Downtown SLO has 3 Peruvian restaurants. Learn why foodies are flocking there
A Latin American cuisine filled with seafood, fusion flavors and vibrant spices is flourishing in San Luis Obispo.
Three Peruvian restaurants have set up shop in a half mile stretch of Higuera Street in downtown San Luis Obispo in the past seven years.
On the south end of SLO’s downtown core, there’s the upscale Mistura at The Creamery. Woman-owned eatery Coya Peruvian Food is toward the north.
Squeezed in the center is Kiko in Mission Mall.
In a city pockmarked with shuttered storefronts, the three Peruvian joints have thrived selling delicious fare from the third-largest country in South America.
San Luis Obispo doesn’t have a sizable Peruvian population in town, nor is Peruvian cuisine a local household staple. Chinese, Mexican and Thai foods are the most Googled cuisines in the United States, according to search data analyzed by foodfirefriends.com.
Here’s why the eateries have attracted foodie followers in the area:
When did SLO’s first Peruvian restaurant open? Meet Mistura
Downtown San Luis Obispo’s first Peruvian restaurant, Mistura, opened at 570 Higuera St. in May 2019.
The modern Latin American eatery was housed near the River Oaks Golf Course pro shop in Paso Robles before moving to a 120-seat location in The Creamery, The Tribune previously reported.
Mistura owner and Italian-born chef Nicola Allegretta said he was introduced to Peruvian food by his wife. Mistura co-owner Jackeline Ortiz De Zevallos-Allegretta was born and raised in Peru.
For several years of their marriage, the couple lived in Peru. There, Nicola Allegretta sampled the country’s top restaurants and perfected his mother-in-law’s recipes.
“She told me all the tricks. So I think my style is more like a home-style food, but with a fancy approach,” said Allegretta, who also owns Mama’s Meatball in San Luis Obispo.
Mistura’s multicultural culinary creations blend Peru’s native Incan and pre-Columbian roots with Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese influences.
The result is an array of farm-to-table dishes, including ceviche, Peruvian sushi rolls and mushroom ravioli. Mistura’s menu is served in an elegant dining room brimming with mood lighting and houseplants.
Kiko, Coya join downtown food scene
Kiko opened at 746 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo’s Mission Mall in May 2024.
Kiko owner Kiko Pomalaza said the Peruvian cuisine and pisco bar took a decade of dreaming to become a reality.
He grew up in Lima, Peru, and worked in the restaurant industry for more than 20 years, working front of house at fine dining establishments and high-end resorts across Southern and Central California before he launched his own venture in San Luis Obispo.
At Kiko, a cozy spot in the back of Mission Mall, colorful pillows line inside seats and an open door draws visitors to a back patio nestled next to San Luis Obispo Creek.
“My goal is create a dining experience, a memorable event (and) connect with humans in a personal level,” Pomalaza said. “That’s the real goal. Through amazing food, amazing drinks.”
Kiko specializes in traditional Peruvian recipes made with local ingredients sourced from the Central Coast, Pomalaza explained.
Dishes served at the restaurant include ceviche SLO — local seafood in a spicy citrus-based marinade with Peruvian corn and caramelized sweet potato — and the Spanish-inspired aji de gallina croquettes, flash-fried balls filled with creamy Peruvian chicken stew.
“You have to bring the authenticity of the experience, but also you have to work with what we have,” Pomalaza told The Tribune. “People don’t know Peruvian food. ... These are the basic dishes, the most representative, and I think that’s important.”
The newest addition to downtown San Luis Obispo’s Latin American culinary scene is Coya Peruvian Food at 851 Higuera St.
Peruvian-born restaurant owner Catalina Vargas immigrated to the United States in 2021. She said she moved to SLO because it reminded her of her home country, with beaches, hills and vineyards.
Vargas worked at another Latin American restaurant in town for a few months before deciding to start her own restaurant in the back of Sidewalk Market, a San Luis Obispo convenience store.
