{"id":33493,"date":"2026-09-29T11:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/33493\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T11:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:18:15","slug":"longmonts-rosarios-continues-to-introduce-peruvian-food-to-new-colorado-diners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/33493\/","title":{"rendered":"Longmont’s Rosario’s continues to introduce Peruvian food to new Colorado diners"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Rosario C\u00e1rdenas first opened her restaurant, her biggest fear was that people wouldn\u2019t want to try the Peruvian dishes.<\/p>\n

But 14 years later, Rosario\u2019s Peruvian Restaurant, tucked in an unassuming strip mall in Longmont, has become an award-winning staple of Peruvian cuisine on the Front Range.<\/p>\n

\"LONGMONT,LONGMONT, CO – JUNE 12: Rosario Cardenas, owner of Rosario\u2019s Peruvian Restaurant poses in front of artwork in Longmont on June 12, 2026. (Joel Solis\/Daily Camera)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe road has been really long and hard to get here, but we\u2019ve been able to open up the restaurant and share food with not just American people but people from other countries, and make Peruvian food more well known,\u201d C\u00e1rdenas said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Estefany Martinez, C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 daughter and a server at the restaurant, says she loves seeing customers who aren\u2019t Peruvian come in and explain classic Peruvian dishes such as lomo saltado and ceviche to friends and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll talk about Peruvian food as if they were Peruvian, and they\u2019re so excited to share with their friends and family,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI think that\u2019s also something that\u2019s really rewarding, because you\u2019re sharing your culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether at Rosario\u2019s in Longmont or atop a hotel in Denver\u2019s RiNo district, Coloradans can find a taste of Peru without leaving the Front Range. The cuisine is also well represented on the world stage, with Peru home to four of the top 50 restaurants in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed to have been born in a country where the culinary scene is so well known and so good,\u201d C\u00e1rdenas said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tour around Peru\u2019<\/p>\n

C\u00e1rdenas has always been passionate about cooking, so when she moved to the U.S. in 2002 and couldn\u2019t continue being a teacher, she dreamed of opening a restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to share my food with people so they can find out what Peruvian food is like,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s opened in 2012 in Dacono, serving both American and Peruvian dishes. About a year and a half later, they moved to their space in Longmont at 625 Ken Pratt Blvd. and focused entirely on Peruvian flavors.<\/p>\n

The Longmont spot is now widely loved both by Peruvians, who say the food reminds them of home, and by those who haven\u2019t tried the cuisine before, C\u00e1rdenas said. Taking to online channels like Reddit, one will almost always find Rosario\u2019s recommended, and the restaurant has been recognized as the best Latin American restaurant in the Best of Mile High awards three years in a row.<\/p>\n

\"LONGMONT,LONGMONT, CO – JUNE 12: Lomo Saltado is seen plated at Rosario\u2019s Peruvian Restaurant in Longmont on June 12, 2026. (Joel Solis\/Daily Camera)<\/p>\n

Peruvian food is unique, C\u00e1rdenas said, in part because of the influence from other cultures \u2014 the Italian, Cantonese, Japanese and Spanish. It also boasts unique flavors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of unique ingredients that we use, like our aj\u00ed amarillo, rocoto chillies, huacatay sauce,\u201d C\u00e1rdenas said.<\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s sources these ingredients from Peru, something that\u2019s become easier as more people take an interest in Peruvian food, C\u00e1rdenas said.<\/p>\n

The ingredients aren\u2019t the only thing coming straight from Peru. Peruvian art and trinkets the family has brought back from trips to the country adorn the walls and shelves near the entrance. Colorful pompom garlands hang from the ceiling, and music plays in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n

Diners have a wide variety of dishes to choose from. There are the classics, such as lomo saltado \u2014 a juicy stir-fry with steak, onions, tomatoes and soy sauce that\u2019s served with fries and rice \u2014 and ceviche, a seafood dish of fish marinated in lime juice.\u00a0But diners can also find lesser-known dishes such as papa rellena \u2014 a crispy, fried potato stuffed with ground beef and egg.<\/p>\n

To drink, customers can enjoy chica morada, a sweet, deep purple drink that Martinez described as classically Peruvian and a \u201csummery Christmas drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those feeling indecisive, C\u00e1rdenas created \u201ctours,\u201d which allow diners to try smaller portions of three different dishes. \u201cI want people to almost take a tour around Peru and Peruvian gastronomy,\u201d C\u00e1rdenas said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Excited to share\u2019<\/p>\n

Pablo Aya, the culinary director for the Colorado-based Hispanic Restaurant Association, said part of what makes Peruvian cuisine unique is the country\u2019s culture and its geography.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a country really based on its roots. They\u2019re rich in history and culture, and that culture gives them recipes, ingredients and cooking methods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aya, who is Colombian, says Peruvian chefs such as Gast\u00f3n Acurio Jaramillo are helping to elevate Latin American cuisine as a whole. \u201cHe transformed Peruvian food and made it approachable and made it tasty and made it better. In the long run, Peruvian, it\u2019s helping the transformation of Latin American cuisine. It was the first one who jumped into the waters and (said), \u2018Hey, here I am, and we\u2019re different, and we don\u2019t have to make bechamels or we don\u2019t have to make beurre blancs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newer to the Peruvian food scene is chef Geoff Cox of Denver\u2019s Cimera. The Pan Latin restaurant, perched on the rooftop of the Source Hotel at 3330 Brighton Blvd., opened just last fall. Cox, formerly the chef of Denver\u2019s Hop Alley, works closely with Diego Mu\u00f1oz, a renowned Peruvian chef who helmed the country\u2019s Astrid y Gast\u00f3n when the restaurant was No. 14 in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I) spent 10 days in Peru eating around (Lima) and learning a lot about the cuisine and just fell in love with it immediately,\u201d Cox said. The cuisine is unique because it\u2019s a \u201cmashup of cultures,\u201d and Peru boasts so many different biomes in one area \u2014 with the Andes mountains, the ocean, and tropical areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chili peppers, oh my gosh, the chili peppers are so unique in their sweetness and their depth of flavors and spice,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s new to the scene, Cox is eager to share Peruvian flavors with others. \u201cEveryone\u2019s been super friendly and welcoming. I think they want to celebrate their cuisine and share it with as many people as possible,\u201d Cox said. \u201cI\u2019m just excited to share it and be a part of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

After winning their most recent Best of Mile High award, the Rosario\u2019s team went to Cimera to celebrate, Cox said. \u201cThey gave us a stamp of approval that they thought we were doing a good job. That meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Rosario C\u00e1rdenas first opened her restaurant, her biggest fear was that people wouldn\u2019t want to try the Peruvian dishes. But 14 years later, Rosario\u2019s Peruvian Restaurant, tucked in an unassuming strip mall in Longmont, has become an award-winning staple of Peruvian cuisine on the Front Range. LONGMONT, CO – JUNE 12: Rosario Cardenas, owner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[64,9,650,18,6723,8361,7,8,2664,947,376],"class_list":["post-33493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-culture","tag-food-and-drink","tag-latest-headlines","tag-lifestyle","tag-longmont","tag-peru","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants","tag-restaurants-and-dining","tag-the-know","tag-things-to-do"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117354053263817254","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}