Restaurant review: Ceviche 28 in Vero Beach has authentic Peruvian cuisine with big flavors

Maribeth Renne
·3 min read
Ceviche 28’s Ceviche Mixto: Ceviche Peruvian style is served alongside toothsome steamed corn, chocio, and creamy sweet potato, camote, creating an irresistible balance of flavors and textures.
Ceviche 28’s Ceviche Mixto: Ceviche Peruvian style is served alongside toothsome steamed corn, chocio, and creamy sweet potato, camote, creating an irresistible balance of flavors and textures.

VERO BEACH — Peruvian cuisine continues to grow in popularity.

Vero Beach has Ceviche 28, its own authentic Peruvian restaurant. Multi-cultural and multi-faceted, Peruvian cuisine is the result of numerous immigrant groups — Europeans, Spanish, Chinese — having been welcomed by Peru’s indigenous peoples.

Instead of separating cuisines, Peruvians have blended all of these wonderful flavors and textures into an amazing, unique fusion. The result is big flavors, both clean and crisp, and deep and heavy. Some foods are “cold-cooked” while others are cooked “low and slow” to intensify flavors, produce rich gravies and render meat fork-tender.

Perhaps the most famous example of a “cold-cooked” dish is ceviche, the restaurant’s namesake. Fish is combined with the acidity of lime citrus juice, onion, salt and hot chiles to essentially cook the seafood, making it so fresh it almost crunches between the teeth.

Leche de tigre is the marinade that remains, it’s delicious enough to slurp up. Ceviche Peruvian-style is served alongside toothsome, steamed corn, chocio, and creamy sweet potato, camote, creating an irresistible balance of flavors and textures.

Fort Pierce brewery expands: Sailfish Brewing Co., now in Vero Beach, with stylish indoor seating

Restaurant Review: Coffee House 1420 is the perfect little coffee shop in Vero Beach

We chose to share the swoon-worthy Ceviche Mixto ($17.95), classic fresh fish and mixed seafood. My provincialism was on full display when I requested some chips or crackers to eat with the ceviche. The crackers were quickly produced but I was gently schooled to understand that Peruvians eat this dish — seafood, corn and sweet potato — just as served. I will know next time.

Ceviche 28’s Salmon: At Ceviche 28, salmon is seasoned and grilled to perfection and served with roasted potatoes and asparagus.
Ceviche 28’s Salmon: At Ceviche 28, salmon is seasoned and grilled to perfection and served with roasted potatoes and asparagus.

As we moved on to entrees, one person in our party ordered salmon ($19.95) seasoned and grilled to perfection and served with roasted potatoes and asparagus. The green spears seemed to me to be unfortunately overcooked. But that was the one and only lament.

Ceviche 28’s Lomo Saltado: Tender and delicious soy-marinated beef, onions, tomatoes and chilis are traditionally served with two starches, eastern rice and western french fries.
Ceviche 28’s Lomo Saltado: Tender and delicious soy-marinated beef, onions, tomatoes and chilis are traditionally served with two starches, eastern rice and western french fries.

Lomo Saltado ($17.95), stir-fried beef, is a wonderful fusion of Chinese stir frying of Perusian spices and fresh ingredients. Tender and delicious soy-marinated beef, onions, tomatoes and chilies are served with two starches, eastern rice and western french fries. Although two starches are traditionally served, the chef kindly granted my friend’s request for a vegetable of sautéed zucchini.

Ceviche 28’s Seco de Res: Seco de Res is a dish that is hard to beat for tenderness and a mix of flavors and textures. Fork-tender beef slowly cooked in a cilantro sauce served with white rice and canary beans in their own smooth gravy was the perfect dish.
Ceviche 28’s Seco de Res: Seco de Res is a dish that is hard to beat for tenderness and a mix of flavors and textures. Fork-tender beef slowly cooked in a cilantro sauce served with white rice and canary beans in their own smooth gravy was the perfect dish.

Seco de Res ($15.95) was hard to beat for tenderness and a mix of flavors and textures. Fork-tender beef slowly cooked in a cilantro sauce served with white rice and canary beans in their own smooth gravy was the perfect dish.

I am hooked on the large, warm, roasted, salted corn kernels, cancha, and the Peruvian sauce brought to table for munching and seasoning. And, we enjoyed a visit from the friendly chef who proudly introduces himself to patrons. Yes, he indeed has a lot to be proud about.

Ceviche 28’s Inside:  The ambiance is very nice and the restaurant is large enough to house an enormous bar, lots of comfortable booths, and tables spread out to provide distance.
Ceviche 28’s Inside: The ambiance is very nice and the restaurant is large enough to house an enormous bar, lots of comfortable booths, and tables spread out to provide distance.

The ambiance is very nice at Ceviche 28 and the restaurant is large enough to have an enormous bar, lots of comfortable booths and tables spread out to provide distance between diners.

If you have never been to Ceviche 28, I most highly recommend it. If you’ve been, chances are it’s on your list of favorites.

Ceviche 28

Cuisine: Peruvian

Address: 2199 7th Ave., Vero Beach

Hours: 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Sundays–Thursdays; 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays–Saturdays; closed Mondays

Phone: 772-257-6652

Alcohol: Full bar

Online: ceviche28.com

Maribeth Renne dines anonymously at the expense of TCPalm for #WhatToDoIn772. Contact her at maribeth.d.renne@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Ceviche 28 in Vero Beach offers authentic Peruvian cuisine