Tito and wife Fabiola provide Houston's small Peruvian population -- which is estimated at 3,000 -- not just a place to feast on the cuisine of their homeland, but a sort of cultural center as well. On weekends, the food is augmented by live Peruvian music. It's not augmented early, though: If you arrive before, say, 8 p.m., don't be surprised if you're the only customer there. It's after 9 or 10 p.m. that things begin to get into full swing, and since Super Rico is open until the wee hours -- 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday -- there's no sense showing up too early and missing half the fun.
The Arianzens' story, like that of many immigrants, has more than a few twists. Before Peruvian native Fabiola made her way to Houston, she spent time in Seattle finishing school and in New York getting married and starting a family. But 18 years ago she decided New York was no place to raise kids, so she brought herself and her two children to Texas. Here, in the early '90s, she ran across Tito, who had ended up in a Medical Center hospital bed after a fall from a horse during his military service in Peru left him paralyzed.
Tito's doctors in Peru had given him only a few months to live and said it would take a miracle for him to recover. The Medical Center provided the miracle, and after eight months of treatment he was up and about and ready to meet the by-this-time-divorced Fabiola. The rest, as they say, is history. Tito's military experience had been as the manager of a military canteen, and so the couple decided to try the restaurant business. Judging by the food Tito now prepares, the soldiers in Peru ate well. Both Tito and Fabiola are fixtures in Super Rico, constant presences who tend to their customers with wide smiles of genuine appreciation.
Unfortunately, since they have yet to receive their liquor license, you cannot sample the national drink of Peru, Pisco Sour, a potent drink made from a Peruvian brandy. You can, however, get a Peruvian Cusquena, beer that has a little more flavor than run-of-the-mill American beers. There are also a pair of unusual non-alcoholic drinks worth trying. One is the chicha morada, an Inca drink made from purple corn infused in water along with pineapple, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. This Andean beverage, served over ice, is exceptionally refreshing, as well as being a visual treat. The rich, deep-purple colored liquid, made thick by the pineapple, is sweet and tart at the same time. The Inca Kola is a fizzy, canned Peruvian soft drink that tastes like a cream soda mixed with a hint of bubble gum flavor. So popular is this drink in Peru that it outsells Coca-Cola there.
Since Peru has a long coastline, seafood occupies a venerated spot on the menu. And since ceviche originated in Peru, you'd expect the Arianzens to do a good job with the dish, as indeed they do. Two different kinds of ceviche are offered here. My favorite is the ceviche mixto; easily large enough to share, it comes as a mound of seafood that includes calamari, shrimp, mussels and red snapper, all swimming in the lemon juice in which they have been marinating, along with heaps of onion slices and garlic. A boiled sweet potato and a truncated ear of corn are included for looks as much as taste, and as a reminder that both of these vegetables have their roots deep in Peruvian culture.
The success of a good ceviche lies in the right contrast of colors, shapes, tastes and textures, all of which come together exquisitely here. A nice heat level is obtained by the addition of an aji pepper, a small, bright yellow/orange pepper diced into almost imperceptible pieces. Another platter, the ceviche pescado, is much more mundane, since it contains only pieces of marinated red snapper. But, though plain, it's nevertheless delightful.
