"What kinds of things do you like to eat?" my grandmother asked when I was coming for a visit once, eons ago.

Growing up in Denver, if it was on a tortilla, I'd eat it. Peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs, whatever. Wrap it in a tortilla and call it dinner.

When I showed up in New York, suitcase in hand, Grandma smiled at me and pulled out a large, flat can. The side of it said "Tortillas," and you had to use a can opener. Inside was some sort of flat material suspended in a solution. It was all very disconcerting, and it was then that I understood New York had many things, but Mexican food was not one of them.

But plenty of other Latin and South American cultures found their way into Big Apple cuisine. Peruvian has long been one of them - and now it's finally catching on around here.

Seviche is a kind of fish soup where the fish is cooked in acids rather than heat, and it's also the name - albeit spelled Cebiche - of a tiny eatery in Highland on West 32nd Avenue, a few blocks past all the shiny glitz of Lowell. It's barely a nook of a space, easy enough to miss if you're not looking for it, save for the sizable patio out front.

The restaurant serves Peruvian food that, by most accounts, is decent. I'm certainly no expert on Peruvian cuisine, but the lomo saltado is pretty tasty.

But I wasn't there for the food. Cebiche is also trying to position itself as a night-life spot for Highland, enough off the beaten path to attempt to cultivate a "best-kept secret" image.

It's a gimmick that works great in uber-hip places like L.A. and New York. What's the old gag? "That place is so hip that nobody was there." Something like that.

The plus side of the impossibly small venue is that adding 10 or 15 bodies to the room makes it feel packed. Since there was a band this night, that took up half the room. (Note: Live music is on hold while they work through licensing.)

Still, it's a friendly little venue with a passionate staff, eager to grow the arts side of the biz. It reminds me of the better days at Cafe Cero's (1446 S. Broadway), a strangely laid-out, intimate space that managed to stimulate plenty of creative energy for foodies and barflies alike.

Sure, the room's tiny, the bar's more of a service point for the wait staff than a hangout, the ceiling's too low and there's really no place for a band. But that didn't seem to stop anyone from enjoying it.

And it shouldn't stop you, either.

Cebiche

2257 W. 32nd Ave.

303-433-1305

* Pisco Sour: grape brandy, lime juice, sugar and egg whites. Highly recommended. $7

* The picarones (pumpkin fritters floating in raw sugar cane syrup) may cause instant diabetes, but they're so worth it.

* Live music's on the back burner for now, but the patio "pisco hour" can get hopping weekday afternoons.