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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’ve never actually been to Hong Kong. How fortunate, then, that a multiverse portal to a 1990s Cantopop-themed iteration of the island city has ripped through the Bay Area’s space-time continuum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a hilly, jam-packed street in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Four Kings beckons. Led by chefs Franky Ho and Mike Long and their partners Lucy Li and Millie Boonkokua, the five-month-old restaurant is where the past, present and future of San Franciscan Cantonese food abounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nightly, not one but \u003ci>two\u003c/i> queues of curious locals overflow down opposite ends of the tiny block. Once seated inside, you’ll quickly surrender to the temptations of the casually upscale hot spot’s culinary éclat and abundance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is where you go when you want to feast on HK favorites — saucy pork chop rice, succulent black pepper steak and fusion offerings like mapo spaghetti or XO escargot — while industrial kitchen appliances hum around you, longtime friends chatter nearby and the immortal Wong Ka Kui croons over the speakers. If you’re savvy, you’ll enjoy a glass of monkey-picked oolong tea, a boozy Chinese almond milk highball or a crisp Taiwanese lager brewed with discarded bread crusts while observing the bustling energy from an intimately tight spot at the counter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961953\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961953\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pork chop rice with tomato egg — Four Kings’ take on a classic Hong Kong cha chaan teng–style dish. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And just when you’ve finally begun to settle in and appreciate the restaurant’s funkier elements (unframed posters of Cantopop celebrities, golden maneki-neko playfully waving their paws, a kitschy array of knickknacks bathed in neon-lit perfection), a plate of fried squab arrives to recenter your attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That squab is the headlining draw at Four Kings, and, like the rest of the menu here, it’s both an ode to and a deviation from traditional Cantonese fare. The malt-sugar-brushed bird comes with its claws and beak intact, and you’ll need to properly angle it with your hands to get a piece of thigh — the best part, I’m told.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961950\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961950\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salted egg squash croquettes. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having grown up in Chinatown after immigrating from China, Ho is serving heat in the neighborhood where he was raised by his grandmother and mother, who still regularly drops off homemade soup at the restaurant in the mornings. While working as a chef at Mister Jiu’s, he struck up a friendship with Long, who brings his Los Angeles flare and memories of living in Hong Kong to Four Kings, which the duo started as a pop-up last year. With Li running the business end and Boonkokua greeting guests as the hostess, the team of four has overtaken San Francisco’s dining scene like a monsoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Built on a shared sense of childhood nostalgia, migratory friendships and the comfort of home away from home, Four Kings has an anima — a deep soulfulness — that can only be unlocked after living abroad, after tasting a homeland. It’s hot mustard jellyfish salad and sweet red bean shaved ice for the soul.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four Kings isn’t the traditional dining experience you might encounter in the historic center of Chinatown. Instead, it’s like being inside the culinary fever dream of first-generation Cantonese millennials — where plates of sensory-overloading goodness keep piling up in front of you, and where you’re lavished with attention as the royal guest of honor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961956\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961956\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A full house of customers. Since opening in the spring of 2024, Four Kings has been one of San Francisco’s buzziest restaurants. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Cantopop music is a major element at Four Kings. How did you get into that genre and how does it fit with your concept? Also, any Cantopop recommendations?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike Long:\u003c/b> Cantopop is huge for Cantonese kids. Our parents play it all the time on TVB — that’s the channel for Cantonese stuff. Beyond is my favorite group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy Li: \u003c/b>Our name, Four Kings, references the Four Heavenly Kings, which is a specific group of Cantopop stars from the ’90s. They’re not an actual group, but they were dubbed as the four. It’s like Britney or Christina, but this is for four men in Cantopop [Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok]. Out of those four, I like Jacky Cheung’s music the best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we used to all hang out before we worked together, we would always listen to a Chinese playlist, and then we just kept adding to it. So that’s what started it. We were like, oh, we should just play this at our future restaurant because we like it so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Millie Boonkokua::\u003c/b> We have \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7m5GmSTmYNqJ0VpZFyPG6A?si=c8282f11eef64212&nd=1&dlsi=d4a6f3ea1bdf4a88\">a Cantopop playlist\u003c/a> that we’re happy to share with customers if they ask about it at the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7m5GmSTmYNqJ0VpZFyPG6A?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How are you all feeling a few months into your successful opening? You entered this endeavor as friends and life partners, so I’m sure there have been plenty of highlights and struggles in running your first food business in San Francisco.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The struggle has always been there, and it’s probably going to keep going, but the reward has definitely been amazing. We spent a lot of time in our careers working for other people, and Franky and I transitioned from fine dining to where we’re at now. That has always been a goal of ours, to open a more low-key, casual, approachable spot. But the whole journey has been really good. It really helps to have this team right here: Lucy, Millie, Franky. Each one of us brings a different strength to this team. Without it, this isn’t doable. It’s a lot easier to do it together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It might look like we have a big team from the outside, but it’s really just the four of us. I’m doing press and accounting. I have no PR training. Millie is doing everything. She’s making drinks and serving. Mike and Franky are in the kitchen. Mike \u003ca href=\"https://www.itsfourkings.com/menu\">designed our menu\u003c/a>. And we love our staff. They’re amazing, and we can’t do this without them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Yes, I agree. [Group laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Millie: \u003c/b>I just want to say, as the person who does the hosting and works the front every day, I just feel overwhelmed with joy. I get to be the one who physically opens our door every night, and sometimes there are 40 people or more waiting outside. It really is just a feeling of joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED Arts Reporter Alan Chazaro eats the hot mustard jellyfish salad. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When I visited, I could definitely feel that vibe of deep friendship and teamwork. You all seem to be doing multiple things at once.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The big ethos of our restaurant is that no one person is doing just one specific task. We want our kitchen to kind of operate in a way where each person gets each other’s back and everyone’s able to flow into helping one another out. A lot of traditional restaurants have a disconnect between front and back of the house. But for us, in a way, we’re like, hey, they’re a little busy right now. We’re going to help run food. And that’s kind of also what we want to encourage, that engagement with our guests and being able to drop off some food, check in on everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What did you all learn from running a pop-up together?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Our pop-up was extremely busy. There were long lines and we would run out of food. We were very short-staffed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It was just the four of us [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>Yeah, and the dishwasher had to be downstairs. So with running up and down the stairs to do that on top of cooking and serving, it was pretty rough. We were a little…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> Very slammed. But the reception, seeing people line up, was a good indicator of like, okay, maybe we’re doing something right. And then seeing continued interest only further confirmed that. That energy we had during the pop-up never went away. It just kept increasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love pop-ups. A lot can be learned and creatively developed at that stage.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>With our pop-up, we had this idea of doing a Cantonese izakaya–style concept. But I think initially, it was a hard image for a lot of people to think about. But by doing our pop-up slowly, people began to recognize what we were trying to do. And it’s the same for ourselves, too, right? It allows us to start actually seeing what we had planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until now, even with the brick-and-mortar, we are still trying to realize that goal. It wasn’t until our opening night and seeing guests here that it really felt like we hit it. That’s when we felt like, okay, this is the spot where we want to be. A lot of energy and people just having a good time in a casual neighborhood spot. Sharing small-plate foods, enjoying everything. I think it’s through the pop-up phase that we were able to learn all that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961955\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961955\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED Arts Reporter Alan Chazaro waits in line outside the Chinatown restaurant with Four Kings co-owner Lucy Li. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you’re doing it all in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the neighborhood where Franky grew up. How does it feel being there and what’s your relationship with this community? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> It’s been nice coming back and having a restaurant where [my family and I] first immigrated to [from Guangdong province of China]. We really like the neighborhood. We try to support a lot of the local producers and the produce people. We get a lot of our live seafood from Chinatown, and our noodles are all made in Chinatown. We weren’t specifically looking to be in Chinatown, but we just somehow ended up in the perfect space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961696,arts_13950866,arts_13924997']\u003c/span>Mike: \u003c/b>Our building used to be an old shrimp company. When our landlord took over the space years ago, his wife wanted to build a Kumon. The space downstairs became a restaurant prior to us taking over. I definitely feel very honored to be in Chinatown. Being in this space, you see more and more of the culture. Just walking from the parking lot [beneath Portsmouth Square] to the restaurant, you see all the grandmas and grandpas playing chess and cards in the park. It’s dope to see everyday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It’s a vibrant community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Yeah. It gives you glimpses of the vibes of being in Hong Kong. Especially if you go down Stockton Street. When I think about Hong Kong, it’s walking down crowded streets. It’s hot, it’s humid. And then you have AC blasting from the storefronts, and they’re just selling random knickknacks. Sometimes when you walk down Chinatown in San Francisco, you hit those same feelings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you been back to Hong Kong recently? \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://video.kqed.org/video/crackdown-1710973659/\">\u003cb>The government has implemented new national security laws\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What’s the political climate there right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Lucy and I actually went [a year ago]. Politics isn’t necessarily what you see on the streets. It doesn’t really affect tourism, doesn’t affect visitors. But you do see it in the families. like for me and my relatives. There’s a divide between people who are pro-China and people who are in support of the youth movements for liberation and democracy. So you definitely see the tension within families, but not necessarily out in the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you all have any go-to spots in Chinatown or nearby? How is being here a source of culinary inspiration?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> We go out in Chinatown all the time. Every Monday night after service, after a long week, we take our staff to eat dinner at like 2 a.m., and the only spot that’s open, which happens, in our opinion, to be the best place in Chinatown is \u003ca href=\"https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q3TFUs2W6LRwHMQS6\">Taishan Cuisine\u003c/a> on Broadway. We also go to Hon’s Wun-Tun around the corner. They have two locations. But yeah, we definitely eat out in Chinatown for sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961957\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961957\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Line cook Brenda Lau plates a dessert. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have other chefs or business owners in the area stopped by since you’ve moved in?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy: \u003c/b>One of our big inspirations in the Bay Area is actually \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2022/6/8/23160058/chome-izakaya-san-francisco-mission\">Chome\u003c/a>. They’re a Japanese izakaya [in the Mission], and we’ve been there plenty. They actually came to eat at Four Kings since we opened, and it was really cute. We love Chome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> R & G Lounge has stopped by. They’re right near to us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Mow Lee [Shing Kee & Company]. They’re very established and do Chinese charcuterie plates just up the street. The owner’s son has eaten here. There has been a lot of support in general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky, you’ve been in Chinatown the longest. How has the area changed over time?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky: \u003c/b>It changed a lot for a while, but I feel like it’s back to where it was when [my family and I] first immigrated here. We’re getting a lot more people again, and all the vendors are busy, the streets are busy. I feel like a couple of years ago it was pretty dead. And a lot of restaurants and businesses were closing, but it seems like it’s back to where it was from what I remember. I see a lot of the younger generations coming back to hang out in Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.itsfourkings.com/about\">\u003cb>Your amazing website\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> lists Franky as being better than “a walking encyclopedia of Chinese food knowledge.” So I humbly ask, what defines Cantonese food for you, Franky?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> There’s a few descriptions and explanations for Cantonese food. In China, Cantonese food is pure food. They don’t add a lot of seasoning. Everything is fresh. That’s why many things are steamed or blanched. But when you move towards Hong Kong or Macau, Cantonese food becomes fusion food. A mixture of French cuisine. British influences. It can be more flavorful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What dish do you serve at Four Kings that most embodies your version of Cantonese food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The pork chop rice. The inspiration for ours comes from cha chaan teng, which are the Hong Kong-style cafes we go to. One of our favorite orders that we get there is this big pork chop on either rice or spaghetti. And that’s kind of our take on it for our restaurant. We really needed to be able to bring something that’s nostalgic. It hits home for us and for a lot of young Cantonese kids, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> The dish also takes inspiration from Japanese katsudon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>Yeah, so we bread it with panko and deep-fry our pork chops after we brine it for a few days. And then we serve it with a tomato egg slurry versus the traditional sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> I also really like our take on a Hong Kong version of a Sichuan fish dish, which is fermented mustard greens and fried fish. I guess we do a San Francisco version of it. And we add butter, which is from the French influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The fried squab is also an easy answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962300\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962300\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fried squab hanging in the kitchen. