Homestyle at La Feria

Finding a restaurant that cares about you as much as whoever makes your meals at home while… Finding a restaurant that cares about you as much as whoever makes your meals at home while still giving you a dining-out experience is difficult to find, but Shadyside Peruvian restaurant La Feria accomplishes this task without any fuss.

The menu at La Feria gives you a good indication that the meal will taste this way. Beyond a few mainstay appetizers and sandwiches on the menu, the real dinner features are listed on a chalkboard behind the counter. The only way to get a true sense of what these daily platters will taste like is to ask the attendant. If you don’t have a clear idea of what the Cau Cau de Polo tastes like, ask and you can have yerba buena, or Peruvian mint, explained to you.

La Feria 5527 Walnut St., Shadyside 412-682-4501 $7 to $11

out of

When dining at home, I’m usually a snob about the ingredients that go into my meal. While I could use canned ingredients, having a stove means I can make my own tomato sauce from fresh ingredients. The result is always worth the trouble. La Feria’s payoff is the same – you can taste the difference between the restaurant’s empanadas and those of any other place. The beef or even ham and cheese filling don’t have that metallic taste of industrial aging.

Yet La Feria also removes you from the home setting. You have the option of ordering the specials with different combinations of sides, to the point that you can get a three-course meal for two people all under one heading. My dining pal and I ordered one that gave us empanadas, camotes fritos, house salads and two specials over rice.

The empanadas, which are pastry turnovers served with a choice of fillings, were served with an onion salsa still juicy from the cutting board. I ordered one with a beef and olive filling while my pal took one with ham and cheese filling. Both had flaky crusts guarding the spicy and flavorful fillings.

Along with the empanadas came the camotes fritos, which are sweet potato chips served with a savory and spicy cheese dip. Sweet potato chips are nothing new, but the dip put a spark into the normally subtle appetizer.

After the salad came the main course. I had ordered a savory beef stew, while my pal had ordered spicy pulled chicken. The stew was fork-tender and packed with flavor, while the chicken featured a subtle spiciness that lingered through repeated sips of water. Both rested on top of plump, al dente rice that soaked up the sauces admirably.

We rounded out the meal with two cups of coffee good enough that cream and sugar would have detracted from their taste. It made me realize how often I settle for sub par coffee at superior restaurants.

While sampling the Peruvian cuisine, diners can cast their eyes on shelves of folk art, blankets and knick-knacks for sale on the entrance side of the dining area. The idea is that by meting equal floor space to food and merchandise, there will be an outlet for Peruvian culture.

Yet with such solid food offered, what the experience is missing is moodier lighting and a dedicated server. Our service was friendly, helpful and energetic, but there’s just something missing when serving isn’t the server’s only job – ours was also behind the counter preparing dishes. La Feria combines home and restaurant without any fuss, but diners are an egocentric breed. We want to be fussed over.

Obviously, there is no fault in being a cultural center. But I dream of a La Feria with an expanded menu in a dedicated restaurant. This would complete the bridge from “homemade good” to “restaurant good” in its most literal sense.