Peruvian throwdown

Cora Cora
162 Shield St.
West Hartford
 
Tonight, it's a Peruvian throwdown: Cora Cora, the middle-class homecoming queen, faces Piolin, the scruffy cousin from the wrong side of the tracks. See our previous blog post about Piolin.

Cora Cora's exterior is pretty blah--it looks like it was the former home of a fast-food franchise--but the interior is warm and clean, with flatteringly dim lighting, tablecloths and cloth napkins. The walls of Cora Cora are decorated, predictably, with woven Peruvian tapestries and posters depicting (presumably) classic Peruvian scenes and landscapes. Families and couples chatted in English and Spanish as pop music played in the background. You could bring a date or your parents to Cora Cora. In comparison, they might be a bit disconcerted by Piolin's plain tables, fluorescent lighting and blaring Spanish-language TV. But we suburbanite Hartfoodieans like a bit of grittiness (style-wise, not in the food) to make us feel like urban pioneers.

The menus of both restaurants are quite similar. Both offer plenty of traditional Peruvian dishes with beef, seafood and of course roast chicken, which is our favorite offering. To ensure a true comparison, we ordered the ceviche mixto and the medio pollo a la brasa just as we did at Piolin. We also ordered something new: arroz chaufa or Peruvian-style fried rice with beef, which was colorful and tasty and better than any other fried rice we've tried.

Arroz chaufa. Tastes much better than it looks here.

The roast half chicken, served with crisp tostones (double-fried green plantain chips), is just as good at Cora Cora as it is at Piolin--tender, juicy and flavorful, it's enough to make an amateur cook despair of producing anything half as delicious at home.

How do the Peruvians get their chicken so perfect?

The ceviche impressed us less, especially in comparison to the entrées and to Piolin's version. While the marinade had a nice balance of acidity from lemons and limes, and freshness from green herbs, we felt that the red onion overpowered the delicate flavor of the fish, calamari and octopus, and that there were not enough shrimp or mussels (only one mussel!) given the otherwise generous portion size.

Ceviche hiding under an onion blanket.

We washed it all down with a Corona--sadly lacking a lime--and a Cuzqueña, a Peruvian pilsner that complemented the food nicely. We were almost completely satisfied with our meal, except for one glaring omission: the green sauce! At Piolin, we poured this addictive sauce (whose main ingredient we have since been informed is huacatay, a green herb--thanks, Sergio) all over our dinners and still couldn't get enough. Here at Cora Cora, we were served a thick yellow sauce with our fat fried corn kernels that just didn't have the same fresh, spicy, creamy taste of Piolin's.

Service was attentive, friendly and prompt. When our bill came, we noticed a bit of a difference in price as compared to Piolin: tonight's meal came to $45 plus tip, while a comparable meal at Piolin cost $36 plus tip. Although Cora Cora serves delicious food at a reasonable price, we consider Piolin the winner of the Peruvian throwdown.