Chef's Guide to Filipino Food in California's Bay Area | On the Road with Bryan Roof
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Travel alongside Cook's Country's Editorial Director Bryan Roof as he explores the communities and cuisines that make up the great American dinner table. In this episode, he visits Oakland and digs into sinigang at FOB Kitchen, sisig with popup Likha, and then sits down at Abaca to discuss Filipino fine dining.
Get our Sinigang (Pork and Vegetable Soup) recipe: cooks.io/3Sb8Ysl
Get our Sisig recipe: cooks.io/3MCLcUS
Get our Garlic Fried Rice recipe: cooks.io/3ezJpUf
Read more about our visit to FOB Kitchen: cooks.io/3CG1GHt
Browse all our series content: cooks.io/3UHzA6L
Follow Bryan Roof on Instagram: / bryanroof
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I was fortunate to grow up on the Northside of Chicago with several wonderful Filipino families, restaurants, and lifelong friends (RIP Lemuel J. Gonzalez). Chicago diners have been blessed for years with a vibrant Filipino Food Scene.
Lucky for you, Mate, here in Sydney, Australia, barely NONE Filipino restaurant, all the food here are a CRAPPY thing
I have been lucky in that I’ve known many Filipino Americans, and learned to appreciate them and their cuisine. My first time eating goat was at a christening party for a coworker’s son. Pancit and roasted goat was absolutely delicious.
What a great episode! I remember fondly working with many Filipinos at a particular company. All wonderful people, and we had the absolute best pot lucks!
Company was the Post Office? 🤣🤣
@@improvisewitme LOL, but nope :)
Thank u mam
Lived in the Philippines for 3.5 years, miss the food and the aromas that filled the air every night.
Network engineer consultant?? 😟😟😟😟😟
that's not the only thing you miss, if you catch my drift
@@goodwillhumping7904 I was, and am happily married at the time I was there. We had on base housing, and it was great exposing my son to the culture while he was young. Sorry sir, no boom, boom for me.
@@michaelduncan2759 hahaha. i would say too bad but you're happily married so visit us again if you can
Growing up my Filipino dad would always make chicken or pork adobo with rice and it was THE BEST meals I enjoyed the most. Now my older sister cooks all the traditional Filipino foods and they're amazing. Great series to have ATK.. Miss living in the Bay Area and Northern Cali .
That’s just vinegar and soy sauce and garlic with meat. It’s a cop out for when Mom doesn’t cook. 😟😟😟😟😟
@@John77Doe No, it's not, it's much MORE than that. You obviously don't know much about Filipino culture and seem ignorant regarding this dish. You apparently aren't aware this is the Philippines NATIONAL DISH!!! It's very unique and many people love it. To be able to take 5-7 ingredients and create a fairly low cost and amazingly delicious meal is a gift. Also, the way my dad made it, he put a slight spin on it and took it "over the top".
@@John77Doe wrong! those three ingredients can't taste good unless you know the process. it's not all about just adding the ingredients in a pot and simmering. it's more than that
@@John77Doe As if your American food is so complicated to make. Stop being condescending. Lol!
I think what makes Filipino (American) food different from other Asian foods, and I’ve noticed this is such a recurring debate among each other, is that there is that there is NO uniform recipe for each dish. Rather, you have the taste profile, foundational concept, and preparation that characterizes each dish as Filipino. This is what I concluded after so many years of noticing how we almost never agree on how dishes are prepared BUT you can see the amount of pride we have when preparing our own.
Well, you could say the same for Mexican food. So many versions of the same recipes. So many families make things differently. Either way, both cuisines are 2 of my 3 top favorites, lol...
Really agree. The Philippines has 7641 islands and 1 Filipino dish could be cooked differently depending on what island/ region you belong to
A lot of filipino stuff (practices like food, martial arts, etc) differ from family to family, or area to area because of the archipelagic makeup of the country. I guess it's amazing to think there are specific similarities despite the separation and distance. Rules are merely guidelines.
True. Part of me cringes with the egg, mayo and friendly meat sisig but as long it’s delicious, can’t complain!
Yeah, when I saw her sinigang I was like "why is your sabaw so dark?" but it looked good anyway and you can tell she put her heart and soul into it.
I was in Olongapo City in the 70's. Lumpia and barbecue were awesome!
WORST bbq in the philippines are in Olongapo. But nice town.
Another excellent episode. For those of us who live far from the Bay Area, thank you for giving us a glimpse of these talented, inventive and charming chefs.
Omg, some of the most amazing food this Indiana boy ever tried was at a little hole-in-the-wall Filipino restaurant in San Mateo, Californ! Candied pork belly, spicy shrimp and mango salad... GURRRLLL!!!😃😋
Hoosiers know a thing or two about pork, if you can impress us you're doing it right!
