Photography by Martha Williams
When Atlanta summer heat rolls in like a steam engine, nothing hits quite like ceviche. The refreshing Latin American dish, raw seafood “cooked” in citrus juices, is cool, fresh, and zingy. Sure, you can scoop up tubs of it from your Sam’s Club (yes, really), but, if you want the real deal, look to Peruvian ceviche. Peru’s version is the OG. And, since 2023, it’s earned a spot on the United Nations’ Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a distinction that recognizes the significance of the way a particular food is prepared and consumed. Peruvian ceviche joins the previously honored French baguette and Italian Neapolitan pizza as a dish considered vital to humanity’s cultural fabric. That’s a lot of pressure for a citrusy bowl of fish. But it lives up to the hype.
Peruvians have been perfecting ceviche for more than 3,000 years, ever since Inca fishermen began tossing together freshly caught fish with salt and aji, aka chile peppers, for lunch. When Spanish colonizers showed up with limes, the dish evolved into what we know today: pristine seafood, bathed in leche de tigre, or tiger’s milk (a citrusy, milky marinade), served alongside sweet potato and giant corn.
Today, some 3,200 miles from Peru’s capital city of Lima (as the crow flies), Atlanta is serving up excellent renditions of this ancient delicacy.
“Atlanta has some of the best in the world,” Telemundo Atlanta anchor, and proud Peruvian, Adhemar Montagne says.
He’s lived in Miami, New York City, and San Francisco, so when Montagne says Atlanta serves some of the best Peruvian ceviche, the locals listen. Turns out, he wasn’t kidding.
Cuzco Peruvian Cuisine, tucked away in a Buford Highway plaza in Brookhaven, doesn’t look like much from the outside. But push through the door, and you’re in a bustling, fútbol-obsessed slice of Peru. Family-run and deeply authentic, Cuzco’s ceviche mixto (fish and shrimp) is as fresh as it gets. The marinated fish is as smooth as butter, with all the traditional sides: sliced sweet potato, choclo (large-kernel Peruvian corn), and a mini mountain of red onions. Order a glass of chicha morada, the sweet purple-corn drink, and watch fútbol on the TV screen inside.
In Poncey-Highland, Tio Lucho’s brings a hip, coastal energy to its modern “fusion” ceviche game. Peruvian-born chef Arnaldo Castillo’s ceviche mixto (snapper, octopus, and shrimp) is spicy with complex flavors, served with Sea Island red peas and traditional plantain chips. Peru’s northern cevicherías all show up in this punchy version. It’s the kind of dish that’s just right alongside a happy-hour cocktail or a nonalcoholic passion-fruit lemonade.
And, up in Alpharetta, Little Tokyo offers a casual hybrid: a sushi restaurant with a Peruvian soul. Tucked into a quiet strip mall, it looks like the kind of place that serves Japanese staples in suburbia. But, behind the unassuming exterior, chef-owner Daniel Londoño, of Colombian and Peruvian descent, is crafting his ceviche dishes “to order.” His ceviche clásico is a minimalist masterclass inspired by the versions served in Lima: fresh fish, lemon, aji limo, and salt form the base, with additions like ginger, garlic, and celery.
They say no two ceviches in Peru are alike. And the same holds true in Atlanta. Here, your ceviche might come with a side of fútbol, plantains, or even both. It’s your call. All it needs is one secret ingredient.
“The secret ingredient?” Londoño asks, rhetorically. “It’s love.”
This article appears in our August 2025 issue.
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