I have been a seafood lover for a long time, enjoying everything from tilapia to oysters. As my 21st birthday approached, I knew I wanted to celebrate with two things: my first legal drink and delicious seafood. I settled on having Peruvian food, known for its great ceviches, and headed to Lonzo’s Restaurant in Culver City with my parents and two friends.

All the decor is well thought out, from dish presentation to beautiful murals covering its walls. Valentine’s Day decorations were also present, a nice touch celebrating the season. When we were seated, bread was placed on the table with a green salsa. The bread itself was standard, soft house bread. The salsa, however, served as a great introduction to the restaurant with a subtle cilantro flavor while being perfectly spicy.

Ordering a pisco sour at Lonzo’s was a lovely decision. It had a very smooth texture with a nice foam at the top. Pisco is a type of brandy made from distilling already -fermented grape juice. The cocktail itself, a take on whisky sour, is traditionally made using pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, egg whites and garnished with bitters.

The lime and bitter flavors of the cocktail came together like a margarita with an interesting twist. Instead of bitters, this pisco sour was garnished with cinnamon. The cinnamon flavor was subtle, but added a nice aromatic sensation when taking a sip.

My friend ordered the pisco sour with chicha morada, a drink made from boiled purple corn, pineapple rind and warm spices. The drink is frequently enjoyed on its own, but is also sometimes added to pisco sours. As part of the cocktail, it added a really nice fruity twist at the end that hit your tongue alongside the bitter flavors.

After sipping and enjoying our pisco sours, our food arrived. A friend ordered pollo saltado, Peruvian stir-fried chicken influenced by Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. The chicken was soft, and the sauce it came in was savory, salty and rich in flavor. The dish also came with rice and French fries, perfect for soaking up the sauce.

My parents ordered the seco osso bucco — beef shank slowly marinated in cilantro-beer reduction with peas and carrots. The beef was topped with salsa criolla, a relish made with red onion and peppers, and served with rice, yucca fries and choclo, a variety of corn with large kernels.

The beef in the seco osso bucco was tender and flavorful after four hours of cooking in the cilantro-beer reduction. The reduction was rich in flavor, with the cilantro being the forefront without dominating. Each chew of the beef released more and more of the reduction onto my tastebuds, making each bite better than the last. The salsa criolla provided a fresh tang, balancing out the deeper flavors from the dish.

While the chicken and beef dishes were great, the main reason for my visit to Lonzo’s was to try their Peruvian ceviches.

Ceviche is a popular Latin American dish made with raw fish cured in lime juice, with vegetables typically added as well. Instead of just lime, Peruvian ceviches use a spicy lime-based marinade called leche de tigre. Translated as tiger’s milk, leche de tigre is made by blending lime juice, fish stock and trimmings, and various vegetables and herbs.

The ceviche mixto I ordered had a leche de tigre made with aji amarillo, a Peruvian pepper. The leche de tigre was spicy, salty and limey, and the seafood was fresh. The seafood was a good mix of kampachi, squid, octopus, shrimp and scallops. There was also a fried spot prawn, which didn’t quite mesh well with the fresher, lighter seafood.

The ceviche mixto also came with choclo, toasted cancha, sweet potato and plantain chips, all adding a nice, sweet contrast to the salty seafood flavor of the rest of the ceviche. Yuyo, a type of seaweed, and a red pepper were added as a nice garnish.

A second ceviche primarily had kampachi and fried calamari. The fried flavor in the calamari was subtler, making it mix better with the leche de tigre compared to the fried spot prawn. The fried calamari also paired well with the sweetness brought by all the non-seafood in the ceviche.

At the end of our meal, our waitress and the entire staff sang “Happy Birthday” and brought a slice of flan with a lit candle, with “Happy Birthday” written on the plate in strawberry jelly.

The flan was delectable. It was perfectly soft and melted in my mouth. It had a simple-yet-bold vanilla flavor. A spoonful of flan with a bit of the “Happy Birthday” jelly scraped on created a delicious strawberry-vanilla explosion in my mouth.

Lonzo’s has great food for any occasion. From seafood, chicken, beef and more, the restaurant serves all its food with Peruvian flavor and style. Whether celebrating a birthday or just craving seafood, Lonzo’s will provide a meal worth the trip.

Pablo Rodriguez is a junior writing about international cuisine in Los Angeles in his column, “Global Gastronomy,” which runs every other Wednesday.