I still am surprised to see Limo with their offering of Peruvian small plates, sangria, no corkage fees for Oregon wines and their large outdoor patio not on the PDX hot list, but the better for me to enjoy a leisurely summer dinner outside on a Saturday night. I was sad to see that the delicious lamb rack I had last visit (one year ago) was not on the menu. I ended up going with mostly small plates anyway… the better to have room for dessert at Salt & Straw up the street.

We started with the Classic Ceviche of fish tossed with Limo chili, cilantro and lime juice, topped with julienne onions, which came in a generous portion. The Causa, a dish of potato mashed with lime juice, Aji Amarillo chili and spices, this one with mushrooms, was ok but although the size was more appealing than when I had causa at Andina, the flavors were blander.

Another appetizer which I added to compose my combo of small plates entree, was Anticuchos, skewers marinated in Panca chili, black mint and spices with golden potatoes and drizzled with anticucho sauce, had good flavor for the beef skewers but were chewy dry meat once you went past the outside. Yuquitas con Huancaina, Fried yucca with a yellow pepper cheese sauce, had a nice crispy air puff quality, but the sauce again seemed very mild, although I liked that it had the slightest hint of heat to it.

The Asparagus with feta and white truffle oil drizzle was perfect as is: I love when it is lots of thin asparagus as there is more area exposed to char, and the addition of the saltiness from the feta and richness from the white truffle oil enhanced the fresh soft tip and firm crunch of the asparagus. The Arroz con Mariscos Tradicional, seafood, peas and rice cooked paella style, came brimming with seafood but didn't have the slight toast to the rice that you would expect from the advertised paella style.

I was disappointed that two other small plates I wanted were out of stock that evening. I guess I'll have to try it when I return on some future visit. Next time, I think perhaps Limo could be a starting point to a progressive dinner that includes sangria and small plates in the open air patio which I think are Limo's strengths, and then move north on NW 23rd for more courses.