Butcher’s Table — situated behind OSSO Carniceria & Salumeria, the top meat market in Lima, Peru — lives up to its name.
Opened last September, the restaurant consists of a single wooden table, usually used for the butchering of meat. During lunch and dinner, the cleaned-up table seats 10 hungry patrons. Just a few feet away, behind a wall of glass, resides a minimalist kitchen. Action centers on an open fire upon which a tasting-menu of house-aged meat gets cooked by master-butcher/chef Renzo Garibaldi . Guests sit cheek to jowl and eat like cavemen, gorging on exquisitely tasty meat without the benefit of plates or utensils.
The chef: Renzo Garibaldi received a culinary education at Lima’s University San Ignacio de Loyola and refined his butchering skills at Fleisher’s Meats in Park Slope. Cooking perfect, medium-rare steak on an open fire takes a lot of skill and experience. Garibaldi pulls it off without breaking a sweat.
The food: Dinner at the Butcher’s Table is not a subtle affair. Garibaldi works high-temperature magic on slabs of marbled steak, aged Wagyu burgers, and prime cuts of pork. Highlights include his superior steak tartare at the start of the meal, sauce slathered ribs, meltingly tender New York Strip aged in-house for an astonishing 120 days, and bacon-studded ice cream for dessert. It is meat lover’s heaven.
The look: This restaurant is situated in the backroom of a Peruvian butcher shop. You will not mistake it for the dining room at Daniel. There are no windows. A flat-screen TV dominates one wall, but don’t expect to watch. All eyes eventually turn to Garabaldi and his open-flame cooking.
The service: Meat comes off the fire, Garibaldi slices it up into one- or two-bite pieces, and lays it all upon a platter. A butcher carries the platter around the table and diners help themselves, using their fingers (remember there are no utensils; but a pre-meal hand-washing is mandatory).
The drinks: Start your meal with a beer out of the butcher shop cooler. Local, artisanal brews such as Sierra Andina are strong options. Beyond that, you can bring your own wine or buy it there (there’s no formal bartender). Selections range from the reasonable (a Chilean red called Monte’s Twins) to the extravagant (blue-chip Gaja, from Italy).
The skip: Thin slices of pork, cooked on one side and raw on the other. Getting past the idea of eating raw pork can be tough. Actually eating it, though, is not an experience worth repeating.
Details: A 14-course tasting menu for 10 costs $1,043 (the entire table must be purchased); OSSO Carniceria & Salumeria; Callle Tahiti, 175; +51-1-368-1046.