It’s a typical Wednesday night, and Chef Bruno Macchiavello is milling about the kitchen. He’s hungry, but he can’t decide what he wants to eat. He peeks into the pantry, then checks the fridge, taking a mental inventory of the ingredients on hand. He has just what he needs to make his go-to meal.

In Lima, Peru, where he’s from, it’s typical to eat lomo saltado — strips of steak sauteed with onions and tomatoes — two or three times a week. It’s the kind of meal that brings families and neighbors closer together. Same meal, different day, some might think. But in Chef Macchiavello’s kitchen, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

When he makes it, the co-owner of Yunta Nikkei, a Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant in South End, and Viva Chicken, a fast-casual rotisserie empire rooted in the Elizabeth neighborhood, adds something special as a nod to his heritage: pasta.

“Lomo saltado is a household dish — it’s fast and simple to make,“ Macchiavello says. “The huancaina [cheese sauce], which comes from [the city of] Huancayo and is typically served with potatoes, is very Peruvian. When you add the spaghetti, you get me and my family,” he adds. “We’re Italian.” Macchiavello’s paternal grandfather moved from Genova to Peru following World War II, and his mother is from Sicily.

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