Atlanta Chef Arnaldo Castillo of Pop-Up La Chingana Is Opening Peruvian Restaurant Tio Lucho Focusing on Ceviches in Poncey-Highland

Right after functioning Peruvian pop-up La Chingana for above a 12 months, chef Arnaldo Castillo is opening his first restaurant in Poncey-Highland this summer time. Castillo is teaming up with veteran Atlanta restaurateur Howard Hsu (Sweet Auburn BBQ) to open up a 130-seat Peruvian cafe known as Tio Lucho’s on North Highland Avenue in June.

Found in the former CO sushi house, the restaurant bears the affectionate nickname (“Uncle Luis”) Castillo’s father earned from the Atlanta Peruvian local community doing the job in a number of Peruvian eating places throughout the metropolis. “I required to pull from that memory and honor him in that way,” Castillo suggests.

Castillo’s father, who has since moved again to Piura, Peru, was regarded for his ceviche in Atlanta, a thing the new restaurant will element on its coastal Peruvian menu. Castillo options to pull from family reminiscences and experiences in Piura and Lima to establish the seafood-large menu at Tio Lucho’s, which blends Peruvian procedures and recipes with Southern components. Search for dishes like tiradito (identical to sashimi), lomo saltado (sirloin steak stir fry), and a couple favorites from pop-up La Chingana on the menu, which is designed for sharing.

Castillo is joined in the kitchen area by chef Manuel Lara, previously the sous chef at Serpas Correct Food. His fiance, Julie Hinson, who currently crafts the desserts for the pop-up, will create the preliminary dessert menu for Tio Lucho’s, pulling from the most well-liked sweets served at La Chingana.

Hope cocktails encouraged by Peruvian flavors and regular drinks as well as Spanish and Latin American wines by the glass and bottle. Beverage expert Sonny Howell is doing the job to make the beverages menu for Tio Lucho’s with bartender Dillon Slay, who worked behind the bar at Kimball Dwelling and now runs cocktail pop-up the Hourglass.

Castillo claims La Chingana aided the chef construct the foundation for Tio Lucho’s, providing him the space to experiment with dishes and even more investigate Peruvian delicacies, culture, and the country’s record. Now he would like his initially restaurant to be a neighborhood place in an area of Atlanta that also holds sentimental worth for him.

“It’s a entire-circle instant for me,” Castillo suggests. “I 1st began doing the job for Hector Santiago at Pura Vida how ever many decades back, and it was my very first encounter into wonderful dining and farm-to-desk delicacies. The reality that I get to open up a restaurant suitable across the street is pretty interesting.”

Hsu, who co-owns Sweet Auburn BBQ throughout the road with his sister Anita, suggests Poncey-Highland is a developing neighborhood with a supportive local community, building it an attractive place to open up a restaurant. He and Castillo related at a pop-up collaboration concerning La Chingana and Sweet Auburn BBQ final tumble, checking out the link among Chinese and Peruvian food.

“I was just like, ‘man, this person — he’s got some thing special’,” Hsu claims. “I felt like I clicked with him, so which is usually significant to me.”

The two finally commenced talking about Castillo’s cafe objectives. The chef already had the business enterprise strategy created as properly as the identify and branding in place.

“We the two occur from immigrant families and backgrounds, and I imagine we value the American dream,” says Castillo. They also share equivalent views on food. Each truly feel it is essential to stand for their cuisines, traditions, and cultures “the proper way,” Castillo adds.

Like the food menu, the style for Tio Lucho’s will replicate the blend of Peruvian and Atlanta cultures uncovered at the restaurant, crammed with lush vegetation and vibrant colours throughout the area to evoke a coastal feel.

Some of the style and design components from the preceding sushi cafe will remain, such as the bar and patio. Castillo and Hsu tapped Peruvian artist Franco Bejarano to make a mural around the bar incorporating the lively Peruvian font recognised as “chicha” that reads, “En Atlanta, se comer rico” or “In Atlanta, you take in good.” Graphic designer Dio Jensen, who is also Peruvian, is planning the symbol for Tio Lucho’s, and local artwork will adorn the partitions as a nod to the restaurant’s roots in Georgia.

To get started, Tio Lucho’s will provide dinner, Wednesday through Saturday, with designs to finally add Sunday brunch and lunch. Castillo and Hsu are kicking off a sequence of pop-ups shortly to introduce Tio Lucho’s to the local community before it opens.

Time is currently traveling by for Castillo, who marries Hinson in May, adopted by the opening of Tio Lucho’s in June. The reality of opening his personal cafe hasn’t entirely sunk in but, Castillo suggests, and almost certainly won’t until he’s in the kitchen at Tio Lucho’s.

“Until I’m breaking down my very first snapper to make ceviche in this article, then it is match time.”

675 North Highland Avenue, Atlanta. @tioluchos.

668 Highland Avenue Northeast, , GA 30312
(404) 781-0931