The Brief

Nineteen hours after leaving Coachella Valley, Oscar Deleon Jr. stepped off a bus with four bags of clothes, $800, admission to Chico State University, and no idea where he was going to live or work. All he knew was that he was taking his agriculture professor’s advice from College of the Desert and transferring to a university to continue his education.

He checked into a hotel. Two days later, at orientation, he learned about the Rapid Rehousing program at Chico State. The program’s community partner, True North Housing Alliance, a nonprofit that addresses homelessness in Butte County, paid for Deleon’s hotel bill. The university transferred Deleon to student housing for the school year and helped him secure financial aid to cover most of the cost.

“When I needed somewhere to go, they were willing to help me out, no questions asked. ‘Let’s get you situated,’ you know? You don’t forget that kind of help,” Deleon said.

Since the program launched in 2020, the College Focused Rapid Rehousing program has helped over 9,000 students facing housing insecurity or homelessness. Through partnering with local community-based organizations, Rapid Rehousing provides students with emergency housing, rental subsidies, case management and advising.

Rapid Rehousing operates at all 10 University of California campuses, 25 community colleges and 18 California State University campuses. Students in the program reported higher GPAs and improved mental health and nutrition, according to an evaluation of the program in 2025 by the Center for Equitable Higher Education at Cal State Long Beach. As of 2025, California spends $31 million annually on Rapid Rehousing programs in higher education. The governor’s proposed budget for 2026-27, released in January, also includes $31 million.

Rapid Rehousing came to the rescue

Following the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, Butte County lost over a third of its housing stock, impacting students at Chico State.

“A whole town was lost of housing,” said Emma Jewett, the senior basic needs case manager at Chico State. “Our students are often struggling to get housing and find sustainable housing as it is, because they don’t have the qualifying factors, such as making three times the rent.”

But students everywhere were having a hard time finding affordable housing. In 2018, 10.9% of 27,805 students surveyed across the Cal State system reported they had experienced homelessness in a Student Basic Needs survey commissioned by the chancellor’s office. In a separate survey of California community college students, 19% of nearly 40,000 respondents had experienced homelessness between 2016 and 2018.

Meanwhile, off-campus housing costs across the state increased by more than 30% between 2018 and 2022, according to California Competes, a research organization focused on higher education and workforce issues.

In response, the state Legislature included $10 million for a rapid rehousing pilot program in the state Budget Act of 2019, with $3.5 million going to UCs and $6.5 million to Cal States. Universities applied within their systems to receive grants to participate.

Left to right, Emma Jewett and Leah Slem, staff leaders of the Basic Needs Center at Chico State, stand inside a Rapid Rehousing home in Chico on Feb. 5, 2026.

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Salvador Ochoa

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CalMatters

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Chico State was one of the Cal State campuses initially awarded funds in 2020, alongside Long Beach, Pomona, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San José. The state expanded the program to include Northridge in 2021. All UC campuses participated in the pilot as well.

Moving from kitchen to garage to student housing

Rapid Rehousing felt like a “support system,” said Eli Reyneveld, a third-year communications major and soccer player at Sacramento State. He didn’t always want to be a student athlete, but after playing soccer at Modesto Junior College, the opportunity presented itself. “I scored a lot of goals,” he recalled.

When he received a Division I scholarship offer to cover his tuition at Sacramento State starting in spring 2024, he had just two days to accept. He worried whether he would be able to afford moving from his parents’ house in Modesto.

“I wasn’t ready to move anywhere, but I had to just take the jump,” Reyneveld said.

At first, Reyneveld moved into a house with five guys on the soccer team. He slept in the kitchen and paid $550 a month for his share of the rent.

It felt far from a home. It was hard for Reyneveld to get enough sleep, and there were tensions among his housemates. He moved into a different house shared by more of his teammates, where he slept on a mattress in the garage for $800 a month. A full night of rest was just as hard to get as the sound of cars never stopped.

Being a student athlete required Reyneveld to juggle school, traveling for games, training and maintaining a healthy diet. But his living conditions made it hard to eat and sleep consistently.

He avoided telling trainers and staff about his living situation, recalling being “too prideful to tell anybody,” until his athletic performance deteriorated. By September 2024, his trainer pulled him aside at practice and Reyneveld told him everything.