Why is hole in the wall so damn used when referring to ethnic restaurants lmao 😂
candied pork belly= tocino
To all Filipino chefs and cooks, kudos!!!! So proud of u guys…finally our cuisine slowly going Global….God bless you all
Proud of what?
Just a couple of years ago the only Filipino recipe on the ATK website was a variation of chicken adobo. As a Filipino fan of ATK/CC/CI I'm really stoked to see more Filipino representation here.
As a life long Filipino Bay Area resident, just terrific!
Thanks for representing Bryan! I know you've always wanted to share our food culture to the world. Kudos Bro!
I miss NorCal. Filipinos are widely accepted there. Here in TX, don’t even ask. Time to go back home!
Thank you Likha owners for acknowledging all the cultures that contributed to Filipino cuisine 👏.
Yeah, I like they acknowledge that Filipino cuisine im general was developed from a combination of barter trade era and various foreign colonizers. If that is their interpretation of sisig, that is fine by me
grilling sisig a modern twist?! sir you're mistaken, grilling pork ear and cheeks is the 2nd step to making sisig. this is the original way the inventor of sisig - Aling Lucing did back in the 60s and still is the same process today.
lol true dat.
Fil-Ams always be Columbusing Filipino food. Fil-Ams are so disconnected from their motherland they think they invented things like silvanas.
And look at their “calamansi” which is definitely not calamansi. Also, these filams haven’t heard of precolonial Filipino foods. Time for them to actually visit the Philippines to get the facts about Filipino food ✌️
@@jong5141 i dont think they're aiming for authenticity. Usually Filipinos abroad try to make do with what resources they have to mimic what can be closest to what's in the Philippines. I understand the value of learning more about the homeland. But people are also just trying to make a living from which ever part of the globe they are in 🤷🏻♂️
Grilling meet before kilawin is standard. :)
Thank you Bryan for featuring the evolution of Filipino Food here in America from traditional to modern and fine dining. Awesome! I wish you would feature few recipes for Cook's Country in future videos.
Salamat!
Filipino food is THE BOMB!
Big up to ABACA that was sadly my home town that was hit during the typhoon. For doing the Amazing thing for the people.
Wow, I've never really tried Filipino food before but now I need to!
Try Adobo for Starters. Or Lechon Kawali
Lechon Kawali, Lumpiang Shanghai, Dynamite, Bulalo, Kaldereta, Kare-Kare, Pansit Bihon.
Thank you Bryan for showcasing Filipino food! Our food is one of the best! And you're the best!
I watch ATK a lot. Thanks Bryan for featuring some of the best of Filipino dishes!
Great episode! Thanks American Test Kitchen for showcasing our very own Filipino foods. We have more to show.
Can't wait to try Filipino food. Looks delicious.
Hello from Rome 👋🇮🇹
Hello from California
I lived on the island of Luzon for 2 years. I truly miss the food, unfortunately in SW Missouri, I can’t get that here. I would love to have some!
We dont mind improving filipino food by improvising with the available ingredients within your reach. That is the real gourmet chef's job. To create new food.
Love the content Bryan. Keep it coming!!
Wow! Glad Filipino foods are now becoming more popular. Hope to see more Filipino restaurants all over the US.
yooooo tell me why all this food looks SO GOOD 😭😭😭
I tried these food in Bay Area, so many Filipinos here. Food is bomb
janice's sinigang with tomato sauce is very different I thought it would be Kinamatisang Sinigang (souring agent would be the tomatoes only) but she then added tamarind too! It's very unique but looks absolutely interesting and good. Would love to try it one day!
Filipino foods are delicious a kind of food that filling flavorful! I'm salivating watching this episode. Thanks for the video
I'm Filipino and the food looks good. I'm lucky I got a retired Navy cook as my dad. I can just about make anything he can make especially the Filipino recipes. There are certain dishes I avoid to eat like the sugary foods. Dinuguan if cleaned and cooked right I'll eat. Adobo, Sinigang, Kaldereta and the grilled dishes are easy to make. You gotta have fresh lemon grass for adobo and some soups to make it taste good. I wouldn't pay crazy prices for that food at the restaurant, I'd make it myself.
BAY AREAAAA lfg!!!!! PINOY ALL DAY LETS GO OAKLAND
Keep Bryan on the road. Nice.
Thank you for Featuring & trying our Cuisine which are admired around the world 🌎 If you see a Filipino Restaurant you can expect an at home atmosphere. Hope you'll feature this in ATK 🥰🥰🥰
Thank you for sharing this story. Love it! Aloha!
What a great episode!
Just wanted to say that pre-colonial, indigenous Filipino cuisine exists (in Ilocos, Cordillera, Mindanao, etc.). Spanish, Chinese, American, Japanese food barely influenced upland areas. Also, the OG sisig already began as a grilled, sauteed kind-of dish, it did not get created at a later time.
