Word of Mouth: Cuzco

Reviewed by Todd Kliman

Cuzco

10801 Fairfax Blvd.
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-865-8150

Cuisines:
Peruvian, South American

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
None nearby

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
Chatty

Reservations:
Not needed

Special Features:
Kid Friendly

Website:
Click here to open in new window.

Best Dishes
Ceviche; aji de gallina; chupe de camarones; beef hearts.


 

Reader's Rating:
5 out of 5

From Kliman Online's "Word of Mouth"

Add the year-old Cuzco to the growing list of good Peruvian spots in the area. (The honor roll: La Flor de la Canela in Gaithersburg, La Canela and La Limena in Rockville, and Desi's Chicken and Steak in Falls Church).  

The owner, Eduardo Cabrejos, is an almost twenty-year restaurant vet (he spent a big chunk of that time with the Great American Restaurant Group). He calls himself a chef, and does help out in the kitchen, but the job is mainly left to his head man, Maximino Quispe. Quispe worked at many of the best kitchens in Lima, and was the former chef at the salsa-charged El Cuzco Restaurant in Arlington (no relation) a decade ago.  

The menu touches all the bases: rotisserie chicken, heaping plates of steak and potatoes, teeming bowls of seafood stew, a handful of Peruvian-Chinese stir-frys—even a chicken eggroll. I'm eager to return to continue my explorations of this long, sprawling roster of dishes, but so far at least, there's little I don't like. And much that I love. The ceviche (its marinated fish sliced thin, in the Peruvian manner) is excellent; the aji de gallina, a shredded chicken stew in a spicy cheese sauce, is marvelously garlicky (it's listed as a dip but eats like a small stew); the flavors in the classic shrimp soup, chupe de camarones, are robust enough to offset the heavy cream; and the anticuchos, though they might have spent a couple more time on the grill and developed a more pronounced char, are about as yielding as you can expect beef hearts to be.

-June 24, 2008 

Reader ReviewsWrite your own review
 
Excellent Exciting and flavorful food
czulick — May 31, 2009 8:05 PM
I have had an office dinner and a soccer team dinner at Cuzco, and I was thanked over and over by the people who joined me. Cuzco is one of my kids favorite places to eat. Personally, I love the ceviche, and the portion is large enough to make it More ...
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