On the tail end of the lunchtime rush at this blue-collar Peruvian eatery, the last lonely papa rellena didn't win me over, and the chicken noodle soup seemed skimpy. (Later, from my stool at the narrow counter near the display case, I saw that each murky yellow pint concealed a hardboiled egg.)
I settled for the stewed pork (large; $6), but with no more than a potent-sounding name to go on, wasn't willing to wash it down with hierba luisa. Though some web sources also call it lemon grass, the preponderance of the evidence maintains that hierba luisa is one and the same as lemon verbena, the same shrub that lends its flavor to the ever-popular Inca Kola.
Juanita Nacional Coffee Shop
127-11 Willets Point Blvd., Willets Point, Queens
718-898-1091
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