The Peruvian Corner opens in Franklin Square with whimsical takes on classics
The Ecuadorian dish llapingachos with mashed potatoes and a peanut butter sauce is shaped like a face at The Peruvian Corner in Franklin Square. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
Three different flags are on display at The Peruvian Corner in Franklin Square. First, there's a large American flag draped along the wall of the bright dining nook by the front door. The other two flags are mini toothpick versions that come out with dishes. A red-and-white Peruvian flag juts out from a pyramid of rice in the lomo saltado. A combination platter called the "bandera," which literally means flag in Spanish, is adorned with the yellow, blue and red flag of Ecuador.
The bandera is a combination platter of Ecuadorian specialties at The Peruvian Corner in Franklin Square. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
Co-owner David Astete hails from Lima, Peru and his wife, Gisella Astete, is from Guayaquil, which is Ecuador's largest city and the gateway to the Galápagos Islands. Most of the menu is Peruvian, with a large selection of classics including ceviche, Peruvian pollo a la brasa or rotisserie chicken, and the shredded chicken dish aji de gallina. But there's also a smaller section of hard-to-find Ecuadorian classics, which are whimsically adapted by their two chefs, Pedro Infante and Bryan Cabrera.
Astete said the differences between Peruvian and Ecuadorian food are minor, and that the two neighboring countries share many dishes with slightly different names and ingredients.
"In Peruvian food it's arroz chaufa. In Ecuador it's called chaulafan," he said. "Ecuadorian style ceviche is made with mustard and ketchup. In Peru it's made with lemon."
But some Ecuadorian dishes stand on their own. Although it's difficult to say out loud three times fast, llapingachos is one of the most recognizable dishes from Ecuador. The name stems from the Quechua word "llapina," which means to smash. The dish is Ecuador's version of a fried, smashed potato pancake. Although you wouldn't know this immediately when the plate hits the table, because these potato pancakes ($26) are covered in the thick peanut butter sauce that's common in Ecuadorian cooking.
Whomever cooked it must have a sense of humor, because the whole thing is shaped like a funny cartoon face. The potato pancakes are the eyes, and there's a fried egg for a nose and a curvy sausage as a mouth. Thinly sliced red onions jut out top like bushy eyebrows. (There's also another Ecuadorian toothpick flag spiked into avocado slices.) The mashed potato cakes are more on the mashed side and less on the fried side, giving them a hearty comforting flavor underneath that nutty sauce.
If you've never had Ecuadorian food, Gisella might recommend the bandera ($32) sampler platter so you can try more dishes. But ceviches and stews don't make the best bedfellows, so sub it out with a full order of the seco de chivo, the dark red goat stew that in Pre-Colombian times was prepared with chicha the fermented corn drink, but here is cooked with imported South American passion fruit and lulo juices. The goat is soft and tender fall-off-the-bone. The stew is so rich and deeply spiced that it makes you want to learn more about Ecuador and its ancient culinary history.
The Peruvian Corner, 281 Franklin Ave., Franklin Square, 516-270-3565, theperuviancornerny.com. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