Eli Reyneveld, a member of the Sacramento State men’s soccer team, on the university’s soccer field on Jan. 27, 2026.

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Aliza Imran

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CalMatters

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That week, Reyneveld met with Basic Needs Center staff and, that night, he was transferred into a hotel that Rapid Rehousing fully covered. Three days later, he moved into student housing where he would pay just $500 a month for five months, meals included.

“As soon as I got moved into a room, I think my coach and trainer could tell you, like, my performance is 180. I was a whole new player,” Reyneveld said.

Reyneveld moved out of student housing in February into his own apartment, where Rapid Rehousing is now paying him $200 a month for five months to help with his rent.

“I was about to turn down the scholarship to a D1 because I didn’t have the necessary means to move, but I just took a risk and (it) ended up working out because people are helping me,” he said.

Local organizations help campuses assist students

All campuses with Rapid Rehousing partner with community organizations that connect students to case managers, housing assistance, and academic and mental health support.

Long-term case management makes a big difference, according to Jessica Wolin, a public health lecturer at San Francisco State, who led the Cal State Long Beach evaluation of the program.

“Our evaluation showed the more meaningful outcomes for students who are experiencing homelessness is through this longer term, higher touch, more holistic intervention,” Wolin said. “And those needs are not met with (just) an emergency voucher.”

At Sacramento State, all students in the Rapid Rehousing program pay $500 per month toward their housing costs until they are ready for the next step. Other campuses, such as Chico State, determine students’ costs based on what they can afford. On-campus teams also work with financial aid offices to incorporate emergency grants into students’ aid packages.

Rapid Rehousing also teaches students about managing personal finances, understanding lease agreements, handling roommate conflicts, and planning for housing after graduation. Community partners work with students one semester prior to their graduation date to find housing they can afford or find relatives they can live with after graduation.

“Because these programs are (tied to enrollment), we have to make sure that we structure them so that students have some sense of urgency about the importance of working with us to find their next more permanent and stable housing that will be more long-term,” said Sacramento State Campus Wellness Director Emily Tupper.

ince 2020, Chico State’s Rapid Rehousing Program has provided over 600 students emergency shelter, transitional housing, or grants.

“A lot of students were thinking about dropping out of school and, after, they report that Rapid Rehousing has helped them stay in school,” said Chico State Basic Needs Director Leah Slem. “Our program is a lifeline to these students who possibly would have dropped out had they not received this assistance.”

When R.S., a student at Chico State who requested anonymity due to her international student status, first heard from her parents that they were on the verge of going bankrupt, she immediately went to the university’s International Student and Scholar Services office. In less than a month, she moved out of her off-campus apartment into on-campus student housing, which has been fully covered since November 2024.

With the help of her case manager, R.S. was referred to work on campus at Chico State’s Hungry Wildcat Food Pantry, which helped pay for her tuition.

International students often face unique challenges in college, Wolin said. In addition to not being able to access family support nearby, they are also not eligible for benefits like CalFresh.

“I was kind of going through a lot, but I didn’t really reach out for anything until the water almost got into my nose, and I’m like, ‘Oh no, you know, if I don’t help myself, who can help me?’’’ R.S. recalled. She urges all students to put themselves “out there” and to not be scared to ask for help.

Even with programs like Rapid Rehousing, housing insecurity still affects students across the state. As of April 2024, 1 in 5 community college students, 1 in 10 Cal State students and 1 in 20 UC students face homelessness, whereas 1 in 12 face homelessness in the general California population, according to California Competes.

From formerly homeless to doctoral dreams

The Cal State Long Beach evaluation of the Rapid Rehousing program at eight Cal States and two community colleges revealed how homelessness and housing insecurity disproportionately impacts certain student groups.

Of Cal State students, 4% identify as Black or African American, compared to 18.5% of Rapid Rehousing students. One-third of Cal State students are transfers, but transfers made up nearly half of Rapid Rehousing participants. Three-quarters of Rapid Rehousing students were first-generation, compared to a quarter systemwide. Foster youth made up 17% of the program, versus less than 1% of all students at Cal State.

Wolin said the findings reveal that “the program is reaching who they need to reach.”