Filipinos remind me of Spanish people they are great human beings. Great comida.
Gotta have the sawsawan. It helps with the meat sweats. Sisig and San Miguel beer.
None of these dishes were made "traditionally" and that's the beauty of Filipino food. As long as you retain the essence of the dish, you can go ham on how to cook it, what to cook it with. Every family has their own version of sinigang and every resto has their own version of sisig. Major props to these chefs!
ATK with the new show production!
That looks sooo good!
It was definitely late but better late than never, it is high time we Filipinos get our asses out of the dump and make things that others would really appreciate and view as really worth their time, things that would fill them with wonder and happiness, things that others would consider possible to be a part of their everyday lives, that kinda impact.
Woahhh…ATK is traveling now? I love this new concept
@@sandrah7512 I meant new concept for ATK. ATK usually don’t record their travels or do any “on the road” type of filming. Dan Souza has done a couple (ie Chinatown NY) but it’s rare
Now can this be a prelude to a new ATK season where Julia, Bridget, and the crew will finally streamline favorite Filipino dishes to the American table? I was born and raised in the Philippines, and I am a huge fan of ATK, yet you have not touched on the wonders of Filipino cuisine, emphasizing sourness, sweetness, spiciness, and more as represented by the over 7,000 islands of the archipelago… maybe for a series of Filipino foods, show adobo, halo halo, sisig, inasal (barbecued chicken), sinigang (pork or seafood), tinola, mechado, menudo, afritada, and more.
Pancit, lumpia and balut!
Stay tuned!! I think you'll be pleased, both on ATK and Cook's Country!
@@carolinerickert4098 This is exciting, especially since its coming from someone who knows! :) Thanks!!!
My first experience with Filipino food was with my co-workers... OMG her Adobo was the best!!! I fell in love and I would contribute whenever she would make it (it was always in bulk!! Good times during potlucks!!! 😋) She always gave me enough for at least 3 meals... Luckily she gave me the recipe!!! 🥰🥰🥰😋😋😋 Oh!! And I can't forget the pansit!!! *swoon* Got the recipe for that as well. Such memories... good food, good friends, fine times.... 😁
You're smart, Lisa🥰🤣
we need more of Brian traveling for food!!!
@@sandrah7512 yeah I follow his travels on Instagram. Glad to see the videos though
Very good show❤
Filipino food is good, but definitely it's own thing. We need more Filipino restaurants .
How hot is Filipino hot sauce, typically?
Mildly hot.
@@cynthiabianzon5408
So what is comparable for heat?
@@b_uppy if you mean those bottled red to orange-colored sauces, then no hotter than the original tabasco blend.
Usually, it's a sweet and spicy sauce so it's not really that hot.
If you mean the stuff served with their 'lumpia', it's not hot at all. It's just a sweet and sour sauce.
If you mean the brown-colored sauces, labeled as lechon sauce or all-around 'sarsa' (mang tomas), they're just liver sauces and are more sweet than spicy (if you even consider ground black peppercorns spicy at all).
@@yft2623
Is liver sauce made from liver?
@@b_uppy yea, pork liver
Dynamic recipes!
Wow. I'm filipino watching from the philippines.
Sinigang, my all time favorite.
4:03 I laughed when he put so much fish sauce when the chef said to only put a "little bit". His facial reaction is what I expected. 😂 Even though he was saying it was good but his facial reaction can't hide the fact that it was salty. Haha
I enjoyed watching this. Reminds me of home 😊❤ watching here in the UK
Hello ATK! I watched this episode hoping I get to see Bryan Roof, who is a Filipino by birth (like Tim Tebow), cook his own interpretation of a Filipino dish. I know he sort of did it years ago (back when Chris Kimball was still around) but I thought there was a part two of sorts. How about attempting to cook cochanillo, or a roast suckling pig? Perhaps you can look into that, Bryan. I love ATK and Cook's Country. Thank God for your You Tube Channel! By the way, I am a Filipino based here in the Philippines. 🇵🇭
❤
I love sinigang ... In a simple way.
Sinigang is the best for us filipino you cant resist it for sure with rice.
He put too much fish sauce on that bite LOLL
I find the music on this to be a bit loud and distracting. Other than that, i enjoyed learning about delicious food!
I love Filipino food.😋♥️
Ok. Anybody have any info on how or when Likha will host more popups? Thanks
marinated sisig with a lot of meat? Im not good in cooking sisig but this raised my eye brows. Gonna respect the original. Just saying.
6:06 wait that's way too big and way too orange for a calamansi 😂😂
first bite of sinigang, my dude that's too much fish sauce i could tell it's a bomb 😂😅
I hope a filipino food socal edition will come out soon!!
Haven’t seen calamansi that big! It looks more like cuties!
