i8tonite

Tag: Washington DC

  • i8tonite: Chef’s Questionnaire with Peruvian Brothers Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone and Ceviche

    (Editor’s Note: We decided to re-run last week’s story as we had some technical glitches…besides, the Lanzone Brothers are attractive enough to see every week. )

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheAs Washington, DC food entrepreneurs, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone are certainly no strangers to hard work. Mario is a full time bartender at Napoleon Bistro & Lounge and spends his summers captaining yachts in the Mediterranean. Giuseppe competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics for the United States rowing team and currently coaches rowing at Georgetown University. He applies the same Olympic intensity and drive towards he and his brother’s Washington, DC food truck, Peruvian Brothers. In fact, the duo spent two full months hunting down the perfect bread that most accurately inspired their Peruvian taste buds – now a custom Peruvian Brothers recipe on the menu at The French Bread factory in Sterling, Virginia.

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheThe brothers were born and raised off the coast of Lima, Peru, in a close-knit community of La Punta, where family and the ocean reigned. The flavors that dominated their childhood are the tastes they crave the most, inspiring the Lanzone brothers to team up to represent the tastiest part of their Peruvian heritage.

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheThe history behind the Peruvian Comida Criolla cuisine is as appealing and complex as the unique combinations of flavor. With roots in Andean-Spanish-Afro-Peruvian and Asian influences, Comida Criolla boasts powerful flavors that are sorely missing from the streets of D.C. Recipes passed down in the Lanzone family, as well as Mario’s own original spins on traditional Peruvian favorites, give their menu an authentic taste with a unique twist.

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheTo sample their authentic Peruvian fare, follow the Peruvian Brothers truck via @PeruBrothers on Twitter and Facebook, and find them online at http://peruvianbrothers.com/

     

     

     

     

     

    Chefs Questionnaire

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheGiuseppe Lanzone = GL

    Mario Lanzone = ML

     

     

     

    How long have you been cooking?
    GL: Since I can remember
    ML: For the past 15 years

    What is your favorite food to cook?
    GL: Breakfast
    ML: Peruvian food

    What do you always have in your fridge at home?
    ML: Eggs, milk, avocados
    ML: Milk, eggs, vegetables, ice cream

    What do you cook at home?
    GL: Omelettes with whatever meat and cheese I can get my hands on
    ML: Meat stews, stir fries and ceviche in the summer

    What marked characteristic do you love in a customer?
    GL: When they are cordial
    ML: When a costumer assumes they know what they want because they’ve been to our food truck many times

    What marked characteristic do you find unappealing in a customer?
    GL: When you say hello, and they answer by saying nothing or by saying that they are just looking at the menu
    ML: Some of them are just never happy

    Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Pyrex?
    GL: Pyrex, it’s cleaner
    ML: Pyrex

    Beer, wine, or cocktail?
    GL: Dark beer or a good whiskey
    ML: Cocktail

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheYour favorite cookbook author?
    GL: Any book with good ideas is my favorite book
    ML: Ceviche by Martin Morales

     

    Your favorite kitchen tool?
    GL: Meat slicer
    ML: My really sharp knife

    Your favorite ingredient?
    GL: Rocoto pepper
    ML: Yellow Peruvian Pepper

    Your least favorite ingredient?
    GL: None, really
    ML: Cumin by itself

    Least favorite thing to do in a kitchen?
    GL: Clean the floors
    ML: Wash dishes

    Favorite types of cuisine to cook?
    GL: Peruvian, of course!
    ML: Peruvian

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for cevicheBeef, chicken, pork or tofu?
    GL: Beef
    ML: Pork

    Favorite vegetable?
    GL: Beets
    ML: Onions

    Chef you most admire?
    ML: Gaston Acurio
    GL: My brother

    Food you like the most to eat?
    ML: Peruvian and Thai
    GL: Italian and Peruvian

    Food you dislike the most?
    ML: Indian
    GL: none

    How many tattoos?
    ML: One on my arm. I got it about 10 years ago. It has faded away.
    GL: none

    Recipe: Ceviche

    An interview with Washington, DC-based food truck entrepreneurs the Peruvian Brothers, Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, including their delicious recipe for ceviche

    8 lb fresh fish fillets (tilapia works well)
    Fresh lime juice
    Cilantro
    Garlic
    Salt
    Aji limo pepper
    Red onion
    Baked sweet potatoes
    Corn

     

    Cut the fish in small cubes and put them in a large bowl with a couple of ice cubes to keep the fish cold. Then add minced aji limo pepper, salt, pepper, garlic, cilantro, thinly julienned onion, and one cup of freshly squeezed lime juice. Mix for a couple minutes and add a squirt of evaporated milk. Plate on a butter lettuce leaf and accompany with corn kernels and thickly sliced baked sweet potatoes.

     

    The End. Go Eat.