As a formerly incarcerated, first-generation and transfer student at Chico State, Deleon recalled how “even having an associate’s (degree) was a big thing” for his family. He enrolled at College of the Desert to earn a 25-unit certificate in agriculture. On his first day, he recalled his professor telling him, “if you’re here for the certificate, you may as well stay for the degree.”

He completed his associate’s degree in agriculture, delivered his class graduation speech, and got accepted by all five Cal State universities he applied to. But after he left a long-term relationship at the end of that school year, he found himself homeless and couch surfing.

At Chico State, Rapid Rehousing helped Deleon remain in student housing throughout the 2024-25 school year while he worked on campus at Project Rebound, a program that supports formerly incarcerated students. In June, he moved into a shared off-campus apartment.

This fall, Deleon will be starting a master’s degree in agriculture at Chico State, and he hopes to later obtain a doctorate. If it weren’t for Rapid Rehousing, he said he doesn’t know if he would have had “the courage to stay in school.”

Deleon just returned from his first plane ride and research trip in Puerto Rico, where he saw plantain, mango, coffee berry and pineapple farms. Agriculture is what led Deleon back to school, he recalled, but Rapid Rehousing kept him in it.

“I’m planting those seeds of getting a Ph.D. now,” Deleon said. “(As) someone that’s formerly incarcerated, messed up his life before he got it back together … now that I have a second chance of getting my life right, look what I’ve done with it, with the opportunity I was given.”

Khadeejah Khan is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

Spectators in L.A. this summer for the World Cup could pay up to $209,000 for a private suite for just one match, but union workers at SoFi Stadium are worried they'll miss out on the action.

Bartenders, cooks, dishwashers and servers represented by Unite Here Local 11 have staffed the events held at the stadium since it opened, from the 2022 Super Bowl and NFL games every fall to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé concerts. That includes positions in suites, where fans can pay top dollar for private rooms, food and drink.

But FIFA has brought in another entity entirely to run its luxury program for World Cup fans. The company, called On Location, is FIFA's official "hospitality partner," offering those that can afford it exclusive seating, special gifts and meals. Their packages can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Luxury suites for fans attending the World Cup at SoFi Stadium cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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FIFA

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Workers at SoFi say they're worried that FIFA's relationship with On Location means jobs that would typically go to union workers — and the wages and tips that go with them — will instead go to subcontractors without union protections. It's one reason they're threatening to strike when the World Cup comes to town.

 "We have so many wonderful workers who've been here season after season," said Kay Blake, a bartender from Inglewood who works at SoFi Stadium. "I don't see why they would partner with someone else to bring an experience that we can bring ourselves."

Workers also want to be paid a higher rate that reflects the sky-high ticket prices for the eight World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium. They're asking for double pay for major events including the tournament — an arrangement that the food service workers at Dodger Stadium have for the World Series, according to Unite Here.

"We're trying to ensure that there is no disparity between the profits of the company as opposed to our labor," Blake said. "We don't want to be exploited."

How does the World Cup affect labor negotiations?

Unite Here Local 11 represents around 2,000 workers at SoFi, and they're currently negotiating a new contract with Legends Global, the company that runs the stadium's bars and food services. Their old contract expired last year.

The union is leveraging its role in the coming World Cup to push for higher wages, especially at mega-events. Its workers also want protections from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, after the agency's head said that ICE will play a key role in security for the tournament. Unite Here filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, saying ICE's planned presence at the World Cup threatened the union's ability to collectively bargain.

But the battle over subcontracting could also lead workers to the picket line. The union says the use of subcontractors will determine who will benefit from the riches that FIFA brings to Inglewood.

"Subcontracting is supposed to be rare," Unite Here Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen told LAist. "So in this contract, we're saying no more. It needs to end and especially needs to end at the World Cup because we want those jobs to be good jobs."

How common is subcontracting?

Petersen said the World Cup isn't the only event where jobs have been threatened. He said that union members lost out on more than 100,000 hours of work in 2025 that was instead given to subcontracted workers.

Kay Blake, the bartender, offered LAist an example: an external company paying to operate a suite or two for an event at SoFi.

"If you bring in a subcontractor, they're going to want to bring in their people," she said. "Let's say that this subcontractor usually buys one to two suites… We have a group of people called suite attendants, and so now there's one to two suites less from their workload."

