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La Casa de Pedro
Pedro Alarcon doesn't simply talk about the food at his Venezuelan restaurant in Watertown Square. He rhapsodizes about it.
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LA CASA DE PEDRO
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Where: 51 Main St. (Route 20), Watertown.
Telephone: 617-923-8025.
Good choices: Marinated pork chop; grilled steak; roasted chicken; flan.
Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner: Thurs.-Sat. 5:30-9 p.m.
Noise level: Moderate.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover.
Access: Fully accessible.
Get directions
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Inquire about your meal, and Alarcon will eagerly discuss the red wine marinade used for his tender pork, or the delicious cilantro sauce drizzled over yucca, a relative of the potato that puts French fries to shame.
La Casa de Pedro opened in 1996, eight years after Alarcon emigrated from South America. A former cook for Boston University, he knows many of his customers by name and is a master of small details, from the restaurant's colorful tabletops to its charming plateware. Best of all, Alarcon's love for food is evident in every dish.
Parrillada caraquena ($11) is a seductive mix of moist chicken, lean beef, and mildly spicy chorizo sausage, flecked with ground pepper. Paella valenciana ($12.50) is a bountiful serving of shrimp, mussels, chicken, clams, fish, crawfish, and chorizo, tasting faintly of briny salt water and simmered in fragrant saffron rice.
La Casa de Pedro's empanadas ($1.50) are crunchy, crescent-shaped corn cakes - similar to deep-fried corn bread - stuffed with cheese, chicken, or beef. The powerfully flavored grilled steak ($12.50), tenderized with garlic and olive oil, is a triumph. Most meals include generous servings of yucca, plantains, black beans, and rice.
The restaurant's fresh fruit juices ($2.50), ranging from sweet to tart, are pricey, but worth it. For dessert, La Casa de Pedro serves impossibly creamy homemade flan ($2.50).
The verdict? Be still my heart.
- Sacha Pfeiffer
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