There are weekly special as well in all categories.  From the restaurant’s website homepage, you can find the weekly menu published for the most up to date offerings, including the changing weekly specials.

A well rounded drink menu offers several types of beers on tap and in bottles, a small but well curated selection of wines and several cocktails.

Joined by our friends, Jane and Brad, here is what we ordered:

For a cocktail, I chose the traditional Pisco Sour, frothy from the addition of egg white and served in a delicate coupe.  Delish…

Others at the table opted for a refreshing Mojita that was also very tasty…

For our first course, we ordered our own dishes which was more than enough as the portions are generous!

Two plates of a special scallop ceviche were ordered.  Scallops were thinly sliced horizontally and bathed in a spicy, citrusy juice until just “cooked”.  Some boiled pieces of corn, arugula and red chilis served to garnish this wonderful appetizer.  The kick of flavor from the Peruvian aji amarillo pepper was key to this dish coming alive.  I would order this again and again…

Also ordered was a vegetarian “ceviche” that I mentioned above.  Hearts of palm and artichoke hearts replace the seafood in this clever preparation that was also full of flavor.  The hearts of palm especially lend themselves to this kind of treatment as they relate visually and texturally to white seafood. This is a great menu option and I hope it stays.  In this plating, you can really see the boiled giant white corn kernels sitting on top of the hearts of palm…

Brad ordered one of the Causas, the spicy potato terrine that was layered with tuna tartare and topped with three sauces that are flavored with the aji amarillo pepper, another red pepper and the third with black mint.  I tasted this and it was another cleverly delicious combination.  When you think about it, the potato is an important ingredient in Peru, and combined with the Japanese influence of the tuna tartare (as opposed to rice per se in sushi), and then topped with a spicy sauce (instead of a wasabi for example), it completely makes sense why this works!

Now onto our entrees.  I have to warn you that visually two of these pictures do not do justice to the flavors of the food.  Brown food rarely photographs well, but these are traditional Peruvian stews so we chose to order them after much reflection!  The entree options are quite varied and bring in the influences of the Japanese and Chinese populations in Peru that have heavily influenced its food culture as I mentioned.  Our entree selections were as follows.

The men ordered one of the evening’s specials named Carapulcra which is an Incan stew made from chicken, pork, peanuts and potato ($25).  Served with some rice and the same three sauces used in the Causas dish, this dish was hearty.  They really enjoyed it…

Jane ordered an entree special that she loved which was Tallarin Saltado de Camaron ($25) that could also be made as a vegetarian entree with portobello mushrooms, bok choy and snow peas ($22) if chosen.  A Peruvian lo-mein dish served with shrimp, and mussels looks and tastes wonderful…

And then my selection was made after much hemming and hawing.  I settled on a traditional stew from the main menu, Aji de Gallina which is a creamy shredded chicken preparation with pecans and parmesan cheese!  I have to say, our server was helpful in our making our selections, answering all of our questions both before and after we were served our dishes!

Not a lot to look at, but I can still remember the taste and texture of the dish which was terrific and I am thinking it would be awesome to make sometime this Fall when the temperatures drop, or when in need of some comfort food.  A little salty from the cheese, with some crunch from the nuts, it was delicious and together with rice it made for a very filling dinner…

We weren’t ready to leave this festive little slice of Peru just yet so we chose to share one dessert (there are only two to choose from currently) which was a Mousse de Lucuma, an ethereal mousse made from the lucuma superfood native to Peru.  Maybe tastes a little like a mango, but in any case it was a not-too-sweet way to end our fun evening at Celeste…

Celeste is open for dinner, Monday through Saturday and serves lunch on Saturdays as well.  The restaurant is closed on Sundays.  They also serve Early Bird and Late Night Tacos on certain nights of the week.  Check their website for more information.

I hope you have a chance to visit Celeste sometime soon and try for yourself.

Until next time…

One Year Ago:  Mother’s Day

Two Years Ago:  Blackened Salmon Nicoise Salad

Three Years Ago:  Travel Post – Prague, Czech Republic

Four Years Ago:  Spicy Thai Shrimp and Baby Bok Choy Stir-Fry