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>For those who don’t know, what exactly is squab, and why isn’t it more commonly served in the U.S.?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> I feel like a lot of people don’t really eat squab because they’re pigeons. But a good amount of fine dining restaurants use them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>There aren’t any farms for squab. So the general price for it is pretty expensive. And I guess for most people to get a smaller bird for that price, it’s not ideal. Hence, it’s a harder protein to sell at a restaurant because it always comes with a higher price tag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy: \u003c/b>Franky, you have a personal connection to squab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Yeah, so in my hometown in China, we’re famous for our squab. Our dialect is squab, or “squab speak” in Chinese. Most banquets will serve one fried squab per person. We wanted to bring that here. We also really want people to eat it with their hands, to just devour it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The squab is ideal for our restaurant concept because we want to serve smaller plates for our size [the building is narrow]. It’s my favorite course from a Cantonese banquet. All the kids always fight for the squab.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Four Kings (710 Commercial St., San Francisco) is open Thurs. through Mon. from 6 to 11 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.opentable.com/restref/client/?restref=1329550&lang=en-US&ot_source=Restaurant%20website&corrid=ba87a81d-b5c9-4732-9555-dbc3fd2783f1\">\u003ci>Reservations\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> are recommended up to three weeks in advance; walk-in counter seating is available on a limited basis. Fried squab is offered in small quantities on a first-come, first-served basis.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Four Kings Abounds With Cantonese Soul in SF Chinatown | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>’ve never actually been to Hong Kong. How fortunate, then, that a multiverse portal to a 1990s Cantopop-themed iteration of the island city has ripped through the Bay Area’s space-time continuum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a hilly, jam-packed street in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Four Kings beckons. Led by chefs Franky Ho and Mike Long and their partners Lucy Li and Millie Boonkokua, the five-month-old restaurant is where the past, present and future of San Franciscan Cantonese food abounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nightly, not one but \u003ci>two\u003c/i> queues of curious locals overflow down opposite ends of the tiny block. Once seated inside, you’ll quickly surrender to the temptations of the casually upscale hot spot’s culinary éclat and abundance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is where you go when you want to feast on HK favorites — saucy pork chop rice, succulent black pepper steak and fusion offerings like mapo spaghetti or XO escargot — while industrial kitchen appliances hum around you, longtime friends chatter nearby and the immortal Wong Ka Kui croons over the speakers. If you’re savvy, you’ll enjoy a glass of monkey-picked oolong tea, a boozy Chinese almond milk highball or a crisp Taiwanese lager brewed with discarded bread crusts while observing the bustling energy from an intimately tight spot at the counter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961953\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961953\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-012-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pork chop rice with tomato egg — Four Kings’ take on a classic Hong Kong cha chaan teng–style dish. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And just when you’ve finally begun to settle in and appreciate the restaurant’s funkier elements (unframed posters of Cantopop celebrities, golden maneki-neko playfully waving their paws, a kitschy array of knickknacks bathed in neon-lit perfection), a plate of fried squab arrives to recenter your attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That squab is the headlining draw at Four Kings, and, like the rest of the menu here, it’s both an ode to and a deviation from traditional Cantonese fare. The malt-sugar-brushed bird comes with its claws and beak intact, and you’ll need to properly angle it with your hands to get a piece of thigh — the best part, I’m told.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961950\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961950\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-001-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salted egg squash croquettes. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having grown up in Chinatown after immigrating from China, Ho is serving heat in the neighborhood where he was raised by his grandmother and mother, who still regularly drops off homemade soup at the restaurant in the mornings. While working as a chef at Mister Jiu’s, he struck up a friendship with Long, who brings his Los Angeles flare and memories of living in Hong Kong to Four Kings, which the duo started as a pop-up last year. With Li running the business end and Boonkokua greeting guests as the hostess, the team of four has overtaken San Francisco’s dining scene like a monsoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Built on a shared sense of childhood nostalgia, migratory friendships and the comfort of home away from home, Four Kings has an anima — a deep soulfulness — that can only be unlocked after living abroad, after tasting a homeland. It’s hot mustard jellyfish salad and sweet red bean shaved ice for the soul.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four Kings isn’t the traditional dining experience you might encounter in the historic center of Chinatown. Instead, it’s like being inside the culinary fever dream of first-generation Cantonese millennials — where plates of sensory-overloading goodness keep piling up in front of you, and where you’re lavished with attention as the royal guest of honor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961956\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961956\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-022-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A full house of customers. Since opening in the spring of 2024, Four Kings has been one of San Francisco’s buzziest restaurants. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Cantopop music is a major element at Four Kings. How did you get into that genre and how does it fit with your concept? Also, any Cantopop recommendations?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike Long:\u003c/b> Cantopop is huge for Cantonese kids. Our parents play it all the time on TVB — that’s the channel for Cantonese stuff. Beyond is my favorite group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy Li: \u003c/b>Our name, Four Kings, references the Four Heavenly Kings, which is a specific group of Cantopop stars from the ’90s. They’re not an actual group, but they were dubbed as the four. It’s like Britney or Christina, but this is for four men in Cantopop [Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok]. Out of those four, I like Jacky Cheung’s music the best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we used to all hang out before we worked together, we would always listen to a Chinese playlist, and then we just kept adding to it. So that’s what started it. We were like, oh, we should just play this at our future restaurant because we like it so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Millie Boonkokua::\u003c/b> We have \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7m5GmSTmYNqJ0VpZFyPG6A?si=c8282f11eef64212&nd=1&dlsi=d4a6f3ea1bdf4a88\">a Cantopop playlist\u003c/a> that we’re happy to share with customers if they ask about it at the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7m5GmSTmYNqJ0VpZFyPG6A?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How are you all feeling a few months into your successful opening? You entered this endeavor as friends and life partners, so I’m sure there have been plenty of highlights and struggles in running your first food business in San Francisco.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The struggle has always been there, and it’s probably going to keep going, but the reward has definitely been amazing. We spent a lot of time in our careers working for other people, and Franky and I transitioned from fine dining to where we’re at now. That has always been a goal of ours, to open a more low-key, casual, approachable spot. But the whole journey has been really good. It really helps to have this team right here: Lucy, Millie, Franky. Each one of us brings a different strength to this team. Without it, this isn’t doable. It’s a lot easier to do it together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It might look like we have a big team from the outside, but it’s really just the four of us. I’m doing press and accounting. I have no PR training. Millie is doing everything. She’s making drinks and serving. Mike and Franky are in the kitchen. Mike \u003ca href=\"https://www.itsfourkings.com/menu\">designed our menu\u003c/a>. And we love our staff. They’re amazing, and we can’t do this without them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Yes, I agree. [Group laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Millie: \u003c/b>I just want to say, as the person who does the hosting and works the front every day, I just feel overwhelmed with joy. I get to be the one who physically opens our door every night, and sometimes there are 40 people or more waiting outside. It really is just a feeling of joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED Arts Reporter Alan Chazaro eats the hot mustard jellyfish salad. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When I visited, I could definitely feel that vibe of deep friendship and teamwork. You all seem to be doing multiple things at once.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The big ethos of our restaurant is that no one person is doing just one specific task. We want our kitchen to kind of operate in a way where each person gets each other’s back and everyone’s able to flow into helping one another out. A lot of traditional restaurants have a disconnect between front and back of the house. But for us, in a way, we’re like, hey, they’re a little busy right now. We’re going to help run food. And that’s kind of also what we want to encourage, that engagement with our guests and being able to drop off some food, check in on everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What did you all learn from running a pop-up together?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Our pop-up was extremely busy. There were long lines and we would run out of food. We were very short-staffed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It was just the four of us [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>Yeah, and the dishwasher had to be downstairs. So with running up and down the stairs to do that on top of cooking and serving, it was pretty rough. We were a little…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> Very slammed. But the reception, seeing people line up, was a good indicator of like, okay, maybe we’re doing something right. And then seeing continued interest only further confirmed that. That energy we had during the pop-up never went away. It just kept increasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love pop-ups. A lot can be learned and creatively developed at that stage.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>With our pop-up, we had this idea of doing a Cantonese izakaya–style concept. But I think initially, it was a hard image for a lot of people to think about. But by doing our pop-up slowly, people began to recognize what we were trying to do. And it’s the same for ourselves, too, right? It allows us to start actually seeing what we had planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until now, even with the brick-and-mortar, we are still trying to realize that goal. It wasn’t until our opening night and seeing guests here that it really felt like we hit it. That’s when we felt like, okay, this is the spot where we want to be. A lot of energy and people just having a good time in a casual neighborhood spot. Sharing small-plate foods, enjoying everything. I think it’s through the pop-up phase that we were able to learn all that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961955\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961955\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-016-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED Arts Reporter Alan Chazaro waits in line outside the Chinatown restaurant with Four Kings co-owner Lucy Li. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you’re doing it all in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the neighborhood where Franky grew up. How does it feel being there and what’s your relationship with this community? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> It’s been nice coming back and having a restaurant where [my family and I] first immigrated to [from Guangdong province of China]. We really like the neighborhood. We try to support a lot of the local producers and the produce people. We get a lot of our live seafood from Chinatown, and our noodles are all made in Chinatown. We weren’t specifically looking to be in Chinatown, but we just somehow ended up in the perfect space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Mike: \u003c/b>Our building used to be an old shrimp company. When our landlord took over the space years ago, his wife wanted to build a Kumon. The space downstairs became a restaurant prior to us taking over. I definitely feel very honored to be in Chinatown. Being in this space, you see more and more of the culture. Just walking from the parking lot [beneath Portsmouth Square] to the restaurant, you see all the grandmas and grandpas playing chess and cards in the park. It’s dope to see everyday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> It’s a vibrant community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Yeah. It gives you glimpses of the vibes of being in Hong Kong. Especially if you go down Stockton Street. When I think about Hong Kong, it’s walking down crowded streets. It’s hot, it’s humid. And then you have AC blasting from the storefronts, and they’re just selling random knickknacks. Sometimes when you walk down Chinatown in San Francisco, you hit those same feelings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you been back to Hong Kong recently? \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://video.kqed.org/video/crackdown-1710973659/\">\u003cb>The government has implemented new national security laws\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What’s the political climate there right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Lucy and I actually went [a year ago]. Politics isn’t necessarily what you see on the streets. It doesn’t really affect tourism, doesn’t affect visitors. But you do see it in the families. like for me and my relatives. There’s a divide between people who are pro-China and people who are in support of the youth movements for liberation and democracy. So you definitely see the tension within families, but not necessarily out in the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you all have any go-to spots in Chinatown or nearby? How is being here a source of culinary inspiration?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> We go out in Chinatown all the time. Every Monday night after service, after a long week, we take our staff to eat dinner at like 2 a.m., and the only spot that’s open, which happens, in our opinion, to be the best place in Chinatown is \u003ca href=\"https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q3TFUs2W6LRwHMQS6\">Taishan Cuisine\u003c/a> on Broadway. We also go to Hon’s Wun-Tun around the corner. They have two locations. But yeah, we definitely eat out in Chinatown for sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961957\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961957\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HELLAHUNGRYFOURKINGS-JY-027-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Line cook Brenda Lau plates a dessert. