Published August 13, 2025 at 11:45AM
L.A. Bar & Grill on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Katie Taranto)
Chillamicito sign in L.A. Bar & Grill (staff photo by Katie Taranto)
Chillamicito sign outside L.A. Bar & Grill (staff photo by Katie Taranto)
A longtime bar and grill on Columbia Pike is introducing new specialty dishes from Bolivia this summer with the help of an overseas restaurateur.
L.A. Bar & Grill’s wide menu of bar snacks and entrees is expanding with Chillamicito, a new pop-up offering a popular Bolivian food, pique macho. The bar at 2530 Columbia Pike launched the menu this summer through a partnership with chef Andrés Ferrufino.
There are four varieties of pique machos
- The dish consists of fries topped with meat — typically sausage or steak — along with hard-boiled eggs and vegetables like tomatoes, onion and jalapeños.
- A menu created by L.A. Bar & Grill owner Richard Arnez and Ferrufino serves four options: prime beef, brisket, prime rib and filet mignon.
- The dish is a special addition for Richard Arnez, who hopes to share part of his Bolivian heritage with L.A. Bar & Grill’s patrons, manager Sebastian Arnez told ARLnow.
Chillamicito is a Bolivian restaurant
- L.A. Bar & Grill’s pop-up takes the name of chef Andrés Ferrufino’s restaurant in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Ferrufino met L.A. Bar & Grill owner Richard Arnez through a mutual friend when he visited the D.C. area earlier this summer.
- “This is a very popular dish in Bolivia, specifically Cochabamba,” supervisor Roger Coroaem told ARLnow. “[Ferrufino] has been popular in his country, and that’s why he wants to try, now, outside the country.”
- The Chillamicito menu is here to stay, Sebastian Arnez said, and the bar hopes to add more dishes in the future.