ATK,there was a supermarket, in JERSEY by HOBOKEN SIDE,walked around,found this PHILLIPINO PLACE, I KNEWeverything, but NOT the Phippino names,so just pointed + then a big
Container of COCONUT WATER, MANi was in heaven,then someone asked where I was from..JAMAICA WI, ,OH, now I see,,,,,🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
In the Philippines we don't use Thai chili but native chili called siling labuyo hotter than any chillies
wow hope there are or there is a filipino restaurant just like that in USA:)) here in Japan where we live i never see a Filipino restaurant just like a family restaurant
Bryan!! Please come and get me...take me with you!!
THE INTRO WESTERN PALATE 🤣🤣🤣 MY MIND CAN'T PROCESS THAT INFORMATION.....
They made the sizzling version on a hot cast iron dish.. I didn't hear them mention sizzling .. Calamansi is green.. Not sure what they used. But Asian stores sometimes sell calamansi juice frozen or in a bottle.
calamansi is orange up north where they get exposed to low temps
@@oxoelfoxo oh... I never knew that. I have friends in Baguio and have not seen orange ones
@@kevinnashskitchen3517 oh more northern than Batanes. try 25-30 deg N
Serve ka ng Litson! Nyahahaha... that would be a fiesta special for FOB resto!
So, apparently he takes pride in the Philippine Islands. Is he Filipino or just born there? He’s said, “They’re my people” but I was confused.
Anong ginawa nyo sa sinigang?
Looks tasty.. Ill try that
Those 2 Chefs from Likha were inaccurate. Filipino cuisine is Indigenous Austronesian: Sinigang, Kinilaw, Adobo. Chinese: Pancit , Limit, Sauteed Vegetables such as Chopsuey, Lumpia etc. Spanish influence: Mechado, Caldereta, desserts such as Leche Flan, Pastries.
the origin of austronesian is philippines.
@@karabaw7445 Nope.
@@d.l.c7456 yes they are. study DNA migration Filipino dna are from Africa who settled in china then Taiwan then Philippines but Austronesian DNA are from Philippines. they actually called the DNA FILIPINO but a lot of u do not agree so they satisfy u by calling it Austronesian.
@@karabaw7445 read #GunsGermsAndSteele #JaredDiamond. Btw all of the races you can think of came from Africa.
@@d.l.c7456 we're not talking about people from Africa were talking about Austronesian. were only talking about flipino food wag mong ilayo. did jared diamond tell u that the philippines was the land of gods and has 5 colonizer DNA?
LET'S GO ANYGMA!!!!
Calamansi??? No wayyy. Thats a orange bro. Hahaha
Yep. It looks like kiat-kiat...😊🤤
#spreadlovephilippines
Philippines now has 7641 islands
Try eastern visayan pork humba🍛👍❤️🇵🇭
Try Superstar chinese Filipino resto, Pork chop silog
I would say that this Sinigang is a fusion or her “own” version. It looks and probably taste good but i’m pretty sure it doesn’t taste Authentic Pork Sinigang.
Sinigang with tomato sauce definitely isn't traditional. I don't care what the "oh but Filipino food isn't uniform recipe bla bla bla" bs crowd says. I don't doubt that her version tastes good though.
Bakit ganun yung siding? Pork shoulder?
Filipinos have a myriad of ways to prepare the same dish. I have never had sinigang that’s got ginger in it and I believe I make a killer sinigang. That’s why the comment section in videos such as this always gets inundated with comments about a Fil-Am doing the recipe wrong, without realizing, that one dish has been prepared in so many different ways and not even 2 families share the exact same recipe. With all that said, I’m just here dying to visit these restos in Cali. I like innovative dishes specially those that don’t lose their soul, instead, hearkens back to their roots.
never heard or tasted ginger in sinigang either. is that tinola?! i don't know. just because a soup is sour doesn't mean it's sinigang.
If you've had Sinigang sa Miso (Sinigang sa miso is the fish variety of sinigang) then chances are, you've had sinigang that's got ginger in it.
4:03 dami nilagay. Alat nyan hahaha. Di mo ko maloloko na masarap ung 1 subo na yun haha.
LOL that is NOT calamansi. The sinigang from FOB looks good tho
Thai chili..?? Hmmm
Calamansi proceeds to pull out what looks like an orange... does it grow to that color there or something?
6:07 kelan pa yan naging kalamansi? ang laki nyan ha! 😂😂
Philippines have,7,561 islands .
Prik nam pla tastes good with everything.
Sisig using mayones...is good
well the first food is actually not the proper way to cook sinigang,,it is not actually the ingredients.. we do use ginger for fish sinigang but not with meat..and we dont saute the onions..it will turn oily.. you can check it out guys
ginger on sinigang? hmmm no no
Naging pork tinola lol
❤