Peruvian Cuisine Comes To Orange Street

Causa, a Peruvian appetizer served at C’viche 181.

The tastes of Peru have come to the corner of Orange and Court Streets.

There, C’viche 181, a new restaurant at 181 Orange, is serving 12 different kinds of ceviche — a Latin American marinated seafood dish that Mayor Toni Harp called heaven” — among other Peruvian and fusion entrees.

On Wednesday morning, Harp joined restaurant owners Christian Bonilla and Mariella Ordonez for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate C’viche 181’s opening. Although the restaurant has been running since June 29, Ordonez said she and Bonilla, her husband, were eager to formally inaugurate the space — something they had not had time for during the busy first months.

Bonilla and Ordonez prepared a spread of foods for the occasion, ranging from Chicha Morada, a sweet drink made from purple corn, to Causa, a potato appetizer topped with a dollop of chicken salad.

Ordonez, with Bonilla and Harp, cuts the ribbon.

For Bonilla, who emigrated from Peru in 2002, serving Peruvian cooking has been a longtime dream. He opened his first restaurant, Ceviche Palace, in Bridgeport and chose New Haven as his next destination.

Bonilla said he picked New Haven for its ethnic diversity and bustling downtown. Business has been good, he said.

Right now this block of Court Street, which is a little jewel of a block, just doesn’t have that much energy,” said city economic development chief Matthew Nemerson.

Nemerson called C’viche 181 an example of new businesses shifting the hub of city commerce from College and Chapel Streets back toward the Ninth Square and the historic downtown center.

Such a shift, he said, is necessary when imagining a future New Haven with more commerce and more jobs in which downtown is connected to the Wooster Square neighborhood.

This is economic development; this is an economic driver,” said Tony Rescigno, president of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. And it’s not just about food. Look at this place, It’s cool … It feels like some upscale, big city kind of restaurant.”

Rescigno called the restaurant business one of the city’s most important areas of growth, comparing it to the italian eateries that have transformed Boston’s North End neighborhood into a tourist attraction within itself.

Nemerson said he stopped there for lunch this summer. He ordered ceviche and a rice and lamb dish, and he plans to come back.

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