• EAT: Maybe I should have started more modestly, but the first time I went to El Fogon, I ordered the Miramar restaurant's most substantial takeout dish, seafood paella, a massive amount of yellow rice and a scattering of scallops, shrimp, and calamari topped with a large whole shrimp. To someone accustomed to shrimp tails, the entire creature -- with its head and long trailing antennae -- looked more like a miniature sea monster than something edible. And in fact it wasn't really edible -- the tail, apparently badly overcooked, fell into mushy bits when I took it out of the shell.

But after that rocky introduction, my friends and I found El Fogon's food -- mostly Peruvian -- to be quite good and moderately priced.

The chicken saltado -- Peruvian stir-fry -- had a nice flavor of smoke and a hint of soy. It came with a good amount of meat, and the grilled tomatoes and onions enhanced the flavor.

The half-pound of grilled steak was nicely cooked, not tough, and was delicious when mixed with black beans and rice. El Fogon's basic grilled chicken with rice and black beans is also tasty.

Most entrees come with two side dishes and the customer's choice of several intriguing sauces -- a pungent garlic mayonnaise, a creamy onion and parsley sauce and a red-hot chile sauce. Come to think of it, I probably would have liked the paella a lot better with one or more of those sauces stirred in.

• DRINK: Pop a cold Peruvian lager, like Cusqueña -- or shake up a pisco sour.

• WATCH: Jules Verne's and Disney's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which has real sea monsters.

-- MARJIE LAMBERT

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