Just one week into the spring semester, downtown College Park has suffered its first restaurant casualty: Chicken Rico.
Known for serving traditional Peruvian food like pollo a la brasa — commonly known as Peruvian chicken — as well as chicken fried rice, fried plantains and yucca, Chicken Rico offered unique choices in an area saturated with fried chicken and buffalo wing eateries.
But the beloved restaurant shut its doors for good Sunday, and a moving van picked up Chicken Rico’s brightly colored tables, chairs and couches. Now, all that remains inside are the muddy boot prints made by those who hastily removed the furniture Sunday night.
Chicken Rico’s owners could not be reached for comment.
“That’s too bad,” the city’s Director of Planning Terry Schum said upon hearing the news. Schum said she would often hold night meetings at Chicken Rico and have the restaurant cater events.
While the reason for Chicken Rico’s departure remains unclear, Schum said that restaurants in the area often struggle with high rents.
“Unfortunately, in these times businesses sometimes have trouble making the high rents, and if they’re unable to negotiate other terms with their landlord, they have to go,” she said.
Representatives from Greenhill Capital Corporation, which owns Terrapin Station, the stretch of stores that housed Chicken Rico and includes Vito’s Pizzeria and Wata-Wing, declined to comment.
The restaurant’s closure has many upset students crying “fowl.”
“I liked that it was authentic,” senior geography major Sophie Tullier said. “It was just real food. It wasn’t like Chipotle.”
Others agreed it added some ethnic flare to an otherwise chain-riddled downtown area.
“It’s the only real Hispanic restaurant in the area,” junior sociology and Spanish major Meaghan Mallari said.
Chicken Rico’s departure is “bad for businesses” in the area, Vito Riccio, owner of Vito’s Pizzeria, said. He also stressed the need for variety in downtown College Park, and praised Chicken Rico and nearby Kiyoko Express, all independently owned restaurants.
“As a business owner, I didn’t want to see them leave,” Riccio said. “I wanted to see the three of us succeed. To see them go, it makes me nervous. But I’ve been getting support.”
Riccio said places like his pizzeria and Chicken Rico are able to give personal touches that chains like Domino’s and Quiznos can’t. Students agree.
“It was casual, and the ladies were always really nice, chopping up the chicken,” junior environmental science and policy major Jenny Azarian said. “It’s just hard for small family-owned places to pay the rent because it’s probably through the roof.”
But despite student outcry and just months after installing a neon sign above their door, Chicken Rico has flown the coop.
“It’s disappointing to see the real good stuff that’s reasonably priced [go out of business],” Riccio said. “I’m worried about us all.”
rhodes at umdbk dot com
