Yaku has officially opened its doors, bringing a new era of Peruvian cuisine to Rye in a very familiar location.
Owner Teofilo Matias Huyhua took over the spot that was Belluscio’s, a beloved Italian restaurant that served Rye for nearly a century, and has reopened as an upscale Peruvian restaurant.
For Huyhua, who lived in Rye for two decades, the opening was both a personal dream and a promise kept.
The name “Yaku” means “water” in Quechua, one of Peru’s Indigenous languages. It’s a nod to both Peru’s natural coastal beauty and Rye’s own proximity to the Long Island Sound. Originally, the restaurant had been announced under the name Sumak, after a major Peruvian festival in New York, but Huyhua determined something more in tune with nature would be more fitting.
On opening night, the restaurant buzzed with life. Guests sampled ceviche, anticucho, leche de tigre, and nikkei — a Japanese-Peruvian fusion dish that highlights the cultural blending at the heart of Peruvian cuisine. The bar poured pisco sours, the national drink of Peru, while live jazz with a Peruvian twist set the background for the scene.
“Our food is very rich because it’s like New York City itself,” Huyhua explained. “There’s a big multicultural history in Peru — European, Japanese, Chinese — and we try to work all of that into the menu. We don’t say, ‘That’s not our food.’ We blend global flavors to create one cuisine. That’s the tradition.”
With 10 staff members, six out front and four in the kitchen, Huyhua’s team focuses on delivering a sophisticated and welcoming dining experience. Huyhua, a lifelong pastry chef, plans to expand the menu with his own specialty pastries in the months ahead.
While Yaku is new, Huyhua made deliberate choices to preserve Belluscio’s spirit and feel. The original bar remains in place, as do stained glass pieces, vintage light fixtures, and even the stove and some kitchen appliances. “I wanted to keep the heart,” he said. “We’re not changing the soul of this place, just the cuisine.”
That respect for history resonates with longtime Rye residents. A couple who once frequented Belluscio’s popped in shortly after hearing about the opening. They were relieved, Huyhua said, to see the space alive once again. “Friends and neighbors have supported us from the very beginning,” he added.
The restaurant also showcases wall murals by contemporary Peruvian artist Rudolf Castro, who has decorated many Peruvian restaurants in New York. Despite battling Parkinson’s disease, Castro continues to produce vibrant work, and Huyhua is proud to have his art woven into Yaku’s identity.
“His challenge, perseverance, and beautiful art are now part of this place,” Huyhua said. “It all comes together.”
Challenges, he said, are part of the process.
“When I have a challenge, it makes me think better and more efficiently,” he said. “In life, you have to have challenges in order to keep going.”
Supporting Huyhua as general manager is Valery “Val” Crovetto, a restaurateur with more than two decades of experience and more than 20 restaurant openings under his belt. The two first worked together in 2003, when Huyhua was one of Crovetto’s employees, and they reconnected by chance last year at a restaurant supply store. Shortly after that, the two were in business together once again.
Crovetto now oversees everything from the kitchen to the wine list to the flow of the dining room.
“I build corporations, not just restaurants,” Crovetto explained. “The structure we’ve put in place at Yaku is the same structure a Michelin-starred restaurant in France or Italy would have. That’s the level of care and detail.”
His goal, he added, is to invite the Rye community into that experience.
“We want people to come to Yaku and discover a different kind of dining,” he said. “Something that feels international, but is also very much part of Rye.”
Plans are underway for outdoor seating with an awning in the back during warmer seasons, and Huyhua envisions hosting cultural events that celebrate Peruvian traditions.
Most importantly, he intends to honor the vow he made to Frank Belluscio before taking over the building: to immortalize the restaurant’s community spirit.
“I promised Frank we’d keep the legacy, and we’ll do it with pride,” Huyhua said.