Blake said that she and her co-workers are scheduled by seniority, and fewer suites could mean people work fewer hours. She also said more short-term workers at the stadium for the World Cup could dilute tips for the workers who are at SoFi year-round.

A spokesperson for Legends Global declined to comment on ongoing negotiations with Unite Here Local 11. A representative for Hollywood Park, the site of SoFi Stadium owned by Stanley Kroenke, deferred to Legends Global. FIFA also did not respond to emails requesting comment on the ongoing negotiations.

Luxury packages are the new normal

The dispute between SoFi workers and their employer comes as high ticket prices for the World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games face scrutiny and mega-event organizers emphasize luxury experiences for the very wealthy.

On Location is also the hospitality partner for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The company supplied the same service in Paris in 2024 — the first time the Olympics had such an official luxury service, according to the New York Times.

"The higher end can run well into the tens of thousands of euros: bespoke multiday all-inclusive packages that might include stays in five-star hotels, meals cooked by Michelin-starred chefs, seamless car service between venues and the best seats at the most in-demand events," a Times reporter described in the summer of 2024.

LAist reached out to On Location via email, requesting an interview on the services they provide and their workforce. The company didn't respond.

Isaac Martinez, a cook at SoFi Stadium who lives in Inglewood, said he's still waiting to learn what his schedule will be for the World Cup and he's worried about his hours.

Martinez told LAist that since World Cup prices are so high, he and his co-workers should get a slice of the pie.

"The people that are able to afford those tickets and those suites, they're not people like us," Martinez said through an interpreter. "They're not the people that are gonna make the food or make the experience."

The World Cup kicks off in Los Angeles on June 12 with the first U.S. men's match against Paraguay. If there's no resolution to negotiations, attendees could arrive to a picket line.

State regulators voted Thursday to stop Southern California Gas Co. from charging customers to help pay for planning miles of pipelines that would bring hydrogen gas to the L.A. Basin.

The company says the project would reduce the region’s reliance on methane gas.

Southern California Gas estimates it would cost about $266 million to study and plan the project — called Angeles Link — and asked the state Public Utilities Commission to allow it to recover those costs through customer rates. The company had proposed a monthly increase of $0.35 on the average residential customer bill over the course of three years.

The commission unanimously rejected the request, saying the company had not proved any direct benefit to customers. The decision effectively halts the project for now, and comes amid a stall in federal funding for hydrogen projects under the Trump administration.

Local environmental groups involved in the community advisory process had also grown frustrated by negotiations that they said, in a letter to state regulators, “does not prioritize genuine community engagement.”

As global pollution levels continue to climb, the commission’s decision also highlights the growing challenge of transitioning to a cleaner energy supply amid rising utility bills and open questions about the safety and true environmental cost of largely untested technology.

Why hydrogen?

Hydrogen is a colorless gas that is considered "clean" because it doesn’t involve carbon, which — when burned to create energy — becomes carbon dioxide, a major planet-heating gas.

But it takes energy to produce hydrogen, and most hydrogen these days is created by burning fossil fuels. “Green” hydrogen is created by using clean energy sources like solar and wind to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

SoCal Gas said the Angeles Link project would prioritize green hydrogen.

Most experts see green hydrogen as an important clean-burning fuel for hard-to-electrify industries, such as long-haul trucking and gas-fired power generation. The city of Los Angeles, for example, wants to retrofit its Scattergood Power Plant near El Segundo to burn hydrogen instead of methane gas to generate electricity.

There are many open questions about how safe the highly-combustible gas is for proposed uses and how much water it will require to make. At the same time, extracting and burning fossil fuels for electricity and fuel also takes water — a growing problem as climate change drives longer and hotter droughts.

Experts say, if done right, hydrogen can reduce that water intake and not have a major impact on water supplies.

Also, burning hydrogen could actually worsen local, lung-damaging nitrogen-oxide air pollution, at least with the technology as it currently stands, according to energy researchers.

Reactions to the decision

SoCal Gas will now have to turn to shareholders or other sources of funding if the company wants to proceed. The company did not directly answer LAist’s questions about whether it would.

