Maria Rondeau and JuanMa Calderón of Boston's award-winning Celeste (Eater Boston's 2018 Restaurant of the Year and Esquire Best New Restaurant 2018) and Esmeralda in Vermont (Esquire Best New Restaurant 2021), open La Royal, their newest Peruvian restaurant down the block from their Cambridge home.

While at Celeste JuanMa recreates his mother’s rustic home-cooking that he grew up with in Lima, his menu at La Royal explores the varied cuisines throughout Peru, offering original takes on dishes from the country’s different regions. Maria and JuanMa bring the same spirit of curation and collaboration from both Celeste and Esmeralda to this project…at La Royal, they have collaborated with professor and award-winning cookbook author Darra Goldstein on a selection of macerated liquors. Maria, a trained architect, has designed the space, transforming a building originally built as a printing press into an open-kitchen space for the community to enjoy and come together. What began four years ago at Celeste as a project of love between husband and wife duo has now become a life project with a crew that has become family!