Bolivian street food finds its place at the fine dining table

AP PHOTOS: Bolivian street food finds its place at the fine dining table

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Women eat noodle soup at a street stall in El Alto, Bolivia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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A street food vendor prepares a traditional soup from the Andean region called “Wallake” made with fish from Lake Titicaca, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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A food vendor prepares a dish at the Yungas Market dining room in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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An Anticucho vendor prepares grilled potatoes and beef heart at her street food stand in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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People eat pork cracklings at a street food stall in La Paz, Bolivia, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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A food vendor serves a plate to a customer on the street of La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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People walk past La Rufina restaurant in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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A vendor prepares “Anticucho,” a beef heart based dish consisting of small pieces of grilled meat and potato on skewers, in El Alto, Bolivia, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Chef Carolina Chuquimia prepares a dish of beef steak with yucca at La Rufina restaurant in La Paz, Bolivia, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Street food vendors prepare “Anticucho,” a beef heart based dish consisting of small pieces of grilled meat on skewers, in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Patrons eat at the Yungas market dining area in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Street vendors prepare fast food on the streetside in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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A vendor selling peach drinks called “Mocochinchi” as he waits for customers at his street stand in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Anticuchos made of potato and pieces of beef heart are grilled at a street food stand in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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People line up to buy fast food on a sidewalk in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

By PAOLA FLORES and JUAN KARITA

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — From the world’s highest navigable lake, Titicaca, comes a culinary treasure: crispy-skinned fish, cooked in a hot copper pan and served with Andean boiled corn and dehydrated potatoes in traditional clay dishes.

It’s a signature dish of Chef Dennis Llusco at La Rufina, a restaurant in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, that was recently lauded by the U.K.-based organization 50 Best Discovery as one of the world’s best restaurants.

“La Rufina started as a very small kitchen,” said the 30-year-old chef, a native of the Lake Titicaca region. “We never dreamed of having two locations or being included in the 50 Best Discovery list.”

Llusco is one of a growing wave of Latin American chefs drawing inspiration from their roots, elevating the humble street food of Bolivia to haute cuisine.

Stepping through La Rufina, opened in 2021, is like taking a journey through Bolivian traditions. Diners can mingle with cholitas — Indigenous women wearing the traditional, multilayered Andean skirts and black hats — and sample the flavors of street corners and markets.

The menu highlights local favorites, such as the baked potato stuffed with savory minced meat stew, a downtown La Paz staple. Another signature dish prepared by Llusco is “anticucho,” a popular Peruvian street food dish of grilled beef heart fillets served with potatoes and yellow chili pepper sauce.

Not PARSE.LY: La Paz

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Chef and food researcher Marko Bonifaz said Bolivia is undergoing an interesting movement that involves integrating haute cuisine with street food, and it is no longer just an attractive option for tourists, but for Bolivians themselves.

Llusco’s cuisine, deeply rooted in the teachings of her mother and aunt, who sold food on the streets of Bolivia, embodies this movement.

“These simple dishes reconnect us with our culture,” she said. “They make me very happy.”

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