“We continue to believe that hydrogen—including clean renewable hydrogen—can help advance California’s energy and climate goals while supporting the long‑term affordability, security and reliability of energy service for customers,” SoCal Gas spokesperson Brian Haas wrote in an email to LAist.

Environmental groups celebrated the vote, while emphasizing they see green hydrogen playing a role in the state’s future.

“Residential customers should not subsidize speculative infrastructure for large industrial users,” said Michael Colvin, director of the California Energy Program at Environmental Defense Fund, in a statement.

“We look forward to working with regulators, utilities and large customers to build a credible, cost-effective strategy to cut climate pollution from sectors that are hardest to electrify,” the statement read.

Global events like the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics are sure to draw thousands of new visitors wanting to get to know Los Angeles.

L.A. has a lot to offer, including its vast and varied portfolio of public art. It’s even been referred to as the mural capital of the world. So if you want to explore some of the city’s art, here are a few murals you won’t want to miss.

Sports 

“LA Rising” at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo celebrates the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, depicting him in his two roles — hitter and pitcher.
- Where to find it: 328 First St., Los Angeles

“Blue Heaven on Earth” is a love letter to the Dodgers, depicting both Shohei Ohtani and the late Fernando Venezuela.
- Where to find it: 1647 Blake Ave., Los Angeles

A mural honoring Winter Olympics Gold Medalist Alysa Liu in Gardena.

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Jay L Clendenin

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Getty Images

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California native and Olympian Alysa Liu captured the world’s attention with her figure skating in the Winter Olympics. This mural in Gardena celebrates her win.
- Where to find it: 15532 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena

A mural of L.A. Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna can be found outside Hardcore Fitness L.A.

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Los Angeles Times

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“City of Angels!” pays tribute to Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi.
- Where to find it: 400 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles

Music

Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse and Selena are memorialized on this Hollywood mural.
- Where to find it: 7677 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 

“Jazz on the field” is an ode to Wrigley Field and the Dunbar Hotel in South L.A. and depicts jazz icons Louis Armstrong and Etta James, as well as Martin Luther King Jr.
- Where to find it: 43rd St. and Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When Kendrick Lamar featured Tam’s Burgers in his “Not Like Us” music video, the burger spot in Compton commissioned a mural highlighting the rapper’s unforgettable single.
- Where to find it: 1201 Rosecrans Ave, Compton

Historic to LA

A section of the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural, designed by muralist Judy Baca, that showcases pivotal moments in Los Angeles History.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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“The Great Wall of Los Angeles” is one of the largest murals in the world, and it’s supposed to get bigger. The half-mile art piece depicts California’s rich history.
- Where to find it: Along the L.A. River in the San Fernando Valley, on Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Burbank Boulevard and Oxnard Street. 

“The Blessing of the Animals” at La Placita Olvera depicts the Catholic tradition of blessing one’s animals.
- Where to find it: 115 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles

“El Grito” depicts a scene that sparked Mexican independence from Spanish rule.
- Where to find it: Placita de Dolores at 831 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles

When you take a bite of the lomo saltado burrito from Merka Saltao, a fast-casual Peruvian restaurant in Culver City, one of the first things you'll notice is the sauce.

The wok-fried chunks of steak, dressed in a soy-and-oyster sauce reduction spiked with vinegar, saturate the rice inside the tortilla, highlighting the sweet heat of ají amarillo mixed with the velvety texture of pinto beans.

It's a beautiful confluence of flavors. It is also, depending on who you ask, either a creative act of evolution or a betrayal of Peruvian culinary heritage.

Standing on business

The lomo saltado burrito at Merka Saltao wasn't exactly a calculated move. Lifelong friends Alonso Franco and Ignacio Barrios — who met in high school in Lima — came to Los Angeles to bring Peruvian food to the masses, first through a ghost kitchen concept they ran from 2021 to 2023. The burrito happened almost by accident: a member of their kitchen team brought in a tortilla one day, someone suggested wrapping the lomo saltado in it, they ate it, and within three days, it was on the menu.

Merka Saltao co-founders Ignacio Barrios, left, and Alonso Franco, right, inside their Culver City restaurant. The two lifelong friends from Lima opened the fast-casual brick-and-mortar location for their Peruvian concept in August 2025.

