Today marks the third year from Mike and my first date! And yes, to all those people telling me October 17th is no longer my “real” anniversary… it’s the one we’re celebrating because our wedding anniversary will be around our birthdays and that’s just way too many things to celebrate at once.

To celebrate, we had dinner at Baru Latino. I’d passed by it often and saw there was usually a good crowd there so it seemed like a good place to try. The food did not disappoint. To start, we had a plate of plantanitos, which I have never tried before. Basically, it’s deep-fried plantain (kind of like banana) slathered in cheese and guacamole goodness. Mike was worried it would be super rich and filling, but it was actually a perfect appetizer. Just enough taste without being too heavy.

I’m a sucker for duck, so naturally I ordered the chepen duck for my main dish. It was cooked almost to perfection (there was just one piece that was slightly overdone) and paired very well with passion fruit mojo, grilled pear, and cassava frits on top of cilantro rice.

Mike had the paella, complete with chorizo, chicken, mussels, prawns, scallops and halibut. It was a bit spicy for my taste, but Mike enjoyed it. The size of their mussels was very impressive! I kept thinking I actually had two in each shell. My biggest regret about going to Baru was that we were too full for dessert and didn’t get to try any! We both greatly enjoyed the food and we’ll definitely be back for more.