Lacey's SnowChi Shares Peruvian Food Across Ocean County

LACEY, NJ — After months of waiting and a bit of a rocky beginning, SnowChi, a Peruvian food trailer based out of Lacey, is finally in operation.

Owned by married couple Gianella and Andrew Kaplan, the trailer has been in the works for more than a year. Read more: Enjoy Peruvian Food With A Personal Twist In Lacey

The trailer had hoped to make its grand debut at Lacey Day this past September, but rain meant that it was postponed and eventually canceled altogether.

They finally started serving up their authentic cuisine on Oct. 7 at Backward Flag Brewing Company in Forked River, Peruvian native Gianella Kaplan told Patch.

And it seems as though the trailer is already a hit.

"This past Saturday, we were at Icarus Brewing in Lakewood and for the first time we completely sold out!" Kaplan said, adding that it "felt amazing."

"We couldn't be happier with the reaction of our customers when they eat our food," she said.

The most popular choice on the menu is the beef empanada, she said.

"Not too long ago, we went to a fall festival event in Bayville and we had a long line for our empanadas so we hear you Bayville!" Kaplan said. "You guys love our empanadas!"

The empanada dough is handmade and they use sirloin steak instead of ground beef, she said. A piece of egg and an olive bring the whole thing together and it gets served with a lime wedge.

Their sandwiches are popular, too, particularly the pan con chicharron. This sandwich comes with deep-fried pork, fried sweet potatoes and salsa criolla, which is a Peruvian onion relish.

Pan con chicharron is served with a side of free coffee. SnowChi uses the brownie batter coffee from Binky Bun Coffee, a company that gives a portion of its proceeds to rabbit rescues. This is dear to Kaplan's heart - SnowChi's name comes from two of her pets, bunny Snowball and sugar glider Chi, who died four days apart in 2021 - and has inspired her to do the same with a portion of their sales every month.

SnowChi also serves a deep-fried chicken sandwich topped with a fried egg, shredded lettuce, mozzarella cheese, potato sticks and their special yellow sauce, aji de polleria (but made non-spicy).

Their salchipapa - French fries and a hot dog - is the perfect kid-friendly meal served with ketchup, mustard and mayo, or you can opt for any of their Peruvian sauces. The most popular is huancaina sauce, a cold yellow pepper cheese sauce, but you can also get spicy green sauce (jalapeño, cilantro and lime) or rocoto carretillero, a hot sauce.

"Some people have ordered with ALL our sauces and personally, I love eating it with all the sauces so it's nice when customers do the same," Kaplan said.

SnowChi's newest item debuted last weekend at Icarus Brewing: papa rellena, a deep-friend mashed potato ball stuffed with ground beef, raisins, olive and egg plus a side of salsa criolla. You can get any sauce to go with it, Kaplan said.

Kaplan is excited to finally be open and to hear positive feedback from SnowChi's customers. "It feels good to finally operate and put our name out there for we have so much to offer and we have fun doing it!" she said.

She hopes to have SnowChi continue to grow, perhaps becoming a physical restaurant or even just getting a food truck instead of a trailer.

"We leave it all in God's hands knowing that anything is possible!" Kaplan said.

For now, you can find SnowChi every Saturday in November at Icarus Brewing from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. This month will likely be the last time this year you can find SnowChi selling food out of its trailer. But Kaplan plans to do catering throughout the holiday season. If you're interested, visit the SnowChi website.

"SnowChi doesn't just focus on selling delicious Peruvian food, we help a rescue by giving a percentage of our sales to them every month," Kaplan said. "By the continued support of our customers, we can keep helping other rescues as well and showing everyone what SnowChi is really about. We want to thank our customers for loving our food and supporting us!"