I woke up a new man and very grateful I had decided not to push it yesterday. I had been interested in going to this recommended spot, Nueve, for dinner but they only had lunch available. It was only about a mile away so I tested out my rejuvenated body and walked in the cloudy cool weather to the restaurant.

Known as a “puerta cerrada” which means it’s actually in a house versus a traditional restaurant space. I was very familiar with the concept having been to many of them during my time in Argentina. In this case, it seemed to be a lot closer still to a typical restaurant.

Nueve focuses on small plates to share. This worked for me as I wanted to try a few different things anyway. First up was a crab cake with shrimp tartare on top. The crab cake was flavorful and crispy but the shrimp tartare took it to another level. A great start.

Next was what they called a flank steak and creole potato taco but to me upon first bite brought me immediately to a classic taco al carbon. It was a small but packed a ton of flavor. I would easily have eaten many more of these if offered. But in this case, onto the next.

The final savory course was a Hearts of Palm “pasta” carbonara with crispy guanciale. I wasn’t expecting the “pasta” to be pickled so it took me a bit of time to get over that acidity although the sauce was nice and creamy. Solid if slightly disappointing despite the great plating.

My final course was anything but that – semi-bitter dark chocolate with peanuts and raspberries. Before I dug in, I had assumed it was basically a brittle but soon learned it was closer to an ice cream. Dark chocolate and peanuts is one of my favorite combos so that was a given to be good, but I was surprised how well the raspberries worked with it, adding some needed acidity to the richness.

I headed back home to rest up before my last big night out. I had yet to visit the bustling Zona T district so seemed like the perfect time to do so. Despite being only about a 15 minute walk from me, Zona T felt like a different world. Interesting local shops were now replaced by familiar global brands and depressingly sterile.

I made my way through the large outdoor mall to my first stop – Barra Chalaca. The small restaurant focused on classic Peruvian fare and faced out towards the main thoroughfare which was a cacophonous mess of competing music by the various bars.

Fortunately, soon thereafter my first course arrived – tiradito of tilapia with sweet potatoes in an aji amarillo sauce. This was an excellent tiradito – the fresh fish thinly sliced for the flavorful sauce and broken up by the needed sweetness of the potatoes. Like I was back in Lima.

Since it was getting cold outside, the fish soup with pasta, potatoes and lemons sounded to good to me. The flavorful broth with the lemons worked great with the chunky potatoes and pieces of fish. The only dessert option was chocolate cake so I declined given my lunch.

A few spots down was my next destination – La Huerta, a cocktail bar which had been recommended to me. Featuring over 100 cocktails from local ingredients (Huerta = orchard or vegetable garden), I was soon presented with basically a book of options.

Since I knew I was only going to get one (you’re welcome Morning Guy) I decided to go for something different which they had named cacuyo – whiskey, Tío Pepe sherry, toasted rice and pandan leaf. I didn’t really taste the rice per se but this was a very pleasant cocktail, which I would have enjoyed even more if hotter out. As I sipped my cocktail, I was entertained by the DJ who couldn’t mix to safe his life but was playing decent tunes. Still, after finishing my drink, I was very eager to get the Hell out of Zona T.

My final stop was back towards my place at the microbrewery I had passed several times during my walks. It turned out that it was magic night as I slid into the last available seat at the small bar. I was informed 2 of the beers were tapped out so I selected tasters of amber and American stout. Both were surprisingly good as was the 3rd magician up. In fact, he was so good I ordered a taster of the blonde, which was decent.

Wanting to take advantage of the colder weather with a nice soak in my jacuzzi I left to do just that. This turned out to be just what my aching body needed and soon I headed for bed. Tomorrow would be the last hurrah with one more Sunday brunch and some (American) football to watch.