Order lomo saltado for the first time and the plate looks like a happy accident. Strips of beef, red onion and tomato, glossy with soy sauce, next to white rice and a heap of french fries. It’s one of the most popular dishes in Peru, and the reason goes back to 1849.
That’s when the first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru, mostly Cantonese laborers brought over for the sugar plantations, railroads and guano islands. Many later settled in Lima and opened restaurants that Peruvians came to call chifas. They brought the wok and soy sauce to Peruvian ingredients, and lomo saltado is the dish that crossed over onto nearly every Peruvian menu.
Lomo is the beef. Saltado means jumped, the way food leaps in a hot wok. The beef is seared fast with red onion, tomato, soy sauce, vinegar and often ají amarillo, the yellow Peruvian chile. Potatoes are native to the Andes and rice came from Asia, so the two starches on the plate tell the whole story. Swap in noodles and it becomes tallarín saltado. Use chicken and it’s pollo saltado.
North Texas has a solid Peruvian scene, most of it in the northern suburbs. Here’s where to try it.
El Tesoro del Inca
This has been an Irving standby for years, and the menu leans hard into the beef section. Along with the Lomo Saltado, look for the Tallarín Saltado and the Lomo a lo Pobre. It opens at 9 a.m. daily, which makes it an easy early lunch. 3455 N. Belt Line Road, Suite 112, Irving. Open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, until 9 p.m. Sunday. (972) 313-9495.
Tineo Peruvian Cafe
Tineo is a bakery and a restaurant under one roof, so plan on leaving with a box of alfajores, the caramel-filled sandwich cookies. The Lomo Saltado here comes the classic way, with fries and rice. 525 W. Arapaho Road, Suite 1, Richardson. Open daily 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (214) 256-4535.
Lima Taverna
This is the dressier option, with plating to match, and it sits at the back of a Plano strip center where you’d never expect it. Owner Eliseo Figueroa builds his Lomo Saltado on filet mignon and hand-cut fries. Order the ceviche to start. 621 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 247, Plano. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, until 9 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday. (469) 969-2034.
Tayta
Tayta is a family-owned operation that started in Fairview and opened a second location in Richardson this summer. The menu has its own chifa section, which makes it a good place to taste lomo saltado next to the other Chinese-Peruvian dishes it grew up with. The rotisserie chicken comes out of a charcoal oven imported from Peru. 930 E. Campbell Road, Richardson, and 146 Town Place, Fairview. The Richardson location is closed Tuesdays and Fairview is closed Wednesdays, so check before you go.
Order it once and you’ll understand why Peru claims it as its own. It took a Cantonese wok, an Andean potato and a long, hard immigrant story to get it onto that plate.
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