Restaurant spotlight:: The 4C’s Restaurant

What do you get when you combine chicken, coffee and cones in Culpeper- It's called the 4C's Restaurant, one of the newest to set up shop downtown.

Adjacent to the Culpeper Diner, the 4C's serves food that is distinctly Peruvian, but an extensive menu also boasts Italian, Mexican, American and yes, French, fare. Customers can also order espresso, Hershey's ice cream, seafood dishes, fresh salads and homemade desserts.

So what's the deal with all the variety- It's a reflection of owner Luis Galarza's 24-plus years in the restaurant business.

He calls it continental cuisine.

"You know, a little Italian, a little Mediterranean - all the dishes I loved when I was cooking," said Galarza, 51, who grew up in Lima and moved to D.C. a decade ago. "And also my roots, Peruvian. I remember from 6 years old being in the kitchen with my mother."

Three years in the making, the 4C's, a non-smoking facility, opened in May; four years earlier Galarza, and his wife, Maria, took over at the Culpeper Diner. He clearly recalled the day they discovered the still-sleepy town.

At the time, the Galarzas - who have five daughters, and a son on the way - were living in Alexandria, where he was manager at a French restaurant.

Luis had contemplated opening an eatery in northern Virginia but the prospect proved too expensive. Then he heard about the Culpeper Diner.

"And I was wondering where Culpeper was," he said, though his family had passed by many times before en route to Luray Caverns. "As soon as we came in, my wife and I were looking left and right, saying, 'Wow, this is a beautiful place, look at that, I hope one day I have a house like that.' "

The restaurant is located at the corner of Main and Locust streets near Culpeper Cinemas.