There have been thousands of articles published referring to Hartford’s “Little Italy,” yet so far, no mention of “Little Peru” has been made by the Courant even though there are — hold on, I’m counting — somewhere around seven Peruvian or Peruvian fusion restaurants on Franklin and Maple Avenues. Across town, there are another two Peruvian establishments on New Britain Avenue, one inside the Parkville Market on Park Street, one inside El Mercado on Park Street, and one at the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue. That’s only what I know of, and if by the time this publishes another one opens, I will not be surprised.

The Flaming Llama, for starters, has possibly the best name of any restaurant of any kind in Hartford. It’s fun. It’s bold. You have to expect that from folks who decide to open a business during a pandemic. Their doors opened in October 2020.

Lights

Grilled octopus, tostones, maracuya (passionfruit drink), lucuma (fruit drink with flavor like butterscotch or sweet potato), grilled tripe, parihuela (“explosion of seafood”), several varieties of ceviche, salchipapa (sliced, fried hot dogs over french fries), wontons, tiger’s milk, “llama la llama” (pork chop, rib eye, grilled chicken and shrimp, two anticuchos, and four sides), and icy rolls (rolled ice cream) in flavors like banana nutella and smores. You’d be hard-pressed to not find something of interest on that menu.

The Flaming Llama is on Frankin Avenue.