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have other chefs or business owners in the area stopped by since you’ve moved in?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy: \u003c/b>One of our big inspirations in the Bay Area is actually \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2022/6/8/23160058/chome-izakaya-san-francisco-mission\">Chome\u003c/a>. They’re a Japanese izakaya [in the Mission], and we’ve been there plenty. They actually came to eat at Four Kings since we opened, and it was really cute. We love Chome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> R & G Lounge has stopped by. They’re right near to us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> Mow Lee [Shing Kee & Company]. They’re very established and do Chinese charcuterie plates just up the street. The owner’s son has eaten here. There has been a lot of support in general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky, you’ve been in Chinatown the longest. How has the area changed over time?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky: \u003c/b>It changed a lot for a while, but I feel like it’s back to where it was when [my family and I] first immigrated here. We’re getting a lot more people again, and all the vendors are busy, the streets are busy. I feel like a couple of years ago it was pretty dead. And a lot of restaurants and businesses were closing, but it seems like it’s back to where it was from what I remember. I see a lot of the younger generations coming back to hang out in Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.itsfourkings.com/about\">\u003cb>Your amazing website\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> lists Franky as being better than “a walking encyclopedia of Chinese food knowledge.” So I humbly ask, what defines Cantonese food for you, Franky?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> There’s a few descriptions and explanations for Cantonese food. In China, Cantonese food is pure food. They don’t add a lot of seasoning. Everything is fresh. That’s why many things are steamed or blanched. But when you move towards Hong Kong or Macau, Cantonese food becomes fusion food. A mixture of French cuisine. British influences. It can be more flavorful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What dish do you serve at Four Kings that most embodies your version of Cantonese food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The pork chop rice. The inspiration for ours comes from cha chaan teng, which are the Hong Kong-style cafes we go to. One of our favorite orders that we get there is this big pork chop on either rice or spaghetti. And that’s kind of our take on it for our restaurant. We really needed to be able to bring something that’s nostalgic. It hits home for us and for a lot of young Cantonese kids, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy:\u003c/b> The dish also takes inspiration from Japanese katsudon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>Yeah, so we bread it with panko and deep-fry our pork chops after we brine it for a few days. And then we serve it with a tomato egg slurry versus the traditional sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> I also really like our take on a Hong Kong version of a Sichuan fish dish, which is fermented mustard greens and fried fish. I guess we do a San Francisco version of it. And we add butter, which is from the French influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The fried squab is also an easy answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962300\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962300\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240729-HellaHungryFourKings-JY-019-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fried squab hanging in the kitchen. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>For those who don’t know, what exactly is squab, and why isn’t it more commonly served in the U.S.?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> I feel like a lot of people don’t really eat squab because they’re pigeons. But a good amount of fine dining restaurants use them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike: \u003c/b>There aren’t any farms for squab. So the general price for it is pretty expensive. And I guess for most people to get a smaller bird for that price, it’s not ideal. Hence, it’s a harder protein to sell at a restaurant because it always comes with a higher price tag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lucy: \u003c/b>Franky, you have a personal connection to squab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Franky:\u003c/b> Yeah, so in my hometown in China, we’re famous for our squab. Our dialect is squab, or “squab speak” in Chinese. Most banquets will serve one fried squab per person. We wanted to bring that here. We also really want people to eat it with their hands, to just devour it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mike:\u003c/b> The squab is ideal for our restaurant concept because we want to serve smaller plates for our size [the building is narrow]. It’s my favorite course from a Cantonese banquet. All the kids always fight for the squab.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Four Kings (710 Commercial St., San Francisco) is open Thurs. through Mon. from 6 to 11 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.opentable.com/restref/client/?restref=1329550&lang=en-US&ot_source=Restaurant%20website&corrid=ba87a81d-b5c9-4732-9555-dbc3fd2783f1\">\u003ci>Reservations\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> are recommended up to three weeks in advance; walk-in counter seating is available on a limited basis. Fried squab is offered in small quantities on a first-come, first-served basis.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mestiza-filipino-vegan-restaurant-kamayan-soma-sf",
"title": "SF's Mestiza Returns With 13-Inch Lumpia and Vegan Filipino Bites",
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"headTitle": "SF’s Mestiza Returns With 13-Inch Lumpia and Vegan Filipino Bites | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]perating a restaurant in San Francisco isn’t for the faint-hearted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/i> column published earlier this year, former restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/san-francisco-restaurant-small-business-18494773.php\">critic Soleil Ho outlined the debilitating costs of running a food business in a city\u003c/a> where even the most heralded institutions straddle a precarious tightrope “between stability and destitution.” In Ho’s eyes, the American notion of getting rewarded for hard work is merely a “fairy tale” — and that’s especially apparent in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/sales-revenue-san-francisco-18659409.php\">the local restaurant industry’s recent struggles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don’t tell Deanna Sison, though. As a savvy Filipina American hustler who operates a chicken-and-waffles spot (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/littleskilletsf/?hl=en\">Little Skillet\u003c/a>) inside a cocktail bar (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/victoryhallsf/?hl=en\">Victory Hall\u003c/a>) in Frisco’s SoMa district, Sison is far from feeble-spirited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she’s doubling — tripling? — down on her vision by re-launching Mestiza, the fast-casual Filipino noshery she opened in 2016. After the restaurant shuttered in 2020 due to the pandemic, most people would have just walked away. Not Sison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961825\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deanna Sison poses for a portrait at her restaurant Mestiza, which reopened at a new location in SoMa in April 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since April, Mestiza blooms again in a fresh, open-air venue with a vegetarian-friendly twist that isn’t usually at the forefront of Filipino cuisine. The revamped menu features a 13-inch lumpia roll stuffed with sweet potato, shaved Brussels sprouts and water chestnuts, served with pineapple-chili dipping sauce; flamed kofta skewers made from mashed chickpeas; crunchy quinoa-and-mint salad tossed with spicy mango-jalapeño slaw and tamarind vinaigrette; and for those with a sweet tooth, oat milk vanilla soft-serve doused with chili crisps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant additionally offers a bold kamayan dinner meant to be eaten with one’s bare hands: an island-style platter for large groups served on giant banana leaves piled high with fish, fruit, vegetables and lumpia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vegan-leaning offerings are at once succulent, tropical and abundant — a reflection of both Sison’s health-conscious dietary shifts and chef Syl Mislang’s heritage as a Filipina Mexican. There’s also a hefty dose of savory proteins like pork adobo, grilled shrimp and cured pork belly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I visited Sison at the new location, I could see why she refused to let it all go. A sense of place (there’s a vibrant \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/indiangiver\">Cheyenne Randall\u003c/a> mural on the back wall) and family (Sison’s mother regularly visits to water the patio plants) was palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Sison, who has worked in SoMa since arriving in the Bay Area from Florida in 1999, Mestiza is about more than her culinary ambitions. It’s also a reflection of everything she has risked in pursuit of a fuller identity. She came to the Bay Area as a film student eager to build community, particularly among Pinoys, a group she admits was scarce in the American South of the ’80s. Decades later, in Sison’s homebase of San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural District, she hasn’t backed down from her original intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961823\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961823\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural by artist Cheyenne Randall titled ‘Vanilla Sky’ covers the back wall of the restaurant. The mural depicts the Filipina singer Grace Nono. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its most elemental nature, Mestiza reminds us that, no matter the setbacks, our hunger should never go unattended — especially when that hunger feeds a sense of self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: What’s your connection to SoMa? I know you’re proud of your roots here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Deanna Sison:\u003c/b> I was born in Florida, then moved to Germany when I was 10. I moved back to the U.S. when I went to college in Florida, but was always drawn to San Francisco. When I finished school, my one focus was to make it west: to go to San Francisco. The appeal was mainly around the diversity, but also the food culture. I came here in 1999 after college and have been here ever since. My first job was on Natoma Street. I had a Bachelor of Arts in film, and this neighborhood was a hub for independent filmmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Whoa, I was not expecting that. What have been the biggest changes in the area since then?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve seen the whole neighborhood evolve and go through multiple changes. There are still some remnants from that time, but there was something about SoMa that used to feel very industrial and creative, filled with artists, working-class people. It had an edginess. Through the years it has turned into mostly a tech neighborhood with echoes of that gritty, innovative atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be here and have my own roots feels just as important because of Filipino Americans and their history in this neighborhood. I came to this city to connect with my Filipino roots. When the neighborhood was designated as the Filipino Cultural District in 2017, it was a reawakening for me. It actually coincided with the opening of the previous Mestiza. I had been open for a year and a half before that. It was a big moment of discovery, a journey to reconnect with what it meant to be Filipino American. To be in this neighborhood. To continue that legacy that preceded my time here. It was important for me to stay in this neighborhood for those cultural and practical reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961824\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sison sits with her mother, who is a frequent presence at the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I imagine Filipinos in Florida weren’t extremely visible back then. Or were they?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t feel huge. In my younger years, the Filipinos would sometimes get together. It didn’t feel like I was hanging out with Filipinos a lot though. Only during family gatherings in the community. Maybe once a month at a local park. For important celebrations. But in my school there were only one or two others. It didn’t feel as prevalent [as it does in the Bay Area].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your mom was watering the plants when I visited. She told me she grew up in the Philippines as one out of nine children. What’s her connection to this area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My mom was born in San Francisco and moved back to the Philippines and was raised there. But she came back to San Francisco eventually. There was just something in the ether about coming back here. It’s the only place I would choose to live anywhere in the country. Not LA. Not New York City. I actually did New York for a while. San Francisco is geographically my home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you ever been to the Philippines? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve only been twice in my life. The first time I was seven years old. It was eye-opening. The role that food plays in everyday life is extremely important. It’s the connector between everyone. There was never a table that didn’t have food on it. As a kid, being at my aunt’s house, they’d go out and kill a chicken to put on the table that night. They made fresh coconut milk. All of the activities of making food: preparing it, serving it, enjoying it. Food is just such a big part of your daily experience. When I went back in my 20s, I basically went from one meal to the next. Big tables laden with food. Maybe coffee in between. Food is just a magnet to come and gather and connect. I remember that clearly. Memories are captured in the taste, flavors, smells of food. Sometimes no one even had to speak. We had food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your background in the culinary world? When did you get into the food industry?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always had second and third jobs in food service throughout my life. My first job was at Burger King. I worked in fast food, cocktailing, bussing, baking. On and on. I’ve had every role in a restaurant. Even when I was taking up jobs in film, I had a second or third job at a restaurant or bar. I found the perfect job on Craigslist working for an indie production company that created cooking shows. It was a PBS show. That was my favorite. I just wanted to watch those PBS cooking shows as a kid (laughs). Not cartoons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The producer was at KQED, and she started \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/jacquespepin\">Jacques Pépin\u003c/a> and a few other series. They branched off to producing their own shows and distribution. They needed a production assistant. I ended up getting the job, and she was amazed at what I knew about cooking shows. I was there for five, six years. That was eye-opening for not just food and restaurants, but food culture. In that role I was able to go and read cookbooks, meet authors, professors, teachers. Cooking techniques. We were filming, but we had to prep a lot of food that would be aired on segments. I learned a lot that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961829\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961829\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Syl Mislang prepares an order of calabasa coconut curry. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has the concept of Mestiza evolved over time, especially since closing in 2020? You took four years to re-open it.