Álvaro Paez is an entrepreneur from Peru who runs a restaurant and grows chili peppers and aguaymanto. /FV.
Peruvian chili peppers and rocotos are grown on the fertile land of Santa Ana, an effort by entrepreneur Álvaro Paez to supply his restaurant El Peruanito.
Paes arrived in El Salvador five years ago after marrying a Salvadoran doctor. A chef by trade, he began exploring opportunities to establish a restaurant in 2020 when the economy was facing recession, but with the goal of upholding the standards of Peruvian cuisine that are among the most acclaimed in the world. It will be.
To do so, he first has to ensure that the most everyday products are available, where he works with growers in the Santa Ana Volcano to grow aguaymanto, also known as the Cape gooseberry, as well as chili peppers, rocoto and corn. We have started a campaign to
While the corn crop was the first to die, the aguaymanto seemed to be going from strength to strength until late blight wiped out 1,000 plants and led to the loss of two tons of fruit.
He asserted that the word “give up” was not in their vocabulary and that they had replanted “elsewhere.”
Mr. Páez has agreements with seven Salvadoran producers in Candelaria de la Frontera and Ochupce, Santa Ana province, who will deliver the seeds and bear the losses.
“They’re all located in strategic locations. What I’ve learned in the five and a half years of living here is that although El Salvador is small, it has a lot of microclimates,” he said. .
Yellow peppers, limousine peppers, and rocoto peppers are grown in Santa Ana. /FV
There are expansion plans.
Located in Plaza de Montelena in Antiguo Cuscatlan, El Peruanito is the first restaurant in Paez that seeks to conquer the Salvadoran palate with recipes that make you feel like you are in Lima, Peru.
“It’s not easy to start. Taking on is about spreading your wings, taking off, and doing everything you can to get your way. We’re moving forward,” says the team, who hopes to open a new location next year. says the thinking entrepreneur.
With the coastal region’s tourism “boom,” Mr. Paes is exploring opportunities in El Tunco Beach, where rents have soared to the same level as in the wealthy streets of Zona Rosa.
He also explored Sao Miguel Island and was asked to open a restaurant there, he says. But Paes believes it’s time to take his business to the next level and establish a ceviche bar format.
Paes is working with another Peruvian chef to prepare a new version of the menu, which currently consists of 42 dishes and 50 drinks, including pisco brandy, Inca Cola soda and Cusqueña beer. It also includes items imported from Peru.
data
Álvaro Paez also grows crops in Guatemala and brings corn for his restaurant. We are also a supplier to other Peruvian restaurants in El Salvador.
Source: Diario.Elmundo
