A taste of Latin America
One of Franklin’s newest dining options takes it’s name from a fruit native to one of the countries that inspires its menu.
A lúcuma is a Peruvian fruit with a black or brown outer shell and a soft, creamy orange inside.
The Lúcuma Cafe is located between the Artcraft Theater and The Willard on Main Street. It serves a combination of Mexican and Peruvian food and opened earlier this year.
The cafe is owned by Soledad Rubio, 55, who moved from her home in Peru eight years ago and currently lives in Greenwood.
Rubio says that her restaurant can offer students a meal that is something different from the ordinary. She says that when college students came to her restaurant, they normally have coffee or the taco salad, but her restaurant offers much more.
Rubio’s favorite dish she serves is the Lúcuma sandwich, which has a special homemade ham and “Peruvian salsa criolla,” which is a salsa that has onion, hot peppers seasoned with lemon, oil, salt and pepper.
Dishes range from items that students may be more familiar with like quesadillas, tacos and smoothies to those that may be a little more foreign like Cubano Loco, which contains roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, American cheese, mayonnaise and mustard.
With the current recession, restaurants may be more likely to go out of business than open their doors. Knowing this, some may wonder why Rubio would open a restaurant, but she embraced the idea and even left the door open for additional future locations.
“I had the opportunity to open with a friend who has another restaurant,” Rubio said. “We wanted to open a small place like this to see how it would go and maybe in the future we can open more lúcuma stores. Even though the time is not good for business, you have to survive and you have to look for different options.”
