Want to hear about gourmet French food? I could drone on and on. Gourmet Italian food?It's a passionate obsession, currently undergoing explorations at my stovetop that are intermittently successful, and occasionally indigestible. Heck, I've even been known to offer a few boring lectures on the unrealized culinary potential of the "gourmet" hot dog.

It is therefore with deep shame as a restaurant critic and a glutton that I am forced to admit that "Gourmet Peruvian Food" has eluded my consciousness through each and every one of the 25-odd years that I have been researching, cooking and scavenging shamelessly for new reasons to stuff myself. Until now.

Luckily, it's never too late to learn a new love, because true love does not choose its moment, and love does not fear to face the deep mysteries of existence, such as: What the heck is "Gourmet Peruvian Food" any way?

I must admit,I'm still not entirely sure. But I know what I like, and I tend to like beauty that I cannot easily grasp, because such challenges are part of what renews our spirit and makes us alive again.

That's a good thing, especially when the renewal comes so cheap. At Manos Latinas, an unrelentingly plain and still unrefined that has the misfortune to be located on one of those 60-mph sections through Elsmere, you can meet owner Guillermo Llerena (a chef trained in high-end food from his homeland),spend a few measly bucks, tease his adorable young boy and ultimately find a love you never knew exited.

Like love, it might be a strange at first, and hard to embrace, not because it isn't good, but because it is so different potato slices with yellow cream sauce (Huancaina, $5) seem a heavy starter to an American plate, but they are chewy and sort of of cheesy and certainly good. Tiradito de Pescador (fish with lemon,$14) could seem overly aggressive to those unaccustomed to the delicate-but-tangy beauty of ceviche-until you see how seafood "cooked" in lemon juice can be so full of herbal, earthy allure.

Other dishes here will easily touch that part within us all that finds a familiar joy in creamy tastes,soft spices, delicate cooked fish-the Jalea de Mariscos ($13) has saffron-scented loops of octopus, fat shrimp, and moist fish-then serve it with a creamy tartar sauce.

They serve a tender-fried fillet of fish "a la crema" ($14)-dressed with a lush, herbal cream sauce that easily outclasses some "gourmet" food costing twice the price.

They even toss it, sauteed softly,into fried rice (Saltado de Pescado, $13) perfumed with sweet saltines by soy sauce and sesame oil.It stands as one of the best fried-rice dishes i've ever had. The Pescado en Salsa de Azafran ($14) is also lavished with a sauce, deeply flavored with saffron and lusciously rich, forever convincing you that Peru can stand proudly with the seafood-worshipping French and Italians.

That said, Manos Latinos is for now surely no place to take those plush-bottomed and luxury-loving friends - service can iffy when Llerena and his wife are busy (chasing young son Jason, no doubt), and the bathroom (singular) could easily double as a freezer. The chairs, the tables and the general ambience are no more refinished than a shopping center sub shop, and musical interludes are likely to be provided by a "futbol" game and the sound of rushing traffic.

Still, to more than a few die hard food adventurers, comfort-shy accommodations will be mitigated by the family feel and high standards of the cuisine. Stick this place in a trendy spot in Wilmington,add a few adorable servers and squishy banquettes, and you would have one of the most stimulating, pleasing restaurants to hit the county in years.

Even if we didn't see it coming.

MANOS LATINAS **1/2 (good to very good)

2304 Kirkwood Highway (Del.2), Wilmington (eastbound lanes,near Del. 141). (302)996-0266 (302) 685-0774

HOURS: Tue.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.;Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Closed Monday.
DINNER PRICES: Appetizers $4-$18; soups $6-$14; entrees $9.50-$15.
CREDIT CARDS: American Express, Discovery, Mastercard, Visa
RECOMMENDED DISHES: Tiradito de Pescador(fish marinated in lemon juice, $11); Choros a la chalaca (clams or mussles "chalaca" style with chopped onions, herbs and lemon juice, $14); Saltado de Pescado (fried rice with fish, $13); Filete de Pescado a la crema (fish fillet with cream and brandy sauce, $14); Pescado en salsa de Azafran (fish fillet with creamy saffron sauce and shrimp, $ 14)

FOOD: Richly sauced,elegantly spiced seafood gives this "gourmet" Peruvian restaurant a refinement that is belied by its bargain by its bargain prices and spartan setting.

ATMOSPHERE: Food helps mitigate a decidedly comfort-shy dining room, its front door just a few feet from rushing traffic.

SERVICE: Friendly and helpful staff is keen to resolve occasional confusion over the cuisine.