Cebiche!
Last night was Sean’s company holiday dinner in San Francisco. He works for a fairly small company where most of the employees are out on contracts with different clients, so they don’t see each other very often. I was prepared for it to be a staid affair where I would hopefully have some good food. When we got to the restaurant, La Mar Cebicheria, things were settling in to be just about how I expected - a long table, and since we were last to arrive, we were put on the end of it. There were two seats remaining next to us, to be filled partway through the appetizers.
Because we were at the end of the table and the restaurant was loud and festive, it was hard to get conversations started, but we gamely tried to talk to the guy sitting across from us. About halfway through the appetizer course, the last guests showed up and took the seats next to us. I think at about that point the cocktails and wine started taking effect, too, and suddenly the energy and volume and fun level kicked up a notch. Our new table-mates were a married couple about our age - he originally from El Salvador, she originally from South Africa. Combined with the gentleman across the table, the five of us quickly launched into nonstop conversation and laughs, the kind of “guest chemistry” you hope for at the most successful dinner parties.
By the end of the night, we’d sampled nine (!) different Peruvian dishes - three appetizers and six main courses. Each was small plates that were served family-style. There were also chips (potato, plantain, and sweet potato) with dips at the beginning, and two desserts to finish off the meal. Every dish had its own unique character and flavor, and while I had some that were clear favorites, I can’t recall a single selection that I didn’t like at all, and the small plates were a great way to get to try a bunch of different things. My two cocktails were tasty - one a Pisco Sour, the other something with the same Peruvian brandy but with passion fruit juice instead.
Not only was the food wonderful, by the end our small sub-group was exchanging email addresses and saying “we need to do this again sometime.” Who knows if it’ll actually happen, but for one evening, it was nice to make new friends and have such an easy, enjoyable time that three hours passed before we even looked at our watches.