Lomo Arigato, Mr. Roboto: Peruvian-Japanese fusion food truck hopes to roll out

In our ongoing series of profiles of L.A.'s nouveau food trucks (the DineLA truck, Grilled Cheese Truck, Nom Nom Truck, Frysmith, Kogi), we bring you Lomo Arigato: a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese flavors sold out of a converted FedEx truck (Twitter: @LomoArigato).

The operation is almost entirely a one-man show that's driven, staffed and cooked by Eric Nakata, 27. Growing up in Gardena and West L.A., Nakata always had a thing for food and started in the industry as a dishwasher at Torrance ramen shop, Men-Bei. He went on to work at Kamiyama Sushi in Lomita, where he spent two years training as a sushi chef under Travis Kamiyama. Around 2006, Kamiyama partnered with Rocio Yamashiro to open Kotosh, a Japanese Peruvian sushi bar in Lomita.

"I knew the catering part and the food is good, but we never really got new customers," Nakata says. "Not a lot of people looked at Peruvian food and Japanese food and thought: That's a pretty good fusion. From there, I thought we had to let other people in L.A. try this."

While still working at Kamiyama and Kotosh, he moved into catering, providing sushi for celebrity birthday parties, working with the Patina group to bring sushi to the Hollywood Bowl and feeding the Dodgers before Friday home games.

Inspired by a trip to Osaka, Japan, Nakata found, "You could walk down the street and within two blocks you'd be full because there were so many street vendors." Back in Los Angeles, he was thinking of ways to advance his culinary career beyond sitting around and waiting for people to call. And then came Kogi.

"I was like . . . 'Why did I wait so long to do this?' " Nakata says. "Oh, right. I didn’t have the capital."

He briefly had a partner but after she pulled out Nakata had to go it alone. He sank his life savings into developing the recipes and renovating the truck, even signing over his Scion XB as collateral for a loan. "And I had just paid it off," he moans. "This is the biggest risk ever."

The centerpiece of the menu is that staple of Peruvian cooking, saltado: your choice of beef, chicken or tofu stir-fried with onions, tomatoes, cilantro and French fries in a sauce made with soy and red wine ($7 to $8). You can also get it with spaghetti instead of French fries (tallarin saltado, $7 to $8) or fried rice ($7 to $8). Every meal comes with a side of creamy jalapeno hot sauce, and drink options will include Inca Kola. Nakata is also planning on weekly specials like a California tostada made with a creamy imitation crab mix on top of a tostada and topped with salsa.

That's if he manages to get the truck rolling. On his test runs, his six-wheeled baby broke down the first time out. Then it overheated. Another time, a fuse popped. Then one of his cooks quit. Barring more catastrophes, Nakata hopes to roll out Lomo Arigato at the end of next week or the beginning of the week after on a route that hits art walks, gallery openings, special events and local bars.

If Peruvian and Japanese don't seem like an obvious flavor combo, Nakata urges: "Try something different."

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo credit: Lomo Arigato

Comments

[Cesar Carbajal]

Nikkei (Peruvian-Japanese) food in Lima is currently booming. The Japanese have been present in Peru for over 100 years now, first incfluencing the way Peruvians ate their raw fish and now creating one of the most spectacular nikkei cuisines in the world. Nobu recently returned to Lima and recognized that his stay in Peru in the 70´s marked his cuisine.

[Tom]

I always wondered why they don't have trucks drive around neighborhoods, like the ice cream trucks do.

Just imagine, the "adult food" truck comes and all the adults go running outside.

[michellemabelle]

it's not about the trucks. it's about the food and specifically, street food...
street food has always been a part of many cultures in europe, asia, africa. it is in the united states that its connotation consisted limitedly of hot dogs,popcorn, pretzels, and such.
these entrepreneurs are bringing fabulous food to us all at more reasonable prices, because they dont have to pay for expensive leases and other expenses that go along with brick-and-mortar establishments.
let's support them and be open-minded...

[marie]

Geez Louise, who got LA's panties in such a bunch? What a dismal person. Anyway, I say "good luck" and hope to see the truck in my neighborhood. I love Peruvian-Japanese food and use to eat at Mario's on Melrose and Vine back in the day when I worked in the area. It was great food.

M.

[Fernando Romero]

EXCELLENT!

We need one in San Diego, but:

"creamy jalapeno hot sauce" ... do you mean "peruvian chile" ... we do not have "jalapenos" in Peru, neither Japan.

Good Luck,
-Fernando

[Helena]

Benjamin: Fujimori was President of Peru, que no?!
Claro que si!

[LA]

I have to repost what someone else wrote regarding another one of these lame trucks. It truly is mockery of something driven our of necessity rather than an attempt to to chic. Stop this lame trend. Open up real restaurants and contribute to the economic in a more substantial manner.

"So roach coaches are the last bastion of shabby chic, huh? Like everything else bored Silverlake trust fund kids line up for, the food truck craze is just an overpriced, boring, status-driven bit of symbolism that stands for mockery of something poor people do out of necessity. Like hanging out at the Little Joy, drinking Pabst and wearing a trucker hat, they want to be poor so badly, but it just ain't happening.

Or maybe this is geared toward the "political consultants" and "media directors" those kids will be in a couple years; you know, the neo-yuppies who just long for a little nostalgia for back when they were still living in the "bad part of Williamsburg" and pretending to be poor.

Just when you thought no generation could be more self-consciously postmodern and ironic than the boomers, here come their kids; please, at the very least, open a proper stand and put a giant grilled cheese sandwich on the roof, will you? Where's your sense of culture?"

[Dhani]

This is cool I can't wait till I encounter the this truck!

[already a fan]

peruvian-japanese! i've had a bit of this around the usc area and absolutely loved it -- beautiful, delicious food! look forward to seeing this out on the streets. good luck!

[Benjamin]

Peruvian-Japanese fusion? And why is this a surprise? There are a lot of Japanese in Peru, que no?! Fujimori was President of Peru, que no?!

[K. Corona]

I think Erik is a few decades behind the times. Japanese and Peruvians in Peru have been "fusing" for a long long LONG time now so this is hardly anything new.

Also Lomo, Pollo, or whatever saltado is actually "Chifa" which is a type of Chinese/Peruvian fusion that has also been "fusing" for decades in Peru as well.

I'm not a fan of the trucks to begin with but this just reeks of blatant opportunism with no real interest in cooking "good quality" food.

KCorona