SLO LIFE Magazine Oct/Nov 2019

DESTINATION: PERU
Walking into San Luis Obispo’s Mistura, I’m struck by
the seamless combination of modern art and traditional
Incan patterns on the wall. Despite its sprawling size, the
restaurant feels intimate and warm, with bossa nova lilting
on the air.
Mistura’s Chef Nicola Allegretta is actually Italian, but
his wife Jackeline, who is Peruvian, encouraged him to
immerse in Peruvian cuisine. “She said ‘You need to be
educated in Peru, to really learn all the regions of Peru,’”
says Allegretta. “Mistura means a mix of cultures because
that’s what Peruvian food is, too.”
Allegretta became such an expert in the subject that,
today, Mistura represents the Trade Commission of Peru;
whenever Peru showcases its land, tourism, and industry in
the United States, Mistura is there to serve Peruvian food
as an example of the country’s bounty.
Allegretta seats me at the raw bar to watch the kitchen
staff prepare a dish called apasionada: meticulously sliced
scallops in a pool of spicy-citrusy leche de tigre and aji
limo. The word aji means pepper, and the Mistura menu is
riddled with it: aji verde, aji amarillo, aji huacatay.
Indeed, Allegretta tells me, Peruvian cuisine comprises
over twenty peppers. Fruity and nuanced, the flavors of
sauces made from these peppers provide the bassline of
nearly every Peruvian dish, including the apasionada before
me. It manages to be sweet, tart, savory, and luscious all at
once—a beautiful shape-shifter, much like the culture from
whence it came. SLO LIFE
84 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | OCT/NOV 2019