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I first opened, the space I took over was a taqueria that I knew from my time working in SoMa. I wanted to preserve that concept of a taqueria. Having experienced it in the neighborhood, I felt it was an important thing. But I wanted to bring my own heritage to the mix. That was the original Mestiza. It was a celebration of the Mexican and Filipino connection. There was a trade route for 200 years between Manila and Mexico, and we were both colonized by the Spaniards. We share a lot of cultural aspects. Catholicism. Holidays. Our names. Ingredients. So we made the menu around that fusion. Then we closed in 2020 because of the pandemic. We flirted with staying partially open, but it just didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until about 2022, I had been thinking about it but not really planning on reopening it. Some developers approached me to bring the concept to certain locations. It never felt right. Then, this spot around the corner from Little Skillet and Victory Hall opened up. I remember it from my 20s, a little Caribbean lunch spot with sangrias all day long that I enjoyed. It felt like it could be the perfect place for a new iteration of Mestiza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did the idea of doing more plant-forward dishes originate? What are the joys and challenges with that — especially since Filipino food can be very meat-heavy?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13938479,arts_13959765,arts_13956683']\u003c/span>That was a long process. COVID definitely was the only opportunity that I had to really evaluate my habits, our behaviors as a society. What do we put into our bodies? How important is our health? My dad had gout and high cholesterol and died of a heart attack. I have cousins with diabetes. So many of our illnesses are related to our diets. During COVID I experimented with all kinds of diets. Gluten-free. Plant-only. Plant-forward. Exercising. It had a profound impact on how I felt, my energy. Knowing I felt healthier during that scary time of sickness made me realize we should be healthier and better to ourselves. That informed my decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about doing fully plant-based, but I felt, personally, that my body needs different kinds of protein. It doesn’t have to be such a drastic change in your diet. It can be incremental. It’s healthy for us, and the planet, to have choices. Being plant-forward means focusing on plants and minimizing the amount of meats we use, but it doesn’t completely exclude meat. I don’t know that going strictly plant based is 100% healthy for everyone’s body. But it’s lighter, easier to digest, and even more nurturing in some ways, with other nutritious vitamins and minerals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961831\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961831\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An abundant spread of pulled pork adobo and shrimp gambas. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who else is doing plant-based Filipino cuisine around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reina [Montenegro] helped me in the beginning to go plant-based. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chef.reina/?hl=en\">Chef Reina\u003c/a> has a spot in Brisbane. It’s vegan Filipino. She helped me a lot in my exploration of that idea. Just trying to extract the best flavors and texture from Filipino food. Shout out Chef Reina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are your favorite places to get Filipino food in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a strong community of Filipino and Filipino Americans doing work right now in the Bay Area. We’re all pretty tight and encourage each other. Sarap Shop. Ox and Tiger. Abaca. That’s top-notch fine dining Filipino. It’s kind of its own genre. Chef Harold Villarosa helped me out; he has spots all over the country. Tselogs, a super solid restaurant with great food. I’m just impressed by the community we have in general. Everyone is super dope. [Chef Alex Retodo from] Lumpia Company has partnered with E-40, I love them. [They] bring so much of that Bay Area culture, and I respect them as business owners. Señor Sisig, with chefs Evan and Gil. Oh, and there was this one kamayan restaurant in SoMa. About six years ago, we took our whole staff there and it was a great experience that we still talk about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Can you tell me more about the kamayan feast you host?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kamayan feast is offered any night of the week for a minimum reservation of four people or more. We used to only do it twice a week, but it’s so heavily requested now. It comes from the idea of hands, eating with your hands. The experience incorporates all of your senses. Seeing something gorgeous, touching it, tasting it, smelling it. It’s tactile. It’s communal and meant to be shared with others. It’s similar to sitting at my grandmother’s table. There’s something fulfilling when you share an experience full of joy with others. That creates memories, and it becomes an indelible memory when you use all of your sense. That’s what resonates. We love seeing people’s reactions when we bring a board to the table. We’re here in service of our community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961827\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961827\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lumpia at Mestiza measure 13 inches long. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Very important question: How long is the lumpia at Mestiza? I’ve honestly never seen one that length. What’s your secret?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ummmm (laughs). I think it’s 13 inches. We just leave our ends open. I like those crispy ends. You have to get the filling to a right consistency so it doesn’t fall out. Roll it open ended. Frozen. And fried. I love it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mestizasf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Mestiza\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (214 Townsend St., San Francisco) is open Tues. through Sat. from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>perating a restaurant in San Francisco isn’t for the faint-hearted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/i> column published earlier this year, former restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/san-francisco-restaurant-small-business-18494773.php\">critic Soleil Ho outlined the debilitating costs of running a food business in a city\u003c/a> where even the most heralded institutions straddle a precarious tightrope “between stability and destitution.” In Ho’s eyes, the American notion of getting rewarded for hard work is merely a “fairy tale” — and that’s especially apparent in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/sales-revenue-san-francisco-18659409.php\">the local restaurant industry’s recent struggles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don’t tell Deanna Sison, though. As a savvy Filipina American hustler who operates a chicken-and-waffles spot (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/littleskilletsf/?hl=en\">Little Skillet\u003c/a>) inside a cocktail bar (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/victoryhallsf/?hl=en\">Victory Hall\u003c/a>) in Frisco’s SoMa district, Sison is far from feeble-spirited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she’s doubling — tripling? — down on her vision by re-launching Mestiza, the fast-casual Filipino noshery she opened in 2016. After the restaurant shuttered in 2020 due to the pandemic, most people would have just walked away. Not Sison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961825\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deanna Sison poses for a portrait at her restaurant Mestiza, which reopened at a new location in SoMa in April 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since April, Mestiza blooms again in a fresh, open-air venue with a vegetarian-friendly twist that isn’t usually at the forefront of Filipino cuisine. The revamped menu features a 13-inch lumpia roll stuffed with sweet potato, shaved Brussels sprouts and water chestnuts, served with pineapple-chili dipping sauce; flamed kofta skewers made from mashed chickpeas; crunchy quinoa-and-mint salad tossed with spicy mango-jalapeño slaw and tamarind vinaigrette; and for those with a sweet tooth, oat milk vanilla soft-serve doused with chili crisps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant additionally offers a bold kamayan dinner meant to be eaten with one’s bare hands: an island-style platter for large groups served on giant banana leaves piled high with fish, fruit, vegetables and lumpia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vegan-leaning offerings are at once succulent, tropical and abundant — a reflection of both Sison’s health-conscious dietary shifts and chef Syl Mislang’s heritage as a Filipina Mexican. There’s also a hefty dose of savory proteins like pork adobo, grilled shrimp and cured pork belly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I visited Sison at the new location, I could see why she refused to let it all go. A sense of place (there’s a vibrant \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/indiangiver\">Cheyenne Randall\u003c/a> mural on the back wall) and family (Sison’s mother regularly visits to water the patio plants) was palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Sison, who has worked in SoMa since arriving in the Bay Area from Florida in 1999, Mestiza is about more than her culinary ambitions. It’s also a reflection of everything she has risked in pursuit of a fuller identity. She came to the Bay Area as a film student eager to build community, particularly among Pinoys, a group she admits was scarce in the American South of the ’80s. Decades later, in Sison’s homebase of San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural District, she hasn’t backed down from her original intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961823\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961823\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-02-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural by artist Cheyenne Randall titled ‘Vanilla Sky’ covers the back wall of the restaurant. The mural depicts the Filipina singer Grace Nono. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its most elemental nature, Mestiza reminds us that, no matter the setbacks, our hunger should never go unattended — especially when that hunger feeds a sense of self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: What’s your connection to SoMa? I know you’re proud of your roots here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Deanna Sison:\u003c/b> I was born in Florida, then moved to Germany when I was 10. I moved back to the U.S. when I went to college in Florida, but was always drawn to San Francisco. When I finished school, my one focus was to make it west: to go to San Francisco. The appeal was mainly around the diversity, but also the food culture. I came here in 1999 after college and have been here ever since. My first job was on Natoma Street. I had a Bachelor of Arts in film, and this neighborhood was a hub for independent filmmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Whoa, I was not expecting that. What have been the biggest changes in the area since then?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve seen the whole neighborhood evolve and go through multiple changes. There are still some remnants from that time, but there was something about SoMa that used to feel very industrial and creative, filled with artists, working-class people. It had an edginess. Through the years it has turned into mostly a tech neighborhood with echoes of that gritty, innovative atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be here and have my own roots feels just as important because of Filipino Americans and their history in this neighborhood. I came to this city to connect with my Filipino roots. When the neighborhood was designated as the Filipino Cultural District in 2017, it was a reawakening for me. It actually coincided with the opening of the previous Mestiza. I had been open for a year and a half before that. It was a big moment of discovery, a journey to reconnect with what it meant to be Filipino American. To be in this neighborhood. To continue that legacy that preceded my time here. It was important for me to stay in this neighborhood for those cultural and practical reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961824\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sison sits with her mother, who is a frequent presence at the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I imagine Filipinos in Florida weren’t extremely visible back then. Or were they?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t feel huge. In my younger years, the Filipinos would sometimes get together. It didn’t feel like I was hanging out with Filipinos a lot though. Only during family gatherings in the community. Maybe once a month at a local park. For important celebrations. But in my school there were only one or two others. It didn’t feel as prevalent [as it does in the Bay Area].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your mom was watering the plants when I visited. She told me she grew up in the Philippines as one out of nine children. What’s her connection to this area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My mom was born in San Francisco and moved back to the Philippines and was raised there. But she came back to San Francisco eventually. There was just something in the ether about coming back here. It’s the only place I would choose to live anywhere in the country. Not LA. Not New York City. I actually did New York for a while. San Francisco is geographically my home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you ever been to the Philippines? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve only been twice in my life. The first time I was seven years old. It was eye-opening. The role that food plays in everyday life is extremely important. It’s the connector between everyone. There was never a table that didn’t have food on it. As a kid, being at my aunt’s house, they’d go out and kill a chicken to put on the table that night. They made fresh coconut milk. All of the activities of making food: preparing it, serving it, enjoying it. Food is just such a big part of your daily experience. When I went back in my 20s, I basically went from one meal to the next. Big tables laden with food. Maybe coffee in between. Food is just a magnet to come and gather and connect. I remember that clearly. Memories are captured in the taste, flavors, smells of food. Sometimes no one even had to speak. We had food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your background in the culinary world? When did you get into the food industry?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always had second and third jobs in food service throughout my life. My first job was at Burger King. I worked in fast food, cocktailing, bussing, baking. On and on. I’ve had every role in a restaurant. Even when I was taking up jobs in film, I had a second or third job at a restaurant or bar. I found the perfect job on Craigslist working for an indie production company that created cooking shows. It was a PBS show. That was my favorite. I just wanted to watch those PBS cooking shows as a kid (laughs). Not cartoons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The producer was at KQED, and she started \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/jacquespepin\">Jacques Pépin\u003c/a> and a few other series. They branched off to producing their own shows and distribution. They needed a production assistant. I ended up getting the job, and she was amazed at what I knew about cooking shows. I was there for five, six years. That was eye-opening for not just food and restaurants, but food culture. In that role I was able to go and read cookbooks, meet authors, professors, teachers. Cooking techniques. We were filming, but we had to prep a lot of food that would be aired on segments. I learned a lot that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961829\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961829\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-16-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Syl Mislang prepares an order of calabasa coconut curry. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has the concept of Mestiza evolved over time, especially since closing in 2020? You took four years to re-open it.