Peruvian comfort food at home in White Center

You'll pass a lot of Latin and Asian restaurants of various persuasions along White Center's colorful 16th Avenue corridor, and pass them you should — as long as you're heading straight for El Chalan.

Seattle has precious little Peruvian representation restaurant-wise, and it's a shame: The seafood-rich cuisine, big on starches and fired with chilies aplenty, would at once exploit our Northwest resources and satisfy our fabled midwinter comfort-food cravings.

El Chalan, as it turns out, could satisfy them anytime. It's been almost two years since Raul Villalobos opened up his spacious, fluorescent-bright shop in a converted Wendy's, purveying there the ceviches and pescados, rice dishes and roasted meats of Peru. The place is miles from fancy, and there's no beer or wine to drink, and you may experience a language barrier when ordering. Oh, yes — and you will experience torrid Latin soap operas, broadcast from two suspended TVs.

That said, what you encounter in this populist paradise is a menu of unexpected ambition — and corresponding price point, generally $5.95-$12, with some fish selections topping $30. Still reading? Good — because Villalobos' food is complex and genuine. Amid the occasional unusual item (the $10 tallarin verde is pesto over spaghetti noodles with a steak — a fusion you really find in Lima), you encounter stunners, like pork roast marinated in corn broth seasoned with hot peppers, onions and raisins; or beef stew enlivened with peppers and Creole salsa.

Each dinner begins with a basket of warm bread and two flavorful dipping sauces, one with garlic and oregano, the other a creamy Peruvian aji made here with jalapeños.

The list of 20-some fish and ceviche dishes is ambitious and exciting, and will draw me back in the name of further professional research.

Villalobos clearly invests his pride in the details of his operation, from reducing the fish stocks to greeting the customers; the result is a richly worthy destination.

Check please:

Ocopa: This dish is an acquired taste, but as a celebration of the ubiquitous Peruvian potato it's good fun. Fat slices of the root are poured over with a creamy cheese sauce enlivened with Huacatay, a black mint harvested in Peru. The dish lacked a certain vividness — Not enough Huacatay? Too much Huacatay? What is Huacatay? — but I'm not willing to let my palate make this judgment for you.

Arroz con Mariscos: Deep fire rumbles forth from this seafood version of arroz con pollo, the result resembling a one-dish love child of fried rice and paella. It's just terrific, the rice studded with peas and peppers, and generously bedecked with mussels, squid, shrimp and fish. Cilantro and lime flavors dance in and out amid the chilies and shellfish, rendering this simple plate anything but.

Pollo Rostizado Estilo Peruano: It's rotisserie chicken, available also in a quarter ($5.95) and whole ($12) size, and it's wonderful — shot through with flavor, moist to the bone, charred to a turn. With it comes a ho-hum iceberg toss, wonderfully creamy aji dipping sauce and crinkle-cut French fries. (Is it my imagination or do even the crinkle-cuts here taste more like the potatoes they came from than their North American counterparts?)

Chicha Morada: Dang, it's good. A piquant punch made from corn and flavored with pineapple, lime, cinnamon, cloves and anise, it may remind you a bit of mulled cider, only cold, and infinitely more refreshing. Ask for a big glass.

Itemized bill, meal for two

Ocopa $5

Arroz con Mariscos $12

Pollo Rostizado Estilo Peruano (half-chicken)$7.95

Chicha Morada $1.49

Tax $2.15

Total $28.59

Kathryn Robinson: kathrynrobinson@speakeasy.net