D UPP ER
D RB
INKA WALL
Y
EA TI N
OUN
A
G
AR
57 GARRETT RD. • 610-713-9001 • INKAWALL.COM
P
JUST WEST OF WEST PHILADELPHIA lies Upper Darby, a bustling Delaware County township with a decidedly sleepy downtown dotted with art deco storefronts. Some of these well-maintained buildings are home to hair salons, barbershops and dry cleaners that are stuck in a permanent 1987 time warp and others are home to cheerful Christian community centers. But scattered among these untouched shops are a new (or newish) crop of restaurants specializing in cuisines that are not often found within Philly’s city limits. We’re talking about fast-casual Korean in the upstairs food court of the H Mart, Latin American fare from Honduras, El Salvador and Peru, and bright offerings from Sichuan and Laos. WORDS BY CAROLINE RUSSOCK PHOTOS BY NEAL SANTOS
re-Andean panpipe music plays softly in the sunny dining room of Inka Wall, a restaurant that is barely four months old. Scott Loazya mans the front of the house while his mother, Beatrize, prepares traditional Peruvian plates in the kitchen. Meals start with yucca or potatoes a la Huancaina, a preparation from the Peruvian highlands that takes aji amarillo (mild, little yellow chiles) and blends them into a creamy sauce with a bit of salty white cheese. Pollo a la brasa is easily Peru’s most recognizable import and Inka Wall does it plenty of justice with crisp, spice-rubbed skin and moist quarter or whole chickens topped off with a miniature Peruvian flag, plus rice and a simple salad of lettuce and tomato served with a tangy vinaigrette. There is lomo saltado, a dish that highlights the Chinese influence on Peru’s culinary scene with strips of steak marinated in soy and vinegar then stir-fried with strips of sweet pepper, and seco de carne, long-stewed beef in a cilantroonion sauce served with creamy canary beans and floury boiled yucca. Listed on the menu are a whole bunch of weekend specials, but if you’re dining in the middle of the week, Loazya might be able to treat you to tallarin a la Huancaina, a comforting duo of garlic-marinated, grilled skirt steak accompanied by spaghetti dressed in a creamy aji-cheese sauce that is something of a Peruvian Alfredo. Inka Wall is BYO so be sure to arrive with a sixer of Cusqueña or go for a neon yellow Inca Kola or even better, chicha morada, an inky drink made of purple corn spiced with cinnamon and clove.
HOURS: Tue. - Sun., 11 a.m. - 9 p.m RECOMMENDED DISHES: Potatoes a la Huancaina, lomo saltado, seco de carne, tallarin a la Huancaina con bistec.
C I T Y PA P E R . N E T | M A R C H 6 - M A R C H 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 | P H I L A D E L P H I A C I T Y PA P E R |
13