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I first opened, the space I took over was a taqueria that I knew from my time working in SoMa. I wanted to preserve that concept of a taqueria. Having experienced it in the neighborhood, I felt it was an important thing. But I wanted to bring my own heritage to the mix. That was the original Mestiza. It was a celebration of the Mexican and Filipino connection. There was a trade route for 200 years between Manila and Mexico, and we were both colonized by the Spaniards. We share a lot of cultural aspects. Catholicism. Holidays. Our names. Ingredients. So we made the menu around that fusion. Then we closed in 2020 because of the pandemic. We flirted with staying partially open, but it just didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until about 2022, I had been thinking about it but not really planning on reopening it. Some developers approached me to bring the concept to certain locations. It never felt right. Then, this spot around the corner from Little Skillet and Victory Hall opened up. I remember it from my 20s, a little Caribbean lunch spot with sangrias all day long that I enjoyed. It felt like it could be the perfect place for a new iteration of Mestiza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did the idea of doing more plant-forward dishes originate? What are the joys and challenges with that — especially since Filipino food can be very meat-heavy?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>That was a long process. COVID definitely was the only opportunity that I had to really evaluate my habits, our behaviors as a society. What do we put into our bodies? How important is our health? My dad had gout and high cholesterol and died of a heart attack. I have cousins with diabetes. So many of our illnesses are related to our diets. During COVID I experimented with all kinds of diets. Gluten-free. Plant-only. Plant-forward. Exercising. It had a profound impact on how I felt, my energy. Knowing I felt healthier during that scary time of sickness made me realize we should be healthier and better to ourselves. That informed my decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about doing fully plant-based, but I felt, personally, that my body needs different kinds of protein. It doesn’t have to be such a drastic change in your diet. It can be incremental. It’s healthy for us, and the planet, to have choices. Being plant-forward means focusing on plants and minimizing the amount of meats we use, but it doesn’t completely exclude meat. I don’t know that going strictly plant based is 100% healthy for everyone’s body. But it’s lighter, easier to digest, and even more nurturing in some ways, with other nutritious vitamins and minerals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961831\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961831\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-29-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An abundant spread of pulled pork adobo and shrimp gambas. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who else is doing plant-based Filipino cuisine around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reina [Montenegro] helped me in the beginning to go plant-based. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chef.reina/?hl=en\">Chef Reina\u003c/a> has a spot in Brisbane. It’s vegan Filipino. She helped me a lot in my exploration of that idea. Just trying to extract the best flavors and texture from Filipino food. Shout out Chef Reina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are your favorite places to get Filipino food in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a strong community of Filipino and Filipino Americans doing work right now in the Bay Area. We’re all pretty tight and encourage each other. Sarap Shop. Ox and Tiger. Abaca. That’s top-notch fine dining Filipino. It’s kind of its own genre. Chef Harold Villarosa helped me out; he has spots all over the country. Tselogs, a super solid restaurant with great food. I’m just impressed by the community we have in general. Everyone is super dope. [Chef Alex Retodo from] Lumpia Company has partnered with E-40, I love them. [They] bring so much of that Bay Area culture, and I respect them as business owners. Señor Sisig, with chefs Evan and Gil. Oh, and there was this one kamayan restaurant in SoMa. About six years ago, we took our whole staff there and it was a great experience that we still talk about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Can you tell me more about the kamayan feast you host?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kamayan feast is offered any night of the week for a minimum reservation of four people or more. We used to only do it twice a week, but it’s so heavily requested now. It comes from the idea of hands, eating with your hands. The experience incorporates all of your senses. Seeing something gorgeous, touching it, tasting it, smelling it. It’s tactile. It’s communal and meant to be shared with others. It’s similar to sitting at my grandmother’s table. There’s something fulfilling when you share an experience full of joy with others. That creates memories, and it becomes an indelible memory when you use all of your sense. That’s what resonates. We love seeing people’s reactions when we bring a board to the table. We’re here in service of our community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961827\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961827\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/240730-MESTIZA-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lumpia at Mestiza measure 13 inches long. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Very important question: How long is the lumpia at Mestiza? I’ve honestly never seen one that length. What’s your secret?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ummmm (laughs). I think it’s 13 inches. We just leave our ends open. I like those crispy ends. You have to get the filling to a right consistency so it doesn’t fall out. Roll it open ended. Frozen. And fried. I love it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mestizasf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Mestiza\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (214 Townsend St., San Francisco) is open Tues. through Sat. from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-jose-foos-chris-villa-tacos-music-festival",
"title": "This Wildly Popular IG Account Is Throwing a Huge Latin Music Festival in San Jose",
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"headTitle": "This Wildly Popular IG Account Is Throwing a Huge Latin Music Festival in San Jose | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Almaden Avenue is a long stretch of pavement that runs through a scrappy, historic neighborhood on the southern edge of San Jose’s downtown. It’s the kind of barrio you can visit at any hour to find some of the Bay Area’s most homey tacos while vatos circle the block on bicycles and inside minivans. It’s also where you’ll find\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rosarios_tacos/?hl=en\"> Rosario’s Tacos\u003c/a>, a no-frills taqueria that started inside a garage before moving to its current brick-and-mortar location in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gregarious owner, Joe, is an embodiment of San Jose’s low-riding Chicano spirit — a proud father with a full-bellied laugh and cynical sense of humor who refuses to give up on his community. The restaurant is named after his late mother, Rosario, whose recipes Joe has adapted to create the restaurant’s beloved quesabirria — a red-drenched behemoth of a taco, dripping with consomme, birria, cheese and (if desired) plump, succulent shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario’s generous portion sizes and undiluted hometown pride are what attract one of Shark City’s biggest foodies:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chrisillmatic/?hl=en\"> Chris Villa\u003c/a>. As the face of\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanjosefoos/?hl=en\"> San Jose Foos\u003c/a> — the 408’s most culturally influential social media empire, with over 226,000 followers on Instagram — Villa has been going to Rosario’s for years and chose it as our rendezvous point on a sunny South Bay afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958803\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a table of tacos and flyers for a music festival\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose Foos is helping to coordinate the city’s first-ever Latin house music festival at Discovery Meadow Park on June 15. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though not food-specific, the page — which Villa co-facilitates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/san-jose-foos-become-a-much-needed-voice-for-san-jose-culture/\">San Jose Foos founder, Jorge Anthony Gomez\u003c/a> — uplifts a variety of San Jose-owned businesses like Rosario’s. Their popular, insider-y memes and videos highlight small, family-run, genuinely under-appreciated and off-the-radar locales that otherwise go unnoticed by the Bay Area mainstream. Villa has been involved with the account for four years and recently left his job at Apple to pursue his creativity full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their biggest effort to continue building the city’s cultural profile, San Jose Foos are launching a new music festival: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C7AhHO0Pucw/?hl=en\">Taraka\u003c/a>. Headlined by\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gordoszn/?hl=en\"> Nicaraguan super producer and DJ, Gordo\u003c/a>, and featuring a cast of eleven Latin American house music DJs, the festival will be the only one of its kind in the region (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865311/how-sonido-clash-music-fest-became-a-hub-for-forward-thinking-latinx-sounds\">Sonido Clash, the alternative Latinx music festival\u003c/a> that was once held in San Jose, has been discontinued since the pandemic).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ordering close to 20 tacos — which we divvied up, each taking home leftovers — Villa and I ate ourselves into a peaceful state of higher consciousness while chatting about Silicon Valley’s joys, complexities and upcoming food and music takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958806\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"birria tacos on a grill at a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The quesabirria tacos are a main attraction at Rosario’s. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You chose this spot as our meeting point. What does Rosario’s Tacos mean to you? [mariachi music blares in the background]\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Villa: \u003c/b>I’ve known about this spot for the longest. It’s a San Jose staple. It’s one of those spots that everyone in San Jose goes to. I’ve built a rapport with Joe [the owner] because of what he does and what he has contributed to the community. He has a presence here. And the food is delicious. This isn’t a gentrified spot, but you’ll still see every culture here. A group of Indian foodies recently made a video. That’s really cool to see. And Joe doesn’t want to go anywhere. He wants to stay right here in San Jose. That gives people a sense of pride. You can’t hate on that, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I feel that. Have you eaten the Godzilla Taco here? The menu says it’s a 14-inch quesabirria taco. It crossed my mind.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, I have. I can’t finish it [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958804\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a kitchen cook prepares meat for birria tacos\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosario’s Tacos uses family recipes from the owner’s late mother, Rosario, to make some of the best quesabirria in San Jose. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>There are a lot of solid taquerias in this area. I remember eating around here when I was a teenager, and a group of gang members got out of their car and approached the people I was with because of some of the colors they were wearing. But the tacos were so damn good that I kept coming back. Did you grow up in this part of the city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13958336,arts_13958466,arts_13920483']\u003c/span>I grew up on the south side of San Jose. We used to stay away from this area growing up because of what it is, you know [laughs]. Where I lived was like the opposite gang, but I wasn’t affiliated or anything like that. Before all the Instagram stuff, I’ve always been cool with everyone. Just going out and saying what’s up to all the homies. That’s just the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did you start working with San Jose Foos, and what’s your involvement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I partnered with my homie, Anthony [Gomez]. He’s the one who started it; I’m considered the face of it, and I’m in some of the videos. I also help with scheduling, shooting, editing and stuff like that as much as needed. I started a few years ago right after COVID [emerged] in 2020. After all that was going on, that’s when I jumped on board, and I was like, hey, you know, it’s a lot of fighting hate with hate. We wanted to make it a love thing. Support our community. Support local businesses however we can. We were at maybe 10,000 followers at the time, and it still made a difference. And from then it blew up from just telling people to check out this spot, go look at this artist, sharing San Jose staples that you got to know. It became more about that. Local history, culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958805\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958805\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural that reads "Rosario's Tacos San Jose" inside a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural inside the taqueria reflects the owner’s hometown Chicano pride. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that cultural representation something you think San Jose was lacking at the time — or is maybe still lacking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was missing for the longest. San Jose hasn’t always been shown the same love as San Francisco and Oakland. We wanted to pivot and put San Jose on the map in different ways. That was the goal. We want to make people laugh, too [laughs]. This is my favorite horchata in San Jose, by the way [sips horchata].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re helping launch a new festival in San Jose. That’s a big deal. How’s that going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s huge. The first of its kind here in San Jose. They’re going to start building the stage. We’ve always wanted to do something big, festival wise. We’ve been mapping things out. Gordo is a dope artist. I’ve always been a fan of his, so when I heard we’re bringing him out I was like yo, that’s crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958808\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a journalist eating a taco\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED food journalist Alan Chazaro listens in as Chris Villa talks about San Jose’s cultural riches. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your role in the festival?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m helping facilitate, mainly with the vendors. Making sure everyone’s good. I’ve been running around, wearing a few hats. It’ll all be at Discovery Meadows [the park outside the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose]. We have a friend who organizes events, and they’re really good at putting things together and getting the permits and things like that, so they took care of all that. We’ve done events before, but not this size. It’s gonna be good. It’s a large event being held in San Jose at a venue that not many people know about. The last big event that happened there was with Logic. He held a free event there. Hella random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s going to be there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live DJs will be going on from 2 to 9 on one stage. Gordo, Lee Foss, Malóne, Maneki. Nico Crespo from San Jose. He’s actually my best friend’s cousin and he’s been doing it big in the house and techno scene. It’s 11 Latin American house music DJs in total.\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brownnproudla/?hl=en\"> Brown N Proud\u003c/a> LA is doing an SJ collab. He’s a clothing guy; [the clothing brand] Foos Gone Wild has partnered up with him before. But it’s mostly San Jose people:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shrimpn_aint_eazy/?hl=en\"> Shrimpin Ain’t Eazy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popupsj/?hl=en\">Pop Up SJ\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrshrimpsj/\">Mr. Shrimp\u003c/a>. Food trucks, thrifters, clothing brands. Our own stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958809\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"three people sit in front of a taqueria during lunch\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Vilal (left), Alan Chazaro (center) and Rosario’s Tacos owner, Joe (right), discuss San Jose’s artistic community. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your philosophy on what San Jose could be doing better moving forward?