A new option for Peruvian chicken has arrived in Vienna, courtesy of a couple with extensive knowledge of both Vienna and Peru.
Cuco’s Peruvian opened its doors today (Wednesday) at 146 Maple Avenue West in the Vienna Shopping Center, taking over a space that had belonged to another Peruvian chicken restaurant, Don Pollo.
Currently in soft opening mode, Cuco’s currently has a limited menu to give customers an initial taste of its offerings. Additional items, including alcoholic drinks, will be introduced starting next Monday (May 5), says Claudia Clayman, who owns the restaurant with her husband and chef Keelan Thompson.
“We feel relief, but the stress is not going to go away until things start running smooth,” Clayman told FFXnow. “It takes some time to ramp up and feel like we are on a good rhythm, but we’re very excited … to be here and that we’re finally open, because it took a little while for us to be able to have the space ready.”
Born and raised in Peru, Clayman now lives in Vienna with Thompson, who grew up in the area and graduated from James Madison High School.
The couple were already contemplating starting their own Peruvian chicken restaurant — one that stays true to how the dish is typically served in Clayman’s homeland — when they learned Don Pollo’s owners were looking to wind down their Virginia operations.
“They have all of their locations in Maryland, and as they were trying to get out of Virginia, it happened that they were looking for someone to take over their lease, and they were also selling all of their equipment, which is already made for Peruvian chicken,” Clayman said.
Though both owners are now to running a restaurant, Thompson has worked in the industry, both as a chef and in food development, “for many years,” Clayman says. In fact, his first restaurant job after graduating from culinary school was at nearby Maple Avenue Restaurant under then-chef and owner Tim Ma.
For Thompson, the experience of opening his own restaurant across the street from where he kicked off his culinary career has been “pretty cool,” according to his partner.
“Vienna for him, as well as for me now, it’s a very special place that we call home and now home for our first culinary adventure,” she said.
While there are existing Peruvian chicken eateries in the surrounding area, including Super Chicken in Tysons and several options in Merrifield, Thompson and Clayman wanted to take a different approach that more closely resembles what can be found in Peru.
According to Clayman, Peruvian restaurants usually only serve fries and salad with the flavorful, charcoal-cooked chicken, though recently, they have introduced more sides like those found in the U.S. “just because people want to try new things.”
In keeping with that tradition, Cuco’s utilizes ovens fueled exclusively by charcoal, and the menu will stay relatively small, even after the soft opening ends.
“We do go above and beyond with our process to make the chicken taste more moist and juicy and with a little more flavor because chicken [is] a protein that can easily absorb flavors but also can be very bland,” Clayman said. “… We were trying to keep less sides, just to make a menu that was a little bit more easy and more fresh. Having less things on our menu allows us to put more attention as well to the things we’re making.”
The chicken can be ordered in quarter, half and whole sizes, with options for white or dark meat. In addition to fries and a vegetable or house salad, sides include fried rice, yuca and cole slaw, according to the online menu.
For a small plate or appetizer, customers can order papa rellena (a fried potato stuffed with beef and served with marinated red onions and a yellow sauce), salchipapa (loaded French fries with half-smoked sausage slices), charcoal-roasted and fried chicken wings, and arroz chaufa (Peruvian fried rice).
In the future, Clayman says they hope to offer specials that will be available for a few days or a week, but the charcoal chicken will remain their “forte.”
With a full bar and a liquor license, the restaurant will serve a variety of alcoholic beverages, including beer sourced from local breweries, wine, pisco, vodka, tequila, seltzer and other spirits.
The inclusion of a bar is part of the owners’ desire to create a more inviting space where patrons feel they can sit down and hang out with a drink and some music.
“We offer a little bit more, because we just understand this demographic really enjoys a little bit more than just your typical ‘let me pick up and go’ [restaurant], but also, we are that,” Clayman said. “We can be both. That’s what we were trying to accomplish.”
Cuco’s Peruvian is open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