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The data from the ghost kitchen made the case for keeping it there. Franco and Barrios had launched with around 140 dishes — lomo saltado, ceviche, chicken dishes, the works. But the numbers kept pointing to the same thing: wherever lomo saltado appeared on the menu, in whatever form, burrito, bowl, salad, it was the winner.

(Ceviche, for all its cultural cachet, is raw fish with raw onion — a harder sell for a weekday lunch. Lomo saltado, Franco noted, is steak and fries — basically a hamburger.)

The backlash

The two friends made the leap to brick-and-mortar in August 2025, opening Merka Saltao in downtown Culver City. It's one of the more competitive dining corridors in L.A., the kind of block that can support a $16 wellness bowl and a craft beer bar in the same stretch, populated by Amazon employees on lunch breaks, families on weekend outings, and food-literate regulars who will absolutely have opinions about what goes in a burrito.

Those opinions arrived faster than Franco expected. Within the first week of opening, an influencer came in and posted about the restaurant — but instead of showing the full menu, the bowls, the chicha morada, the flexibility of the concept, they showed the burrito. Just the burrito.

Franco working the wok at Merka Saltao. The high-heat wok technique at the heart of lomo saltado traces its roots to Chinese immigrants in Peru

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Christopher Mortenson

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Courtesy Merka Saltao

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The comments turned quickly. "No! Peruvians don't eat burritos. ¿Qué car—o es eso?" — roughly, "what the hell is this?" — wrote one commenter. Another said "Burritos? We don't eat burritos in 🇵🇪”. Franco describes sitting at his computer reading the pile-on, feeling something between anger and devastation. "There was a moment where I probably even cried," he said, "thinking, I've made a mistake." But then he looked at the numbers. 30,000 had seen the post…. And half the comments were in his defense.

He took the conversation to Reddit, posting to r/FoodLosAngeles asking the community directly: am I wrong for this? The response was overwhelming — hundreds of comments, almost entirely in his favor, and a surge of new customers walking through the door shortly after.

Fusion by default

This is Los Angeles, where many of the dishes that define the Southern California diet were born precisely from cultures colliding. Roy Choi built an empire on Korean tacos. Al pastor traces its technique to Lebanese immigrants who brought the vertical spit. The California roll, invented by Japanese chefs in Los Angeles in the 1960s, introduced an entire country to sushi. None of these dishes destroyed the traditions they borrowed from. If anything, they expanded their audience. And the lomo saltado burrito isn't exactly a novel concept in Southern California to begin with — everyone from Pablitos Tacos in North Hollywood to Le Hut in Santa Ana, run by 2025 James Beard Award-nominated chef Daniel Castillo, has featured their own version. Even Disney's California Adventure got in on it, serving a lomo saltado burrito out of the Studio Catering Co. food truck as recently as last year.

The lomo saltado bowl and burrito at Merka Saltao in Culver City — two versions of the same dish that sparked an unlikely online debate about Peruvian culinary identity.

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Franco would also point out that lomo saltado itself — the dish the purists are so eager to protect — is a product of Chinese immigrants bringing the wok and soy sauce to Peru roughly 300 years ago. "Peruvian is by default fusion," he told me. "So we have all the right to wrap it up in a burrito." What the online critics were really doing, whether they knew it or not, was defending a dish that was itself once considered inauthentic — and doing so in the name of authenticity.

Where things stand

Since the backlash, Franco says business has been mostly steady — breaking even, which for a concept that requires high volume at a low price point, he considers a good sign. The controversy changed things in ways he didn't expect: people started coming in specifically because of the story, not just the food. He began putting himself front and center in the brand, regularly making videos on social media about what it's like to run the business, occasionally poking fun at himself and the whole debate. When we visited during the weekday lunch rush, there was a steady line of people waiting to order, many stopping to talk with Franco directly.

In a way, he's answered the authenticity question not with an argument but with a presence — showing up, telling the story, letting the food speak. "Honoring my food, if that requires pairing lomo saltado with a salad or wrapping it in a tortilla, I have no problem," he said. "I'm not being less authentic. We are evolving in Peru anytime. I have to be authentic on the individual flavor and then be flexible to reach more people to discover our flavors."

The burrito, it turns out, was never the point. It was just the door.