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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Window of opportunity

Her empanadas were a sensation in Peru. Thirty years later, her restaurant dream has come true -- in Winnipeg

By: Maureen Scurfield

Posted: 08/19/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Maria Victoria Zamora (right), husband Guillermo Caceres (centre) and son Jonathan Caceres (left) show off a few dishes, including the empanada Maria is holding, at their restaurant. (MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ) Photo Store

Got a window in Peru? You've got a takeout business!

When Maria Victoria Zamora's husband left Peru for North America to look for a new life for his family, "Vicky" had to think fast. Her family was known for its cooking prowess, and she started early. "By the time I was 12, I was cooking a lot."

She was a mother of four kids, and didn't want to do more piecework at the jeans factory where she was employed. Suddenly, "I felt it right HERE to cook," she said, pointing to her heart.

So, she opened a window of her house, and set up business. "I had only one table with an umbrella to let people know I had a business," she said with a smile.

She started selling food made from her family's ancient Peruvian recipes with unusual spicing. Many of the recipes had been lost to most Peruvian households.

Asked to share some, she replied firmly: "They are still my ancient family secrets."

Word spread in Peru, and she soon had lineups two block long. The favourites were her big, fat, golden empanadas with a sprinkling of icing sugar. She couldn't get them out of the oven fast enough. Zamora was cooking her little apron off! She soon started catering for weddings, birthdays and anniversaries, delivering the food herself.

She knew she had a winner, but it took 30 years until her dream of a real sit-down restaurant came true -- in faraway Winnipeg in a pile of ice and snow.

How did it happen? For several years, hubby Guillermo Caceres lived and worked in Los Angeles, Calif., making leather covers for cellphones to save up some money. He finally was able to bring Vicky and the kids to Winnipeg 16 years ago. At first, he took what work he could get. "I was a cleaner for Vita Health." Then he started working as a leather tooler and upholsterer, and ended up working 10 years at Palliser Furniture. Finally, the couple had the wherewithal to make Victoria Zamora's dream come true.

She opened La Rica Vicky at 570-C Sargent Ave.-- the first Peruvian restaurant in Winnipeg -- on Dec. 22 to a big party of family, friends and people from her church. It was a victory!

"My mother, who was a great cook, told me a family restaurant would never happen in her time, and it might not happen in my time, but maybe in my children's time. So when I phoned her to say I had just opened my own restaurant..." Vicky teared up, recalling the conversation.

Son Jonathan Caceres, 30, who inherited her cooking savvy, is now sharing chef duties. Hubby Guillermo had enough of cooking after he cooked for 500 to 600 soldiers a day in the Peruvian army before becoming a parachuting trainer and making leather shoes and boots for the military. He works out front and helps manage the business.

It's a family affair. "I LOVE my family," said Zamora, whose four children sprouted 14 grandkids in recent years. "And I love meeting the Winnipeg people who have come back from visiting Peru and come to my restaurant, talking about everything they saw in Peru."

Zamora has been back home four times and finally visited tourist favourite Machu Picchu.

What most Winnipeggers don't know is the La Rica Vicky name is a little joke that brings Peruvians to the restaurant, laughing as they come in the door. Just as Tuxedo is known as a famous neighbourhood in Winnipeg, the Victoria or Vicky district in Lima, Peru, has the same kind of cachet. So, Victoria cashed in on the double meaning.

Their restaurant may not be fancy, but it's folksy, with red-and-white checked tablecloths and Vicky bouncing around the place chatting. Lunches get a good crowd and dinners are even better. On the weekend, they are closed Saturday due to their religion, but open Sundays.

La Rica Vicky may be new, but its customers soon become repeats and friends, and chat with each other.

"I look around and I still can't believe this is my restaurant!"

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 19, 2012 A8

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