Popular Peruvian restaurant is making sure to keep things green
By Toi Creel
Peruvian Restaurant Qusqo Bistro is expanding their Westside presence.
On Thursday, May 13 the restaurant opened a delivery-only ghost kitchen called Llama Love Vegan with vegetable-only dining options.
The menu features Peruvian favorites that pull inspiration from menu items at Qusqo Bistro. For example, Llama Love offers the vegetable saltado, but instead of using beef, like in the original dish at Qusqo, a vegan alternative is provided. The same goes with menu items like their arroz con cauliflower, which uses the vegetable instead of chicken, and causa which uses vegetables and avocado instead of mayonnaise and tuna.
This venture of opening up a kitchen isn’t a new concept for owner Lucy Haro. Haro told Eater LA “We do have a lot of vegan sauces and indigenous ingredients that come from our native roots. In Latin America, natives use a majority of plant and fruit-based diets because meat can be a luxury.”
When Qusqo Bistro first opened 13 years ago, the traditional Peruvian meat dishes always included an option to replace meat with vegetables. The sauces themselves, such as their aji verde or aji amarillo, were already vegan.
There will also be Peruvian drinks available for purchase at Llama Love such as a chicha morada, Inca Cola, and sangria. Llama Love Vegan is open Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 12:00 pm until 3 p.m.
