A Skewer in SoHo, Daddy Yankee Opens Cholapink on Wednesday

Daddy Yankee opens Cholapink, a fast-casual Peruvian restaurant built around grilled anticucho skewers, in SoHo on Wednesday, October 28, with chef Jaime Pesaque running the kitchen and the doors open until 11 p.m.

The restaurant's own site says only this much, in pink. Lima to New York. Coming soon to SoHo. Opening October 28. The rest of the story has come out of Lima and San Juan, where the press has followed the project since summer.

Downtown has its share of celebrity rooms. This one is aimed at a quick dinner, not a long one.

Who Is Behind Cholapink?

Two founders. Daddy Yankee is the Puerto Rican rapper and singer whom El Nuevo Día calls one of the most influential figures in urban music worldwide. Jaime Pesaque is the Peruvian chef in charge of the food, the executive chef and co-founder here, according to Infobae. The New Brooklyn Times describes him as a World's 50 Best chef who built his command of Peruvian ingredients at Mayta, his fine-dining room in Lima.

The deal began with someone else's idea. In July, Peruvian press reports republished by Ecuador's KCH Comunicación said a group of British investors first had Mexican food in mind. Pesaque told Perú21 that Daddy Yankee pushed for Peruvian instead, the reports said.

Those same July reports put the opening in September. It slipped a month, and the restaurant's site now carries the October date.

The singer has told his own version on social media. América TV reports that he traced the idea to a trip to Peru with Pesaque, eating anticuchos, arroz chaufa, ceviche and raspadillas from street stalls. La República quotes him the same way. "It all started with a trip to Peru," he wrote, in our translation from the Spanish.

It all started with a trip to Peru.

What Is on the Menu?

Anticuchos lead. An anticucho is a Peruvian grilled skewer, a staple of Lima's street carts, and Cholapink lets diners build an order by picking skewers, sides and sauces, Infobae reports.

The skewers listed by Infobae include chicken thigh glazed with miso and ají mirasol, beef steak with smoked ají panca, huancaína sauce and chimichurri, and pork belly with sweet and sour rocoto and a pineapple chutney. There is a fish of the day with ají amarillo and yuzu aioli, and a mushroom plate with peanut and ají panca for vegetarians.

Around them sit house ceviche cured in leche de tigre, arroz chaufa and corn in huancaína. To drink, there is an iced muña and mint tea and a house pisco sour named for the restaurant.

"I always look forward to the chance to eat Peruvian when I'm on tour," Daddy Yankee said in a statement quoted by Infobae, in our translation from the Spanish. Pesaque said in the same statement that the anticucho is part of his memories of markets, streets and daily life.

The format is simple. Pick a skewer, pick a side, pick a sauce, and eat.

No prices have been published in any source we read. La República describes them only as affordable for the general public.

Why Is It Called Cholapink?

The name points to the fuchsia of the pollera, the full skirt worn by Andean women, according to Infobae. The room borrows the color. Wood, stone and corrugated metal sit against pink microcement, under a pink neon sign, the outlet reports.

La República reports that J Balvin and Myke Towers were among the guests at a preview event. It is the only outlet we read that named any guests, and we could not confirm the list elsewhere.

What to Know Before You Go

Cholapink opens Wednesday, October 28. It seats 60 and is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to Infobae.

The restaurant's site, Infobae, La República and El Nuevo Día all place it in SoHo, but none of them prints a street address. Check the restaurant's Instagram, @cholapink, before you walk over.

Fast casual means no long tasting menu here. For another chef bringing a street-food idea to a new New York address this month, see our story on Eyal Shani's Naked Tomato.

In Lima, an anticucho comes off a cart. On this block it comes with a pisco sour, until eleven.