Pope Leo XIV is a Chicago White Sox fan, growing up in the shadow of Home Run Inn and Vito & Nicks, but he also spent more than 20 years living in Peru and had several favorite dishes there.
One of those dishes is served at a restaurant in Rogers Park, where curiosity has been spiking ever since the new pope was elected.
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WATCH HERE“We have gotten so many different calls, and everybody is just so happy in the community to have a Chicago Peruvian pope,” Isabel Izquierdo, whose family owns Taste of Peru, said.
The national dish is unquestionably ceviche, and every Peruvian restaurant in Chicago offers their own version. At Taste of Peru, they begin with Corvina, but combine it with indigenous peppers.
“(Peppers) like aji amarillo, and aji rocoto in the mix as well. There’s lime juice, a little bit of garlic that has been blended, and the juice of the fish really ties it all together,” Izquierdo said.
The lime juice literally “cooks” the fish, while keeping it firm. Alongside it come Peru’s beloved potatoes – two varieties every time.
“In the middle, there’s this big corn called choclo. It’s a Peruvian variety of giant corn,” she said.
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Topped with a mound of red onions and some more rocoto pepper, it’s a refreshing starter. But Pope Leo’s favorite dish, it turns out, is a stew, called Seco, made with goat.“
“It’s served traditionally with rice and canary beans – canario beans – also called Peruano beans,” she said. “It’s a very time-consuming process. We let that marinate overnight for about 10 to 12 hours, and then you begin the stewing process which actually takes about two-and-a-half to three hours.”
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SIGN UP Taste of Peru makes the dish with goat or lamb, cooked with Peruvian pumpkin and more peppers.
“You also add a little bit of aji amarillo to it and you cook it in beer – it has to be a Peruvian beer,” she said.
And the owners at Taste of Peru say that the goat stew, now known as the “Leo the 14th,” is not going anywhere, as long as there is demand for it.
