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Jollibee is so last year.
Since Andrew Zimmerman declared Pinoy cuisine as the next “it” food in 2012, Chickenjoy has been out, and hipster-style Filipino restaurants have been in.
The trend has gained momentum and significance — enough for Washington Post to write about it in April, and Eater.com to publish this lengthy report today.
Not only does it mention Republique, Wildflour’s sister restaurant in Los Angeles, and Qui, a “patio-only pulutan menu” in Austin, Texas, owned by chef Paul Qui, it also gives a shout out to pop-ups like Food and Sh*t in Seattle, and LASA in LA.
Why has it taken this long for Pinoy food to penetrate mainstream USA?
“It’s our generation doing the cooking… we’re attracting a different crowd because it’s being presented in a whole new way,” LASA co-chef Chad Valencia tells Eater.com.
“We’re cooking and creating Filipino-American food,” says Chad’s brother, Chase. “That’s what we have to remind people. We’ve only cooked in California-style kitchens, so whether it’s trendy or not, that’s what we know,” he adds.
The report also comes with a sidebar on “Six Filipino Dishes You Need To Know” that actually only lists five dishes — pancit palabok, sisig, kare-kare, pinakbet and “dinaguan”.
We guess it’s up to us to nominate the sixth dish. We’ll suggest sinigang how about you?
Photo: Eater.com
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