Fresh Face: Frisco’s Chicken

When Francisco “Frisco” Gomez De La Torre first came to Lancaster in 2009, he had just lost his Manhattan hotel job in the financial crisis. He was interviewing for what seemed to be the only job opening at a hotel in the Eastern Seaboard, at the Lancaster Marriott. As he rode his motorcycle around the Lancaster countryside, Frisco called his wife, Veronica, who was living in Peru at the time.

“I think I’ve found the place where we can settle down and grow our family,” he told her.

A decade later, the Gomez De La Torres have two daughters and are still in love with Lancaster. They spent those 10 years building a home, raising their children, and pursuing their dreams. This fall, Frisco opened the popular Frisco’s Chicken, a Peruvian-style chicken restaurant on New Holland Ave in the middle of a pandemic, when many restaurants were going out of business.

It turns out, Lancaster loves Peruvian chicken. Frisco jokes that he and his business partner, Josh Rinier, have to pinch themselves every few days.

“It’s been beyond our wildest dreams,” he says. “The popularity of the restaurant and ourselves, the love of the food from the community.”

For those who haven’t tried Frisco’s chicken yet, imagine a deeply flavored, slightly charred rotisserie chicken served with fresh veggie sides, your choice of spicy sauce, and perhaps a slice of tres leches cake for dessert.

“It may sound like a cliche,” says Frisco as he reflects on the popularity of his chicken, “but I have to ask, if this is not the American dream, then what is? It really comes down to that.”

To find more information on Frisco’s Chicken, visit their website at friscoschicken.com.