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest thing I see in San Jose is people fighting against each other, making everything a competition. [San Jose Foos] never saw it that way. We want to partner up with whoever wants to make a difference, big or small. Artists, photographers, any of that. One of the organizations we help out is\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adopt_my_block/?hl=en\"> Adopt My Block\u003c/a>. They’re about adopting dogs, sheltering dogs. We reached out to them. It’s run by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13839650/on-3rtys-veteran-san-jose-battle-rapper-dirtbag-dan-reveals-his-introspective-side\"> Dirtbag Dan\u003c/a>, one of [San Jose’s] old school battle rappers. We want to show that love to our city.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Taraka with Gordo’ will take place at Discovery Meadow Park (180 Woz Way, San Jose) on Sat., June 15 from 2 to 9 p.m. Tickets available \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taraka-san-jose-w-gordo-more-tba-tickets-891379388747?aff=aff0bandsintown&comeFrom=2500&artist_event_id=1031776474&bit_userid=%24%7Buser_id%7D&appId=onaqfvagbja_jro\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Almaden Avenue is a long stretch of pavement that runs through a scrappy, historic neighborhood on the southern edge of San Jose’s downtown. It’s the kind of barrio you can visit at any hour to find some of the Bay Area’s most homey tacos while vatos circle the block on bicycles and inside minivans. It’s also where you’ll find\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rosarios_tacos/?hl=en\"> Rosario’s Tacos\u003c/a>, a no-frills taqueria that started inside a garage before moving to its current brick-and-mortar location in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gregarious owner, Joe, is an embodiment of San Jose’s low-riding Chicano spirit — a proud father with a full-bellied laugh and cynical sense of humor who refuses to give up on his community. The restaurant is named after his late mother, Rosario, whose recipes Joe has adapted to create the restaurant’s beloved quesabirria — a red-drenched behemoth of a taco, dripping with consomme, birria, cheese and (if desired) plump, succulent shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario’s generous portion sizes and undiluted hometown pride are what attract one of Shark City’s biggest foodies:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chrisillmatic/?hl=en\"> Chris Villa\u003c/a>. As the face of\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanjosefoos/?hl=en\"> San Jose Foos\u003c/a> — the 408’s most culturally influential social media empire, with over 226,000 followers on Instagram — Villa has been going to Rosario’s for years and chose it as our rendezvous point on a sunny South Bay afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958803\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a table of tacos and flyers for a music festival\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose Foos is helping to coordinate the city’s first-ever Latin house music festival at Discovery Meadow Park on June 15. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though not food-specific, the page — which Villa co-facilitates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/san-jose-foos-become-a-much-needed-voice-for-san-jose-culture/\">San Jose Foos founder, Jorge Anthony Gomez\u003c/a> — uplifts a variety of San Jose-owned businesses like Rosario’s. Their popular, insider-y memes and videos highlight small, family-run, genuinely under-appreciated and off-the-radar locales that otherwise go unnoticed by the Bay Area mainstream. Villa has been involved with the account for four years and recently left his job at Apple to pursue his creativity full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their biggest effort to continue building the city’s cultural profile, San Jose Foos are launching a new music festival: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C7AhHO0Pucw/?hl=en\">Taraka\u003c/a>. Headlined by\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gordoszn/?hl=en\"> Nicaraguan super producer and DJ, Gordo\u003c/a>, and featuring a cast of eleven Latin American house music DJs, the festival will be the only one of its kind in the region (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865311/how-sonido-clash-music-fest-became-a-hub-for-forward-thinking-latinx-sounds\">Sonido Clash, the alternative Latinx music festival\u003c/a> that was once held in San Jose, has been discontinued since the pandemic).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ordering close to 20 tacos — which we divvied up, each taking home leftovers — Villa and I ate ourselves into a peaceful state of higher consciousness while chatting about Silicon Valley’s joys, complexities and upcoming food and music takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958806\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"birria tacos on a grill at a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The quesabirria tacos are a main attraction at Rosario’s. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You chose this spot as our meeting point. What does Rosario’s Tacos mean to you? [mariachi music blares in the background]\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Villa: \u003c/b>I’ve known about this spot for the longest. It’s a San Jose staple. It’s one of those spots that everyone in San Jose goes to. I’ve built a rapport with Joe [the owner] because of what he does and what he has contributed to the community. He has a presence here. And the food is delicious. This isn’t a gentrified spot, but you’ll still see every culture here. A group of Indian foodies recently made a video. That’s really cool to see. And Joe doesn’t want to go anywhere. He wants to stay right here in San Jose. That gives people a sense of pride. You can’t hate on that, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I feel that. Have you eaten the Godzilla Taco here? The menu says it’s a 14-inch quesabirria taco. It crossed my mind.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, I have. I can’t finish it [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958804\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a kitchen cook prepares meat for birria tacos\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosario’s Tacos uses family recipes from the owner’s late mother, Rosario, to make some of the best quesabirria in San Jose. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>There are a lot of solid taquerias in this area. I remember eating around here when I was a teenager, and a group of gang members got out of their car and approached the people I was with because of some of the colors they were wearing. But the tacos were so damn good that I kept coming back. Did you grow up in this part of the city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>I grew up on the south side of San Jose. We used to stay away from this area growing up because of what it is, you know [laughs]. Where I lived was like the opposite gang, but I wasn’t affiliated or anything like that. Before all the Instagram stuff, I’ve always been cool with everyone. Just going out and saying what’s up to all the homies. That’s just the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did you start working with San Jose Foos, and what’s your involvement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I partnered with my homie, Anthony [Gomez]. He’s the one who started it; I’m considered the face of it, and I’m in some of the videos. I also help with scheduling, shooting, editing and stuff like that as much as needed. I started a few years ago right after COVID [emerged] in 2020. After all that was going on, that’s when I jumped on board, and I was like, hey, you know, it’s a lot of fighting hate with hate. We wanted to make it a love thing. Support our community. Support local businesses however we can. We were at maybe 10,000 followers at the time, and it still made a difference. And from then it blew up from just telling people to check out this spot, go look at this artist, sharing San Jose staples that you got to know. It became more about that. Local history, culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958805\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958805\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural that reads "Rosario's Tacos San Jose" inside a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural inside the taqueria reflects the owner’s hometown Chicano pride. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that cultural representation something you think San Jose was lacking at the time — or is maybe still lacking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was missing for the longest. San Jose hasn’t always been shown the same love as San Francisco and Oakland. We wanted to pivot and put San Jose on the map in different ways. That was the goal. We want to make people laugh, too [laughs]. This is my favorite horchata in San Jose, by the way [sips horchata].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re helping launch a new festival in San Jose. That’s a big deal. How’s that going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s huge. The first of its kind here in San Jose. They’re going to start building the stage. We’ve always wanted to do something big, festival wise. We’ve been mapping things out. Gordo is a dope artist. I’ve always been a fan of his, so when I heard we’re bringing him out I was like yo, that’s crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958808\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a journalist eating a taco\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED food journalist Alan Chazaro listens in as Chris Villa talks about San Jose’s cultural riches. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your role in the festival?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m helping facilitate, mainly with the vendors. Making sure everyone’s good. I’ve been running around, wearing a few hats. It’ll all be at Discovery Meadows [the park outside the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose]. We have a friend who organizes events, and they’re really good at putting things together and getting the permits and things like that, so they took care of all that. We’ve done events before, but not this size. It’s gonna be good. It’s a large event being held in San Jose at a venue that not many people know about. The last big event that happened there was with Logic. He held a free event there. Hella random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s going to be there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live DJs will be going on from 2 to 9 on one stage. Gordo, Lee Foss, Malóne, Maneki. Nico Crespo from San Jose. He’s actually my best friend’s cousin and he’s been doing it big in the house and techno scene. It’s 11 Latin American house music DJs in total.\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brownnproudla/?hl=en\"> Brown N Proud\u003c/a> LA is doing an SJ collab. He’s a clothing guy; [the clothing brand] Foos Gone Wild has partnered up with him before. But it’s mostly San Jose people:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shrimpn_aint_eazy/?hl=en\"> Shrimpin Ain’t Eazy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popupsj/?hl=en\">Pop Up SJ\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrshrimpsj/\">Mr. Shrimp\u003c/a>. Food trucks, thrifters, clothing brands. Our own stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958809\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"three people sit in front of a taqueria during lunch\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Vilal (left), Alan Chazaro (center) and Rosario’s Tacos owner, Joe (right), discuss San Jose’s artistic community. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your philosophy on what San Jose could be doing better moving forward?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest thing I see in San Jose is people fighting against each other, making everything a competition. [San Jose Foos] never saw it that way. We want to partner up with whoever wants to make a difference, big or small. Artists, photographers, any of that. One of the organizations we help out is\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adopt_my_block/?hl=en\"> Adopt My Block\u003c/a>. They’re about adopting dogs, sheltering dogs. We reached out to them. It’s run by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13839650/on-3rtys-veteran-san-jose-battle-rapper-dirtbag-dan-reveals-his-introspective-side\"> Dirtbag Dan\u003c/a>, one of [San Jose’s] old school battle rappers. We want to show that love to our city.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Taraka with Gordo’ will take place at Discovery Meadow Park (180 Woz Way, San Jose) on Sat., June 15 from 2 to 9 p.m. Tickets available \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taraka-san-jose-w-gordo-more-tba-tickets-891379388747?aff=aff0bandsintown&comeFrom=2500&artist_event_id=1031776474&bit_userid=%24%7Buser_id%7D&appId=onaqfvagbja_jro\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "latina-owned-pr-agency-popoca-oakland-east-bay-if-only-creative",
"title": "How a Chicana-Owned Agency Is Shining a Light on the East Bay’s Diverse Food Scene",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’d better make reservations ahead of time at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popoca.oakland/?hl=en\">Popoca\u003c/a>, chef Anthony Salguero’s chic eatery in Old Oakland. The lively Salvadoreño spot has become such a popular hangout that you’ll likely run into friends randomly (hello, Ricky and Olivia) during dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason is simple: Popoca’s elevated cuisine, cocktails and decor are a reflection of Salguero’s Central American origins, where his parents immigrated from and where he learned how to prepare tamales using freshly made wild duck broth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can taste Salguero’s expansive love for El Salvador in each decision. It’s in the hint of honey and spice in his naranja y betabel en alguashte. It’s in the lemony butteriness of his wood-fired pupusas de hongo. And it’s in the generous smattering of beans, rice, sour cream and escabeche that you should order to accompany the banana leaf-wrapped vegetarian tamales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954919\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954919 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Thick purple pupusas cooking on the griddle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue corn pupusas fry on the open grill. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s also in the people he has surrounded himself with — the servers, bartenders, kitchen hands. Everything feels intentional, genuine and joyfully interconnected in the service of helping each guest experience Popoca. And that’s exactly what Marisa Sanchez-Dunning is committed to showcasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ifonlycreative/?hl=en\">If Only Creative\u003c/a> — a Berkeley-based creative agency that supports dope East Bay destinations such as Popoca, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thisisdaytrip.com/\">DAYTRIP\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.burdelloakland.com/\">Burdell\u003c/a> — Sanchez-Dunning is fiercely aligned with those who share her sense of community values. A homegrown Chicana, she predominantly works with small business owners of color. She carved her way into the scene with her relentless hustle, building her studio from the ground up by hiring other women of color that represent the Bay Area she knows. Beyond providing photography, social media management and branding for a handful of local outlets, Sanchez-Dunning \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928459/cinco-de-mayo-vegan-dinner-el-otro-lado-oakland\">hosts events to celebrate the Bay’s rich food traditions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954975\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954975 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant server laughs as she takes an order from two customers sitting inside a sunny restaurant dining room.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Alan Chazaro, left, and Marisa Sanchez-Dunning order their meal. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a bustling evening at Popoca, despite a persistent rainstorm, I connected with her to discuss her role as a connector in the East Bay’s diverse food and bev world. I’ll be clear: I don’t typically meet with creative directors, PR flaks or other folks who work on the marketing side of the food scene. But, like Sanchez-Dunning and Salguero, I believe in the importance of nurturing and expanding the local ecosystem, and seeing things from every perspective — and I can appreciate the unseen work that Sanchez-Dunning is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay, sustaining your community can begin by simply sharing a soul-mending plate of pupusas with someone across the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You’re not a foodmaker, but you work closely with chefs and small business owners throughout the Bay Area’s culinary scene. How did you enter the food world?