TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Fatima Campos watched her chef prepare the traditional Peruvian dish lomo saltado, the fire, a big blaze that tenderized the meat and cooked the vegetables.
Campos helped her pour the dish onto a plate, garnishing the top of it.
As the owner of Inca’s Peruvian Cuisine, a lot of the recipes she has on her menu come from her mother-in-law.
“That’s how we keep her legacy in our recipes,” Campos said.
Speaking with her customers in both Spanish and English, she wants them to feel as if they took a quick trip to Peru through her food.
The recipes on her menu also include her famous pisco sours, Campos adding her just as famous line, “Adios Margarita! Hola Pisco sour!”
However, even though she’s serving up Peruvian food, her story started in Chihuahua, Mexico, where she was born. In 1991, she moved to Texas and years later she moved to Tucson.
“I learned the language which is still a little bit difficult. My accent is still like very remarkable but it was a challenge,” she said.
She opened Inca’s in 2009 and it has been featured on various media outlets, including Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
The signed poster by Fieri could be seen on the restaurant’s wall along with other accolades, and her episode is on repeat at her restaurant.
When it comes to the opportunities she got in America that she may not have gotten in Mexico, she said having her own business, a good education for her kids, and a beautiful family are things she values.
Her son Luis Campos works at the restaurant as the general manager, carrying on his mother’s legacy, which can easily be seen through his friendly smile and by speaking to customers in both Spanish and English.
“We get to learn how each of us works. We learn from our mistakes. We learn from one another what works well,” Luis Campos said.
The Campos family attributes their success to hard work, something evident in Fatima that she has carried over to the U.S. from Mexico.
That hard work, she’s hoping, will also lead her to open a second Inca’s location in downtown Tucson sometime in the near future.
“It’s so important to pour a little bit of our best to the United States community and I’m so grateful that I had that opportunity,” she said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
