An interesting new approach on the traditional coffee shop concept has appeared on the corner of Pico Blvd and 17th Street. Called Amai Coffee, it offers an Asian approach to all our favorite hot and cold beverages, along with some fanciful and familiar snacks.
It’s located at 1701 Pico Blvd, which was the former site of the popular local bakery, Rocco’s Cheesecake. However, fans of these jawdroppingly delicious desserts need not worry, as the confectionery chef still sells online to those who insist on the best and in addition, Amai also sells a small selection from the same sweet source.
According to owner Van Corrales, he and his business partner, Vicki Vo, nearly invested in another site within the 1700 Pico Center mini strip mall, but they chose the site formerly known as Rocco’s because it enabled them to move quicker. Consequently, they were able to open within three months.
When the Daily Press reached out to the owner of Rocco’s Cheesecake, Johnny Rocco, to inquire as to why he decided to close his brick and mortar outlet after over so long, he replied over Messenger, "I sold the business cuz IMO the City has turned into a complete shithole (and taxes were ridiculous)."
Corrales’ business partner Vo and her partner Edward Chiang already operated the very popular Amai Tea & Cafe in Torrance, at 20210 Anza Ave, offering boba-inspired beverages. Boba is a Taiwanese drink featuring a tea base with milk, tapioca pearls and different toppings. It’s thought to have been invented in the 1980s and made its way over to the US a decade or so later by way of Los Angeles.
"I came up with the idea and arranged a meeting with Ed as they had a boba store already in Torrance, and they’ve been operating for two years. So I saw this husband and wife with a business that knows the operational side," Corrales said.
He explained that he brought a more creative element to the table, rather than business understanding. "I’m better at conceptualizing ideas," he laughed, adding, "I know how to make a space look nice and of course, I’ve always loved coffee, so I thought we might look into partnering up. After that, everything, thankfully, just fell into place."
Corrales explained that it was important to not take anything away from the community, but to only add to it. "Johnny and I read the Yelp reviews, I did my research and he was a staple in the community … Everybody loved him, everybody talked to him and he spent time with everybody," he says, adding, "And he was himself to everybody, whether that rubbed people the wrong way or not, he was always himself.
"So I wanted to make sure to not just leave a gap in the community, but also create a space where he can continue to be there for the community in that way, serving cheesecakes. So we were able to carry some of his cheesecakes and made some recipes with him … We didn’t want to just straight sell Italian cheesecake, so we wanted to use some Asian inspired ingredients and he was able to create them."
Offerings on the Amai menu include, a Turon banana latte (espresso, Brazilian banana, brown sugar and jackfruit topping), Manila vanilla latte (espresso, roasted vanilla, condensed milk and leche flan topping) plus the strawberry matcha latte (organic strawberry milk and Japanese matcha), pastries, croissants, muffins and cheesecake, of course. The house coffee is particularly delicious; it’s rich and slow-dripped, follows a traditional Vietnamese Phin drip and is topped with sea salt foam and cocoa powder.