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisa Sanchez-Dunning:\u003c/b> My journey in food and hospitality started with my first job at 15 years old serving ice cream. Being in service, you get an appreciation for the whole spectrum. Eventually, I became a waitress. When I was 20, I worked at Peet’s and Scolari’s. I was working doubles, closing one shop late at night and opening another the next day. It’s all about the people you meet. You become a family, a community, and you realize how small the industry is here. That’s part of the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In college, I entered as a bio major, then I switched to journalism and ended up in marketing. I most enjoyed the creative classes: branding, design, photography. When I entered the 9 to 5 world, I started with branding and design agencies, and then I veered off to start my own agency through trial and error. I learned that my passion thrives the most in the food and bev industry. Bars, cafes, restaurants, CPGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A CPG?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oh, my bad. Consumer Packaged Goods. It’s an annoying acronym (laughs).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Word. That’s very corporate-y.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I honestly try to stay away from that (laughs). For me, food is where [my agency] thrives creatively. That’s what we’re genuinely passionate about. As far as I know, we’re the only Chicana-owned agency doing this in the Bay. In my industry, I’m kind of like the only one that looks like me doing what I’m doing and supporting the clients that I’m supporting. And I think being in the Bay, there is an appreciation and excitement around seeing a Chicana. There’s a connection to our community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954974\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13954974\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cara cara orange slices and beets topped alguashte is one of the small plates offered at Popoca in Oakland, Calif., on March 22, 2024.\u003cbr>CREDIT: Marissa Leshnov for KQED \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you noticed working in the local food industry? Are there any trends right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really a mix, and I love that. One thing is that everyone is working their asses off. Places like Popoca are what I support. There’s a specific group of people in the Bay that don’t have any major investors, who don’t come from tons of privilege and tons of money. That takes a certain amount of working your ass off to get where they’ve gotten, and I see that. Those [business owners] have to think authentically and genuinely about every decision made, from working with me to their hiring practices and their vendor sourcing. They make sure everything is in line with their values. That’s also how I operate, for better or worse. Luckily I have a team of amazing women who are helping me out. It may take longer, and it may be harder, but it’s more gratifying. To be real, as a business owner in the Bay working in food and bev, it’s not easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>We all can only do so much, and it can be draining. Finding that balance and intentionality is crucial. How can we keep our money and time in places that are deserving? And how can we increase access to experiences like Popoca?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>100%. I love going to places like this to support them. That’s basically what my entire role is with visual assets, videos, photos of the food and drinks. There’s so much beautiful storytelling on the plate. We’re in a digital world. If someone tells you about a spot they like, you’ll probably pull out your phone and check Instagram. Even just sharing that on social media or sending a text to your friend, it goes a long way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you realize like, \u003cem>Oh shit, this person is nixtamalizing corn and making their own masa? You’re making your own in-house crema from scratch? And not only that, but it’s also being sourced intentionally?\u003c/em> I fuck with that. I don’t want to take the easy way and work with corporate, and neither do a lot of [the foodmakers]. And there are lots of barriers to that, or even to these businesses being able to hire someone like me. Budget is the biggest one. It’s a Catch-22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954918\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954918 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Hands holding horchata with star anise inside a wooden bowl.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Popoca’s peanut horchata topped with star anise. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to employ the community. Working with people who may look like me, but more importantly, who think like me and move around the world like me. There’s a secret superpower to thinking that way. And there are certain businesses in the Bay who are doing that and helping to build their communities. Here at Popoca, there’s an intentionality in trying to invest in Old Oakland. I love the dedication and inspiration that they get and give here. Same with Jo’s Modern Thai [in Oakland’s Laurel District]. The owner was born and raised in that neighborhood. They want to get that area popping. It’s not like Temescal, which gets all this attention. But these other areas deserve to have that elevation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oakland, and the Bay as a whole, can be overwhelming with choices. And there are different perceptions people have about going to certain areas.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13950866,arts_13950436,arts_13919032']\u003c/span>I had a friend visiting from out of town and told them we were going to eat dinner in Oakland, and they asked, “Is it okay to go?” And that’s sad. It’s a whole thing. The city of Oakland has been branded in an unfair way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954976\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13954976\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bags of ground corn are seen in stacks near the bar for Popoca’s house-made masa corn flour in Oakland, Calif., on March 22, 2024.\u003cbr>CREDIT: Marissa Leshnov for KQED \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>People who have never lived in Oakland always seem to misunderstand it. But part of that intentionality you spoke about is in how you help these businesses get visibility. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I try to always get people to try new spots, to come meet me at this restaurant or that bar or whatever. It’s in my blood to bring people together, and through the studio I’ve found a way to do that in a way that I’m proud of because of the real relationships I’ve built. This isn’t transactional. It’s like having homies with boundaries. It’s nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you have coming up next?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m actually working with [Popoca chef] Anthony Salguero to host a Cinco de Mayo dinner in this space in collaboration with chef Jacob from [the Chicano pop-up] \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937851/ofrendas-mexican-immigration-dinner-bolita-masa-sf-ica\">My Friend Fernando\u003c/a>. There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928562/mission-art-and-comic-expo-chicano-latinx-artists\">a local painter, Alex Sodari\u003c/a>, who will be giving away his prints. It’s a dinner with art and community. Everyone sitting at the same table. I love what I do on a day-to-day, but I’m always thinking of how to drive more impact than just being a creative agency. How can we bring more people together? If we’re not doing that, then what’s the point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954923\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954923 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The exterior facade of the restaurant Popoca, with ornate columns and large windows extending the length of the building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If Only Creative’s special Cinco de Mayo dinner will be held at Popoca (906 Washington St., Oakland) on Sunday, May 5. The event is part of If Only’s private dinner series, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ifonly-creative.com/shop-1/p/el-otro-lado\">El Otro Lado\u003c/a>. Tickets are available \u003ca href=\"https://www.ifonly-creative.com/shop-1/p/el-otro-lado\">online\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’d better make reservations ahead of time at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popoca.oakland/?hl=en\">Popoca\u003c/a>, chef Anthony Salguero’s chic eatery in Old Oakland. The lively Salvadoreño spot has become such a popular hangout that you’ll likely run into friends randomly (hello, Ricky and Olivia) during dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason is simple: Popoca’s elevated cuisine, cocktails and decor are a reflection of Salguero’s Central American origins, where his parents immigrated from and where he learned how to prepare tamales using freshly made wild duck broth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can taste Salguero’s expansive love for El Salvador in each decision. It’s in the hint of honey and spice in his naranja y betabel en alguashte. It’s in the lemony butteriness of his wood-fired pupusas de hongo. And it’s in the generous smattering of beans, rice, sour cream and escabeche that you should order to accompany the banana leaf-wrapped vegetarian tamales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954919\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954919 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Thick purple pupusas cooking on the griddle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0070-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue corn pupusas fry on the open grill. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s also in the people he has surrounded himself with — the servers, bartenders, kitchen hands. Everything feels intentional, genuine and joyfully interconnected in the service of helping each guest experience Popoca. And that’s exactly what Marisa Sanchez-Dunning is committed to showcasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ifonlycreative/?hl=en\">If Only Creative\u003c/a> — a Berkeley-based creative agency that supports dope East Bay destinations such as Popoca, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thisisdaytrip.com/\">DAYTRIP\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.burdelloakland.com/\">Burdell\u003c/a> — Sanchez-Dunning is fiercely aligned with those who share her sense of community values. A homegrown Chicana, she predominantly works with small business owners of color. She carved her way into the scene with her relentless hustle, building her studio from the ground up by hiring other women of color that represent the Bay Area she knows. Beyond providing photography, social media management and branding for a handful of local outlets, Sanchez-Dunning \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928459/cinco-de-mayo-vegan-dinner-el-otro-lado-oakland\">hosts events to celebrate the Bay’s rich food traditions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954975\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954975 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant server laughs as she takes an order from two customers sitting inside a sunny restaurant dining room.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0054_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Alan Chazaro, left, and Marisa Sanchez-Dunning order their meal. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a bustling evening at Popoca, despite a persistent rainstorm, I connected with her to discuss her role as a connector in the East Bay’s diverse food and bev world. I’ll be clear: I don’t typically meet with creative directors, PR flaks or other folks who work on the marketing side of the food scene. But, like Sanchez-Dunning and Salguero, I believe in the importance of nurturing and expanding the local ecosystem, and seeing things from every perspective — and I can appreciate the unseen work that Sanchez-Dunning is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay, sustaining your community can begin by simply sharing a soul-mending plate of pupusas with someone across the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You’re not a foodmaker, but you work closely with chefs and small business owners throughout the Bay Area’s culinary scene. How did you enter the food world?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisa Sanchez-Dunning:\u003c/b> My journey in food and hospitality started with my first job at 15 years old serving ice cream. Being in service, you get an appreciation for the whole spectrum. Eventually, I became a waitress. When I was 20, I worked at Peet’s and Scolari’s. I was working doubles, closing one shop late at night and opening another the next day. It’s all about the people you meet. You become a family, a community, and you realize how small the industry is here. That’s part of the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In college, I entered as a bio major, then I switched to journalism and ended up in marketing. I most enjoyed the creative classes: branding, design, photography. When I entered the 9 to 5 world, I started with branding and design agencies, and then I veered off to start my own agency through trial and error. I learned that my passion thrives the most in the food and bev industry. Bars, cafes, restaurants, CPGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A CPG?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oh, my bad. Consumer Packaged Goods. It’s an annoying acronym (laughs).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Word. That’s very corporate-y.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I honestly try to stay away from that (laughs). For me, food is where [my agency] thrives creatively. That’s what we’re genuinely passionate about. As far as I know, we’re the only Chicana-owned agency doing this in the Bay. In my industry, I’m kind of like the only one that looks like me doing what I’m doing and supporting the clients that I’m supporting. And I think being in the Bay, there is an appreciation and excitement around seeing a Chicana. There’s a connection to our community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954974\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13954974\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0112_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cara cara orange slices and beets topped alguashte is one of the small plates offered at Popoca in Oakland, Calif., on March 22, 2024.\u003cbr>CREDIT: Marissa Leshnov for KQED \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you noticed working in the local food industry? Are there any trends right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really a mix, and I love that. One thing is that everyone is working their asses off. Places like Popoca are what I support. There’s a specific group of people in the Bay that don’t have any major investors, who don’t come from tons of privilege and tons of money. That takes a certain amount of working your ass off to get where they’ve gotten, and I see that. Those [business owners] have to think authentically and genuinely about every decision made, from working with me to their hiring practices and their vendor sourcing. They make sure everything is in line with their values. That’s also how I operate, for better or worse. Luckily I have a team of amazing women who are helping me out. It may take longer, and it may be harder, but it’s more gratifying. To be real, as a business owner in the Bay working in food and bev, it’s not easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>We all can only do so much, and it can be draining. Finding that balance and intentionality is crucial. How can we keep our money and time in places that are deserving? And how can we increase access to experiences like Popoca?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>100%. I love going to places like this to support them. That’s basically what my entire role is with visual assets, videos, photos of the food and drinks. There’s so much beautiful storytelling on the plate. We’re in a digital world. If someone tells you about a spot they like, you’ll probably pull out your phone and check Instagram. Even just sharing that on social media or sending a text to your friend, it goes a long way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you realize like, \u003cem>Oh shit, this person is nixtamalizing corn and making their own masa? You’re making your own in-house crema from scratch? And not only that, but it’s also being sourced intentionally?