No Free Lunches

Yeah, this was pretty good, but lets get into the details. (Pandebonos are incredible)

Pacifico is a new Latin American restaurant in Hayes Valley, with influences from Latin America, (specifically Colombia but some Peruvian influence) mixed with fresh California produce and seafood. I don’t have a lot of experience with Colombian food, so I was very excited to experience the cuisine for essentially the first time.

Interior: Modern aesthetic, upscale, comfy chairs, music was fire

I went during Brunch, and here’s what me and my mom ordered:

The FOOD:

Pandebonos (con guayaba) $16:

Okay, I’m just gonna start by saying that these were a spiritual experience. If you don’t know what Pandebonos are (it’s alright), they are a traditional Colombian cheese bread made with Cassava starch. The cassava starch gives them a really interesting chewy texture, while still maintaining a relatively crisp outside, which makes them great texturally. When it comes to the flavor, they were SO GOOD! These ones had Guava inside, and the sweetness and slight sourness from the guava complimented the light, slightly salty cheese. So to summarize, so you can taste it through the screen, as you bite in you are met with the bite of the outside, which then transforms into a chewy, warm, soft combination of mildly salty cheese, and Guava.

Restaurant:	Price per Pandebono:	Portion:	Reasons for discrepancy?
Pacifico	$4.00
Chao Pescao	$2.16	Almost exactly same size	They sell their pandebono’s to go on their website, instead of serving them in the actual restaurant, meaning the price wouldn’t be affected by presentation. Also, the rent cost of Pacifico’s civic center location is likely higher.
Bocadito	$3	Shape more donut like->but actually seems slightly bigger	This place is a pop up, and doesn’t have a permanent location, so not having to pay rent would allow them to charge slightly less for a larger portion size. Also, like Chao Pescao, the presentation of the dish isn’t a factor in the pricing.

Bocadito Pandebono

Okay, now talking pricing: Off the jump, 16 big ones for 4 pieces seems steep, despite how good they were. For a frame of reference, I compared the price of Pacifico’s Pandebonos, to a few other SF restaurants which serve them. As you can see, Pacifico’s Pandebonos, while delicious, did reign supreme when it came to price. Additionally, the Guava isn’t the reason for this discrepency, as it only has a $1 upcharge (so price no guava would be 1/ $3.75.

Ceviche de Pescado con Calamari Frito $28:

Okay so right here we have a Peruvian-style ceviche with halibut, red onions, leche de Tigre(Zesty, Umami liquid which the fish marinates in) plantain chips, some fried octopus, and Cancha- Peruvian corn kernels.

One of my favorite aspects of this dish were actually the corn nuts, which added a really nice nutty flavor (they reminded me of this one snack I used to have) which paired nice with the super acidic, and tender halibut. There was just a lot of stuff going on, which actually worked in the favor of the dish. I just mixed a little of each part, put it on a plantain chip, and drizzled it with that deeply savory and super punchy leche de Tigre. You can’t go wrong with fried calamari, and this doesn’t change my mind. However, it did start to get a little soggy by the end, but the flavor was still there.

Restaurant:	Price:	Differences:
Pacifico	$28	————————
La Mar Cocina Peruviana	$24	This one utilizes Jumbo shrimp instead of octopus, but octopus is generally more expensive per pound. Also, the portion at Pacifico seems notably larger, as well as including more overall ingredients.
Limon	$24	Size is very similar, but seemingly slightly smaller; also includes calamari. Also no plantain chips, but plantains are cheap so that shouldn’t skew the price noticeably.
Mochica	$24	Wow, another 24, what the what! This one is notably the smallest of the group, as well as not including any calamari.

Average Price: $25

Talking pricing: because this was a more upscale restaurant I was expecting a super tiny portion, but it was honestly pretty good. I found some other (Upscale as to have accurate comparison) Peruvian restaurants offering a similar rendition of ceviche, with leche de tigre and cancha. Overall, Pacifico did have the highest price out of the ceviches I looked at, but it also seemingly had the largest portion, as well as containing a substantial amount of calamari.

Calentao $28:

This one was good, but definitely was the weakest of the dishes we ordered. This dish is comprised of plantains, rice, beans, basil, an egg, and pork belly. Calentao is usually just a dish comprised of leftovers from the day before eaten for breakfast, and while it did taste very comforting, I had a few issues. First of all, it just tasted slightly undersalted in general, which really irks me. Also, the rice and beans were kind of mushy. The pork belly was good, but certain pieces were chewy, which is NOT the texture you want pork belly to have. However, it did have a nice savory flavor which complemented the plantains well.

When it comes to price, it is clearly quite steep for the actual ingredients involved.

Ingredient (Approximation):	Price (Average US price):
Cup of rice	~$0.10
1/4 cup of red beans	~$0.15
3 grams of thai basil	~$0.10
1/2 of normal sized plantain	~$0.40
egg	~$0.25
6oz pork belly (Honestly a little generous)	Roughly 3-6 dollars depending on sourcing, but for this estimation I will use $4.5 dollars.
Miscellaneous (ex: seasoning, oil)	$0.50

Total estimated price: $6->Cost to price ratio: ~21.4%

This is a very low ratio, which signifies that the markup is extremely high, compared to the industry average of around 25-35%. This aligns with the Upscale nature of the restaurant, as it also relies on the interior design, atmosphere, and presentation of the dishes in order to appeal to the customer. Yeah not really the best deal though.

Final Notes:

To start, I would like to acknowledge the fact that there infinite factors which could influence the price, like the neighborhood the restaurant is located in requiring higher or lower rent, supply chain issues, the taste of a specific one could be the best ever, or that the actual portion of a certain ingredient could range. This post was simply an attempt to consider some of the potential factors which could influence the pricing, and whether or not it is justified.

Overall, I was thoroughly satisfied with my meal at Pacifico, and if you ever go get the pandebono it’s great.