Mati: Bringing a taste of Peru to Albuquerque

When talking to Trotsky Barreto, you can quickly learn three things about him. He loves Peru, he loves learning and he loves food.

Twelve years ago, Barreto moved to Taos, where he realized a lot of people were curious about Peruvian culture but did not know where to learn more. That brought Barreto a lot of pride and he decided he wanted to do his best to educate people about Peru. He figured the easiest way to do that was through food.

“I decided to take a risk and start a sort of Peruvian cultural center with Peruvian food. When we were selling food, I discovered we were selling culture too,” Barreto said.

Barreto started a Peruvian restaurant in Taos before moving to Santa Fe and starting a new Peruvian restaurant.

Both those restaurants have closed and, now, Barreto is bringing a taste of Peru to Albuquerque with his new Peruvian restaurant: Mati. Mati is set to open Monday and Barreto is excited he can continue to share his love of Peru . Mati will be a dine-in restaurant and Barreto hopes to expand into catering once the restaurant gets settled.

The restaurant is at 303 San Pedro NE and will be open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Barreto said he’s learned that his customers craved not just the food, but the experience along with their meal.

“People want to eat their food, but they wanted to enjoy it with a nice conversation,” Barreto said.

Barreto previously gave cooking classes at his restaurants. Students could learn how to make small Peruvian dishes, like Peruvian ceviche. Barreto told his students stories of Peru during the classes and encouraged them to visit.

“It was a free class for people to learn a little bit about the Peruvian culture and the cuisine,” Barreto said.

His education didn’t stop at cooking classes. Barreto provided cultural newspapers, pamphlets and travel guides in English and Spanish about Peru’s culture and archeological sites.

“What I’m trying to bring is part of my root, parts of my culture,” Barreto said. “I’m so glad to be American now, but I think mixing cultures is about bringing another kind of community to take care of each other and to learn from each other,” he said.

2020 came and Barreto, like many others, was forced to shut down his restaurants. His father passed away and Barreto got sick and decided to take a step away to focus on his health.

“I couldn’t imagine opening another business. That’s why it took me a little while to think about it. And then I said, ‘This is me. This is my personality,’ so I decided to give it another try,” Barreto said.

Luis Garcia, 23, is one of the cooks at Mati and has been working with Barreto for several years. As a child, Garcia grew up in Peru making food alongside his mother. When he moved to New Mexico at age 10, he was constantly on the hunt for Peruvian food but was never able to find it.

“When he (Barreto) told me there was a new restaurant, I was excited and a little nervous,” Garcia said.

Customers can expect to see menu items like Aji de gallina (Peruvian chicken stew dish), Papa A La Huancaina (an appetizer made of potatoes, quesa fresco, and Peruvian spices), and Lomo Saltado, which is traditional Peruvian stir-fry.

Garcia’s favorite menu items are the Lomo Saltado and the ceviche.

“The flavors are spicy but there are some notes of sweet flavors, too. The ceviche is a little sour and really fresh,” Garcia said.

Garcia said a lot of the flavors come from their ingredients, which come from Peru. The restaurant ships in various spices, vegetables and other ingredients.

“Peru has a lot of ingredients you can’t get here,” Barreto said. “There are over 400 different types of potatoes in Peru that you can’t get here. We use four or five of those.”

Barreto said employees are a little scared to see how the public will react to new flavors.

“It’s a hard market because in the past we didn’t have locals coming out as much as we had hoped,” Barreto said. “Usually it was tourists or people who wanted to try new food but we really want people to come out and try.”

In the future, Barreto hopes he can offer cooking classes again. He also plans to offer classes to people interested in learning Quechua, the Indigenous language in Peru. At his former establishments, Barreto brought llamas and alpacas on to his patio to let customers interact with them.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to interact with the animals. We create a bridge for them to understand a little bit more about Latin American culture,” Barreto said. “My ideas are a little out of the box.

“This is our passion. We just want to build bridges in the community.”