Qora Peruvian Café, a newly opened and family-owned restaurant is bringing a new Latin American fare to Peachtree City. The location, along Highway 54, near Walmart, was previously home to Athena’s Pizza. Owners Mikaela and Piero Diaz envision the café as a place to come read a book, do remote work, meet up with friends, and of course eat delicious food and drink smooth Nicaraguan coffee.
Mikaela considers the café a “mom and pop” shop as she is the one sourcing the mostly organic ingredients, seeing to their quality. “I choose my tomatoes, I choose my avocado, and it’s gas, it’s time, but I feel like it is so worth it because you can see how fresh our food is.” The dishes are the work of her husband. “We can see Piero’s hand in the plates,” says Mikaela. “He makes it with love.”
The Qora sandwich is a must try as it is inspired by a popular Peruvian dish called chicharrón, which is made with lightly fried pork belly marinated the Peruvian way, with pickled onions and their specialty Qora chili, all on a toasted ciabatta bun. The café has also recently added one of the most popular dishes in Peru, lomo saltado. It consists of sirloin strips marinated in a homemade beef broth reduction with Piero’s secret ingredients. The number one seller is the made-from-scratch empanadas that are slightly sweet, air fried, and come with aji amarillo sauce, a non-spicy aioli of yellow Peruvian pepper. The owners note that, “[w]e do have a blend. We do have most of our Peruvian food, but we have a few things that are more American friendly.
The Diazes, who met while in culinary school, relocated from Peru last September after having visited at the insistence of Mikaela’s sister. “We fell in love. We felt like this is perfect,” said Mikaela. The family made use of an investment visa which requires a sizable investment in a qualifying commercial enterprise and the creation of, at minimum, 10 jobs for U.S. citizens within the first two years of operation. After plans to rent a space at another center fell through, Piero and Mikaela selected their current location sight unseen. “It had potential,” said Mikaela, “but it was in rough shape. I am so proud of the job we’ve done.” Motivating the Diazes’ move was their desire for their three children, Mateo, Benjamin, and Valentina to have a better future. “it is why we’re here, why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
Visit Qora today at 2731 GA-54 in Peachtree City, GA. They can be found on Instagram by clicking here. Also see Qora on tik tok: qoracafe
