Peruvian Brothers, a 10-year-old food truck business started by immigrant brothers focusing on food from their namesake country, opened its second brick-and-mortar location last Friday at Metropolitan Park, Amazon’s HQ2 campus in Pentagon City.
Brothers Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone, who came to Washington from Lima, Peru, as teenagers in the 1990s, started their food truck business in 2012. It has since grown to multiple food trucks and a catering business, whose clients include the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and embassies of Latin American countries.
Their first brick-and-mortar location opened in 2019 at Union Market, part of the La Cosecha Latin American market, which has partnerships with embassies in D.C. and cultural and diplomatic leaders from the Latino community.
The 2,000-square-foot Metropolitan Park restaurant, much larger than its Union Market location, is open for lunch. Dinner and brunch will be added in coming weeks, with indoor and outdoor seating, as well as live music. The menu includes empanadas, fried pork tenderloin sandwiches, ceviche, stir fry and Pisco sour slushies.
“After years of perfecting our craft, we’re excited to have a space large enough to share the full experience of our culture, heritage and flavorful Peruvian cuisine with our community,” said Giuseppe Lanzone, who is also a two-time Olympic rower for Team USA.
At the bar, there is a wooden model of the BAP Union, a sailing vessel known to Peruvians that was used by the Peruvian navy to improve diplomacy and trade. It is hand-carved by Mario Lanzone.
There is also a mural created by local artist Jeff Huntington that pays homage to the ancient Inca god of the sun.
When Amazon announced plans for Metropolitan Park, the 2.1-million-square-foot phase one campus of its Arlington headquarters, it committed to filling the campus’ 67,000 square feet of retail space with locally owned businesses. Peruvian Brothers is the latest of more than a dozen local restaurants and retailers.
