Gov. Ned Lamont played the role of unabashed promoter Tuesday, drawing television news crews to Coracora, a one-time McDonald’s transformed by a Peruvian family into a finalist for this year’s James Beard Award as outstanding restaurant in the U.S.
“We haven’t celebrated a national championship in over a week,” said Lamont, who traveled to Houston and Tampa earlier this month to witness UConn and Quinnipiac win national collegiate titles in men’s basketball and hockey.
On Tuesday, he only had to go to a shopping center off New Britain Avenue in the Elmwood section of West Hartford, where Macarena Ludena is executive chef at the restaurant her parents, Hector Ludena and Luisa Jimenez, opened in 2011. It is now owned by Macarena and her sister, Grecia.
The celebration came as the restaurant industry, which says it still is recovering from the losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, is lobbying Lamont and lawmakers to reject a bill that would shift labor costs from tips offered by patrons to hourly wages paid by restaurants.
“This is not easy,” Lamont said at the restaurant. “You know, we went through an awful lot, and Coracora and each and every one of you went through an awful lot over the last three years.”
Lamont developed a close, if at times contentious, relationship with the industry in 2020 after initially issuing a broad closure order, then working with owners on the terms for reopening in phases, as well as providing financial assistance to help offset lost...
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