On a quiet street in Sunnyside, Bistro Punta Sal has its French doors wide open, letting the late August breeze emanate throughout the space, which is ornate with flowers, paintings and an array of tables and chairs for intimate dinners with friends or a romantic date night. The cozy restaurant, located at 45-51 46th St., is a hidden gem in the neighborhood that is just waiting to be discovered, as the sights and aromas of the restaurant invite guests in.
The Peruvian-Italian restaurant is owned by Chef Saul Morocho, who has owned the space for 18 years, first as a Peruvian Chicken spot, but in 2018, he sought to bring something different to the neighborhood. Taking experience from his earlier years as a chef in Italian restaurants in Manhattan, he combined the two culinary palates for a delicious fusion restaurant that boasts dishes like Fettuccine Huancaina, made with tender grilled churrasco skirt steak with fettuccine, and Burrata Andina, made with buffalo mozzarella layered with quinoa salad and prosciutto.
“In the beginning, we opened as just rotisserie chicken,” Morocho said. “I started looking in the neighborhood, and there was no fusion. Italian and Peruvian have similar things, and I noticed different people were starting to move into the neighborhood, so I said, ‘Why not?’ I have the experience, and we wanted to introduce something different.”
Morocho first came to the U.S. in the late 1980s, moving to the western Queens community when he was just 16 years old. He had a vision to become a chef since he was a child, following in the footsteps of his father, who worked in restaurants in Manhattan.
“My father was a chef in the city, and one day he sent a picture to us; I was a kid, maybe six or seven years old, and the photo really caught my attention,” Morocho said. “To see the chefs and my father with prosciutto, fish, salami and cheese on the table, I can still picture it in my head now like I’m seeing it for the first time, and I said, ‘I like this, I want to be this.’”
After getting his first job as a dishwasher in a restaurant and learning the workings of a restaurant, his brother came to him and let him know there was an opportunity to work in the kitchen and learn how to make Italian dishes at an Italian restaurant in the Upper East Side. From there, Morocho learned all he could and worked in multiple Italian restaurants in the city before eventually branching out on his own. At first, he opened a coffee shop in Long Island City, long before the neighborhood was the bustling space it is now, before eventually closing it and opening a small restaurant in Astoria. When a new landlord took over the building, he closed the space and opened the spot he is in now in Sunnyside, which was initially a neighborhood gem for Peruvian chicken and other staples. In 2018, when he made the shift toward a unique and delicious fusion, it was partly inspired by the earlier days in his career, working in Italian restaurants in the city.
The restaurant offers an array of dishes that highlight Peruvian flavors and classic Italian cuisine. Right now, the restaurant has a burrata salad that is perfect for warm weather, made with quinoa, cherry tomatoes and avocados. Their ceviche mixto is another must-try, made with raw mixed seafood in fresh lime juice, served with cancha, Peruvian corn and sweet potatoes.
Other noteworthy dishes include traditional Peruvian entrees like Lomo Saltado and carne asada. The Fettuccine Huancaina offers the best of Peruvian and Italian cuisine with its delicious handmade pasta and grilled sirloin steak with Peru’s iconic huancaína sauce. Other fusion dishes include Risotto Ayacucho, made with creamy risotto infused with Peruvian yellow pepper and shrimp, and Paccheri Picante, made with large homemade pasta tubes with slow-cooked short ribs in smoky aji panca.
The restaurant has an array of cocktails and spirits to enjoy with dinner, including their Pisco Sour, a traditional Peruvian drink, an array of wines and more. For dessert, guests can indulge in choices like chocolate mousse, Tres Leches, mango mousse and other delicious treats to end the meal right. The cozy space has warm and friendly service, and it is definitely a space guests will be looking forward to returning to after enjoying a meal there.
“I think it’s a beautiful fusion,” Morocho said. “Customers come here and they ask, ‘Can you make this pasta?’ We can make any pasta-what we’re doing now, we’re trying to reach different people.”
Bistro Punta Sal is open seven days a week: Monday through Thursday, 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, 12 p.m.to 11 p.m.
To learn more, visit their website or follow them at @bistro_punta_sal
