{"id":83819,"date":"2024-10-03T09:14:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T16:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=83819"},"modified":"2024-10-03T09:14:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T16:14:41","slug":"alli-kaphiy-peruvian-food-truck-spacex-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/alli-kaphiy-peruvian-food-truck-spacex-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"Peruvian food truck beloved by SpaceX employees opens storefront in Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sometimes when she was headed to a lunch spot or catering job, the fryer in Karla Flores\u2019 food truck would catch fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The behemoth she drove was less than ideal, purchased with a $15,000 loan from her father who came into the money through a personal injury settlement. Luckily though, Flores\u2019 siblings were also behind her, and one of them would quickly quell the flames as she kept driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That family support \u2014 and a dedication to authentic Peruvian food \u2014 has paid off for Flores. It earned her a coveted spot serving food at the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne for the last nine years, and now, she\u2019s bringing her dishes to a new brick-and-mortar restaurant at the corner of Wardlow Road and Atlantic Avenue. It sits just over a half mile from the California Heights home where her parents have lived since 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant\u2019s name, Alli Kaphiy, means \u201cgreat coffee\u201d in Quechua, an Incan language indigenous to Peru. Along with coffee, the spot offers a range of Peruvian food including ceviche, burgers and four different sandwiches. Everything on the menu is made from scratch, including the bread for the sandwiches and the aji \u2014 a green, spicy Peruvian sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Flores, authenticity is a big focus. Her parents travel to Peru at least three times a year to bring back staple ingredients for her food truck and now her restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe pay homage to Peru because our cuisine is exceptional,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores, who lived in Peru until she was 9 years old, still makes a point of getting fresh fish for her ceviche every day from the San Pedro Fish Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFresh fish is a must. I grew up with that,\u201d Flores said. \u201cEverything needs to be fresh because it makes a huge difference in the flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peruvian ceviche is far from the others you have likely encountered around Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is made with thin slices of fish with lime juice, salt, garlic and yuyo \u2013 a red algae native to Peru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then of course comes the spice. Flores said she prefers her ceviche only one way, \u201cthe spicier it is, the better it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alli Kaphiy, a new Peruvian restaurant at 3399 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During Latino Restaurant Week Long Beach City<\/a>, which runs through Saturday, you can get a $14 sandwich slider flight from Alli Kaphiy with a pork chicharron sandwich, a roasted chicken sandwich and a slow-roasted marinated turkey sandwich plus a drink of your choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores\u2019 brother Renzo, who inherited her old food truck after she upgraded a couple of years ago, is handling the coffee at Alli Kaphiy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRenzo is very finicky when it comes to the quality of his beans,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavazza, the Italian coffee company, produces a special blend for the Renzo\u2019s coffee truck, which now also serves at SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family is combining those two successful ventures for the Cal Heights brick-and-mortar. Along one of the walls of Alli Kaphiy is a mural depicting scenes<\/a> from Peru, Mexico City and Long Beach to symbolize the family\u2019s journey. It was painted by Long Beach tattoo artist floesome<\/a>, and Flores said it will be a key feature of future stores they open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That journey it depicts is one that came with unexpected twists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores used to work as a mechanical engineer, but about 15 years ago, an injury forced her to change careers. She always had an interest in food, and that passion was reignited when she took a cooking class with a friend at Long Beach City College. After the class, she decided to double major in culinary arts, and baking and pastry arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She finished both degrees in a year and a half and began working for local catering companies not long after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Flores launched her food truck, it was slow going to gather clientele. She struggled to cover the $650 a week she needed to store her truck in a commissary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her family helping her operate the food truck, they made ends meet until they got their big break: meeting Barry Fogel of the food truck booking agency Book That Truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores said Fogel helped her land events all over Los Angeles and eventually gave her the opportunity to serve at SpaceX, where \u2014 to this day \u2014 she\u2019s left a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her customers there all call her \u201cmama,\u201d Flores said, even those older than her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alli Kaphiy, 3399 Atlantic Ave., is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alli Kaphiy is a sandwich and coffee shop run by a family who makes everything from scratch. They even travel to Peru to bring back staple ingredients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":83803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-83819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83823,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83819\/revisions\/83823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83819"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=83819"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=83819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}