From the world’s highest navigable lake, Titicaca, comes a culinary treasure: crispy-skinned fish, cooked in a hot copper pan and served with Andean boiled corn and dehydrated potatoes in traditional clay dishes.
It’s a signature dish of Chef Dennis Llusco at La Rufina, a restaurant in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, that was recently lauded by the U.K.-based organization 50 Best Discovery as one of the world’s best restaurants.
“La Rufina started as a very small kitchen,” said the 30-year-old chef, a native of the Lake Titicaca region. “We never dreamed of having two locations or being included in the 50 Best Discovery list.”
Llusco is one of a growing wave of Latin American chefs drawing inspiration from their roots, elevating the humble street food of Bolivia to haute cuisine.
Stepping through La Rufina, opened in 2021, is like taking a journey through Bolivian traditions. Diners can mingle with cholitas — Indigenous women wearing the traditional, multilayered Andean skirts and black hats — and sample the flavors of street corners and markets.
The menu highlights local favorites, such as the baked potato stuffed with savory minced meat stew, a downtown La Paz staple. Another signature dish prepared by Llusco is “anticucho,” a popular Peruvian street food dish of grilled beef heart fillets served with potatoes and yellow chili pepper sauce.
Chef and food researcher Marko Bonifaz said Bolivia is undergoing an interesting movement that involves integrating haute cuisine with street food, and it is no longer just an attractive option for tourists, but for Bolivians themselves.
Llusco’s cuisine, deeply rooted in the teachings of her mother and aunt, who sold food on the streets of Bolivia, embodies this movement.
“These simple dishes reconnect us with our culture,” she said. “They make me very happy.”
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