After operating Coya out of Sidewalk Market for nearly four years, Vargas decided to launch her own storefront in December 2024.
“I am blessed,” she said, that customers followed her from the convenience store to her new location on Higuera Street.
At Coya’s new spot downtown, a nearly life-sized stuffed alpaca greets visitors. The rest of the restaurant is chock-full of cultural artifacts, including a plethora of bright Peruvian textiles.
Coya is focused on recipes that have been passed down from Peruvian grandmothers and mothers, Vargas said. She said Peruvian women are rarely a part of upscale restaurants, so she wanted to create a place where they felt welcome and represented.
“This is my focus. This is my No. 1 project,” Vargas said.
Eventually, she wants to build up Coya into a bigger brand with a chain of restaurants that sell a variety of Peruvian goods.
What is Peruvian food?
Peruvian cuisine is a melting pot of cultures, according to Allegretta.
Traditional Peruvian dishes often feature potatoes, Andean tubers and quinoa along with fresh seafood and meat from llamas, chickens and even guinea pigs, according to Britannica.
Peruvian food went through its first evolution when the Spaniards conquered the country in the early 1500s, bringing in wheat, beef, chicken, pork and rice.
In the late 1800s, more than 100,000 Chinese migrants came to Peru seeking agricultural work. With them, they brought their culinary traditions — including rice, ginger and soy sauce, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Peru’s Japanese and Italian populations grew rapidly following World War II.
Pasta and Parmesan cheese started appearing on Peruvian tables, while so-called Nikkei cuisine infused Japanese rice and raw fish techniques with traditional Latin American ingredients.
“Peru is special,” Vargas told The Tribune, noting that the nation enjoys near-infinite flavor combinations thanks to its biodiversity and varied landscape.
Peru is regionally split into coast, highlands and jungle, the Biodiversity Finance Initiative said, and has the planet’s second-largest Amazon forest.
The nation has more than 4,000 varieties of potatoes and the most species of fish in the world with more than 2,000 different types.
Pomalaza said this diversity part of the reason the World’s 50 Best Restaurants named Maido in Lima the No. 1 restaurant on Earth in 2025.
Why is downtown SLO a hotspot for Latin American eats?
Peruvian restauranteurs in San Luis Obispo say diners are attracted to the cuisine simply because it’s tasty.
“Peruvian has more flavors, more colors,” Vargas said. “Any dish is like a bomb of flavor.”
Pomalaza agreed. “Everybody loves amazing food,” he said, adding that San Luis Obispo has room for more Peruvian restaurants.
“The more the better,” he said. “There’s a lot of space for more restaurants. How many Japanese? How many Chinese? How many Thailand, how many Mexican? There’s not just one in town. It’s just people don’t know what they don’t know.”
However, Allegretta is uncertain whether San Luis Obispo can support several Peruvian eateries.
“I don’t think it’s bad having multiple of these restaurants that the concepts are very similar,” Allegretta said. “The diversity of the food, the bold of the food, I think is great, so I think it’s beneficial. But I think ... one of those places, could have been maybe to Santa Barbara, Ventura or LA.”
Will more Peruvian spots pop up in San Luis Obispo?
Another Peruvian-influenced restaurant is already in the works, Allegretta told The Tribune.
He’s set to open a new Peruvian-Italian restaurant at 11560 Los Osos Valley Road in the Laguna Village Shopping Center in early October.
“It’s going to be a fusion,” he said, noting that many Italian residents immigrated in Peru in the 1900s. “So (it’s) Italian food, but they add some hint of Peruvian into it.”
At the new eatery, named Nicola, customers will be able to try tasty pizzas, pasta and ceviche, Allegretta said.
When are SLO Peruvian restaurants open?
Mistura, 570 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The eatery is closed on Mondays.
Kiko, 746 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, is open for dinner nightly from 5 to 9 p.m.
Coya Peruvian Food, 851 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s also open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.
Coya is closed on Wednesdays.
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Downtown SLO has 3 Peruvian restaurants. Learn why foodies are flocking there."
