Back in 2011, Hector Ludena and Luisa Jimenez took a chance and opened their first restaurant in West Hartford’s Shield Street Plaza, naming it for the Peruvian city they hailed from. 

Coracora took over a former McDonald’s building, its kitchen turning out pollo a la brasa and lomo saltado instead of Chicken McNuggets and Quarter Pounders. It became another local international favorite in the plaza that’s also home to Pho Boston, Shu and the A Dong Asian supermarket. The staff even ended up using the former fast-food drive-through window during the pandemic to offer minimal contact takeout. 

Then in 2022, things shifted in a way the Ludena family still says is surreal and hard to grasp. Coracora was named as a nominee for the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant award, and Macarena Ludena, Hector and Luisa’s daughter, was a semifinalist in the Best Chef: Northeast award category. Suddenly, the local spot was on a national stage.