Thursday, July 28, 2016

Chef Alexandra Gutt of La Parada

Celebrate Peru’s Independence Day today with a Pisco Sour or two at La Parada, Recreo 94, San Miguel de Allende. Known as Fiestas Patrias, this holiday lasts 2 days and marks Peru's declaration of independence from Spain in 1821.
 
La Parada’s chef, Alexandra Gutt, is passionate about food and cooking. She changes up the menu every two months. She keeps her menu fresh by traveling frequently and gets additional inspiration by cooking daily; often breakfast, lunch and dinner. She makes what she happens to crave that day or what she has in her refrigerator.

She recently made two of her specialty dishes:

Ceviche Contracorriente: Salmon, Cucumber, Nori, Chinese peas, and Sichimi Togarashi, a peppery Japanese condiment which includes powdered/flaked red chili pepper, black pepper, sesame seeds, dried mandarin orange peel, green nori seaweed flakes, prickly ash pods, hemp seeds and poppy seeds, and sesame oil.

Now I understand why so many people say the ceviches at La Parada are legendary.

Higaditos Asaltados; Sauteed Chicken Livers with Soy Sauce and Chile, Salad, and Papas La Parada.

I’ll admit I could eat Papas La Parada by the pound. The secret is to fry them, smash them and fry them again. As remarkable potatoes dishes are hard to find in Mexico, I would go there just to feast on the potatoes.

The chicken livers didn’t taste like liver at all. I really loved both the texture and the taste. They are sauced in anticucho sauce with a base of dried chili, vinegar and oregano. The sauce is also used in a Peruvian street food dish incorporating beef hearts that are marinated, skewered, and seared over the grill. Hungry Peruvians also line up at the anticucherias (anticucho restaurants) every night just to indulge in this popular Peruvian dish.

About the chef:

Alexandra Gutt is the chef at La Parada, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, Peru and is responsible for heightening the profile of mouth-watering, Peruvian flavors in San Miguel. 

She completed her training at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples and the Cayman Islands. She moved to SMA and opened La Parada with her husband Juan Leon. La Parada has consistently been in the top ten on Trip Advisor since it opened.

She recently took a trip to Valle de Guadalupe to learn more about Mexican wines and was fascinated that the wineries are making such remarkable blends. She relishes the authenticity but is not a big fan of eating insects. “Just the thought of having a grasshopper leg stuck in-between my teeth makes me crazy.” She does eat popcorn by the ton; she’s addicted to it.

Many of the women featured in The Female Chefs of San Miguel de Allende picked La Parada as one of the best places to eat in SMA. When Ale was young, she hated seafood. Seafood is now her favorite thing to cook and eat. Plenty of people in SMA love Ale’s seafood, too; the ceviches at La Parada are legendary.

Reference: The Female Chefs of San Miguel de Allende



La Parada
Recreo #94, Centro
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico
Phone: 415 152 0473

Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday 12 PM – 10 PM
Sunday – Monday: 12 PM – 9 PM
Closed Tuesdays