\u003c/em> I fuck with that. I don’t want to take the easy way and work with corporate, and neither do a lot of [the foodmakers]. And there are lots of barriers to that, or even to these businesses being able to hire someone like me. Budget is the biggest one. It’s a Catch-22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954918\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954918 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Hands holding horchata with star anise inside a wooden bowl.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0059-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Popoca’s peanut horchata topped with star anise. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to employ the community. Working with people who may look like me, but more importantly, who think like me and move around the world like me. There’s a secret superpower to thinking that way. And there are certain businesses in the Bay who are doing that and helping to build their communities. Here at Popoca, there’s an intentionality in trying to invest in Old Oakland. I love the dedication and inspiration that they get and give here. Same with Jo’s Modern Thai [in Oakland’s Laurel District]. The owner was born and raised in that neighborhood. They want to get that area popping. It’s not like Temescal, which gets all this attention. But these other areas deserve to have that elevation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oakland, and the Bay as a whole, can be overwhelming with choices. And there are different perceptions people have about going to certain areas.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>I had a friend visiting from out of town and told them we were going to eat dinner in Oakland, and they asked, “Is it okay to go?” And that’s sad. It’s a whole thing. The city of Oakland has been branded in an unfair way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954976\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13954976\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_Hella_Hungry_Popoca_ML_0107_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bags of ground corn are seen in stacks near the bar for Popoca’s house-made masa corn flour in Oakland, Calif., on March 22, 2024.\u003cbr>CREDIT: Marissa Leshnov for KQED \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>People who have never lived in Oakland always seem to misunderstand it. But part of that intentionality you spoke about is in how you help these businesses get visibility. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I try to always get people to try new spots, to come meet me at this restaurant or that bar or whatever. It’s in my blood to bring people together, and through the studio I’ve found a way to do that in a way that I’m proud of because of the real relationships I’ve built. This isn’t transactional. It’s like having homies with boundaries. It’s nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you have coming up next?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m actually working with [Popoca chef] Anthony Salguero to host a Cinco de Mayo dinner in this space in collaboration with chef Jacob from [the Chicano pop-up] \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937851/ofrendas-mexican-immigration-dinner-bolita-masa-sf-ica\">My Friend Fernando\u003c/a>. There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928562/mission-art-and-comic-expo-chicano-latinx-artists\">a local painter, Alex Sodari\u003c/a>, who will be giving away his prints. It’s a dinner with art and community. Everyone sitting at the same table. I love what I do on a day-to-day, but I’m always thinking of how to drive more impact than just being a creative agency. How can we bring more people together? If we’re not doing that, then what’s the point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13954923\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13954923 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The exterior facade of the restaurant Popoca, with ornate columns and large windows extending the length of the building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/20240322_KQED_HELLA_HUNGRY_POPOCA_ML_0137-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If Only Creative’s special Cinco de Mayo dinner will be held at Popoca (906 Washington St., Oakland) on Sunday, May 5. The event is part of If Only’s private dinner series, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ifonly-creative.com/shop-1/p/el-otro-lado\">El Otro Lado\u003c/a>. Tickets are available \u003ca href=\"https://www.ifonly-creative.com/shop-1/p/el-otro-lado\">online\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "jay-caspian-kang-asian-food-san-jose-hella-hungry",
"title": "Jay Caspian Kang Loves Bay Area Food — But Isn’t Shy About Bashing It",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13904835,arts_13950363,arts_13938479']My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jay Caspian Kang\"]‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’[/pullquote]I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "edible-insects-don-bugito-crickets-mealworms-snacks-san-mateo-hella-hungry",
"title": "This San Mateo ‘Snackeria’ Wants to Popularize Edible Insects",
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"headTitle": "This San Mateo ‘Snackeria’ Wants to Popularize Edible Insects | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, you probably don’t think of crickets and mealworms as snacks. That’s because munching on insects isn’t particularly accessible or socially commonplace for most Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with her snack company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">Don Bugito\u003c/a>, Monica Martinez is modernizing the Mesoamerican insect diet for today’s eaters — and it’s more delicious than you might imagine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of one of the region’s only edible insect companies, Martinez has steadily grown her vision to expand North America’s palate. After immigrating from Mexico City to attend design school on the East Coast, Martinez anchored herself along San Francisco’s shores over a decade ago, teaching courses on industrial design and insect-based alternative diets at the California College of Arts. She currently operates the only mealworm (i.e., dark beetle larva) farm in the Bay Area — in Oakland — where her small team cultivates insects to produce snacks like toasted mealworms, coconut brittle crickets with amaranth, chile-lime crickets with pumpkin seeds and chocolate-covered crickets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez has been an innovator in the edible insect movement for over a decade. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s innovative approach has attracted attention from outlets like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22bug.html\">\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/eating-insects-to-save-the-world/60dcaea6c0270c3fe86479b1\">\u003ci>VICE\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/bug-protein-how-entrepreneurs-are-persuading-americans-to-eat-insects.html\">\u003ci>CNBC\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, but she says the Bay Area hasn’t fully caught on yet — ironically, most of her business comes from outside this region. But that lack of local awareness hasn’t prevented her from distributing her culinary passion from her chic food innovation space in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not be used to seeing your housemates munch on a chile-doused cricket yet. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable option — one report predicts that \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-insects-set-to-become-8-billion-business-barclays-2019-6#:~:text=Edible%20insects%20are%20set%20to,sustainable%20alternatives%20to%20traditional%20meat.\">the edible bug business could be worth $8 billion by 2030\u003c/a>. It isn’t about the profit for Martinez, though. She’s more concerned with providing an alternative to the planet’s current, unsustainable food sources. In Mexico, for example, chapulines (large grasshoppers) have long been a prevalent botana. The tradition just hasn’t migrated across the border in the same way that tamales, tostadas, tortas and other forms of Mexican cuisine have. Martinez wants to change that. And I’m all for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the New Year underway, I visited the madly creative, ever-hungry insect advocate at her production plant to learn more about the joys and challenges of convincing Bay Area eaters to snack on toasted crickets instead of Hot Cheetos. The former professor schooled me on all of that — and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: Where does the name Don Bugito come from? And how do you explain what you do as a foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MONICA MARTINEZ:\u003c/b> Don Bugito, as a name, is a play on words. It comes from “don.” In Mexico, that’s how you address an elder with respect. Bugito comes from bug and “ito,” which means small in Spanish. It’s like the big little guy — it’s little but is such a big, powerful food. We’re a business trying to bring diversity into our food systems. Reviving native American ingredients and celebrating the tradition of entomophagy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, ento-what?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entomophagy. There’s a line of academia that studies the culture of eating insects. In Mexico, it’s very common. We want to revive that — pre-Columbian, pre-Hispanic cuisines that aren’t well known in the United States. [U.S. residents] are not aware of indigenous Mexican culinary traditions outside of tacos and tamales. There’s also venison, rabbit, fish, insects — all these proteins that were here before we had pork, cows, chicken. That includes North American Native people. We’re celebrating that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg\" alt=\"a foodmaker displays edible insects in her hands\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez shows a piece of coconut brittle baked with crickets. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I don’t know any other edible insect food companies in the Bay Area. How did you start out? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We launched in 2011 at the SF Street Food Festival. I was a street food vendor making tacos and tostadas with chile-lime crickets, larvae tacos and mealworm vanilla ice cream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you still serve insect-based dinners?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sometimes host private dinners, but it’s a lot of work. That’s how I started out though. It was a great way to test if Americans were ready for insects, and we sold out. It made me realize Americans will eat insects (laughs). When I worked as a street vendor, I was one of the only ones selling organic [insect-based meals] at the time, competing with fried chicken. It wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did your upbringing influence your food making?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I moved from Mexico City to Boston for school, the first thing I felt was homesick for food. No avocados, no Mexican restaurants. There was just one outside of the city, and it was owned by Indians. It wasn’t even Mexican food. I remember the cafe on campus and had culture shock because the food was horrible. I asked the chef why it was so bad and where it came from. He pointed at the freezer. That made me realize like, wait a minute, there’s a disconnect where our food comes from in New England versus Mexico. My practice started to evolve from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13925233,arts_13903531,arts_13922141']\u003c/span>When I went back to Mexico to visit, I would go to markets and ask about everything. I’ve been going to farmers markets since growing up. There’s people giving you fresh crema and tostadas, smelling fresh cilantro, preparing fresh meat. That was growing up in Mexico City, an immense city with incredibly fresh, fast-moving food. There is so much demand that the freshness there can’t be replicated anywhere. So I was feeling miserable with the frozen foods in Boston. I was thinking about how food moves in a city. How many tons of product come in and get distributed to supply millions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a super large market in Mexico City called Central de Abasto. They have a school, a hospital; it’s like a city that’s probably bigger than San Francisco (laughs). That’s where I started to get an understanding. When I decided to do Don Bugito, I didn’t have a culinary background. I only had memories from childhood, and that was the flavors I grew up with in Mexico. I knew crunchy things: chile, lime, amaranth, nuts, chocolate, paletas, alegrias. That’s sold on every corner in the city. Don Bugito started with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950671\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of two tacos topped with edible insects\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez started out by selling insect-topped tacos around San Francisco as a graduate of La Cocina. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of La Cocina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has being in the Bay Area shaped Don Bugito, and how has your business model changed in the past 13 years?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We went from street vending to packaging online deliveries in an organic way. There was no Shopify when I started. But that’s huge now for businesses. We were one of the first to do that. Square, too. I remember talking to three engineers at Square when they first started out about getting into their system. They invited me and gave lessons on how to use their gadget to charge people, step by step. Being in the Bay Area helped with that. It was a smooth process and in our backyard. I see how big it’s all grown since then. Everything moves way faster now. There was Amazon, but you couldn’t sell edible insect snacks 13 years ago. It wasn’t that kind of platform. Now I can’t imagine my business without any of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t come here to run a food business. But here, I can celebrate local farming. Support local systems. Create jobs. It does suit me very well to be here. Now we have a farm in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me more about your insect farm.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have an urban farm in shipping containers. Our goal is not to replicate industrial farming practices. We use modular systems for small batches. No hormones or antibiotics. We allow the insects to follow their natural life cycles. We respect that. We tap into that to save resources. We call our farm a “holistic farm.” We are an organic farm, zero waste. Nothing gets thrown out. The poop is fertilizer. We are the only insect farm around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the challenges of running the only urban edible insect farm in the Bay Area, and how has it helped your business grow?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A challenge for us has always been sourcing insects. I worked with a couple insect farms in Texas at the beginning, but I was concerned with sustainability. They supplied crickets. I wanted non-GMO and organic insects, but it wasn’t offered back then. In 2017, I launched Mighty Bugito Farms — we just finally launched the domain and are developing the brand. We farm organic crickets and organic mealworms. Don Bugito will become a smaller brand within that. We also make fertilizer from insect poop. We’re also launching a pet food line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950670\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg\" alt=\"Insect snacks in colorful packaging displayed on a table.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don Bugito distributes a range of insect-based snacks nationally. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have a background in visual art and also taught design at the California College of Arts for nearly a decade. How does that influence your culinary art?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don Bugito came out as a project for alternative farming — for farms to cultivate their own insects for alternative kitchens. I presented that at a gallery in New York when I was an artist. Next door, there was a place called Brooklyn Kitchen. Now it’s super famous. They found out about the edible insects exhibit and hosted a dinner. The\u003ci> New York Times\u003c/i> found out, and we did an exclusive during the beginning of the edible insect movement in the U.S., around 2009, 2010. Andrew Zimmern from Food Network’s \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> read the story and asked me to cook lunch for him. We cooked for him in our apartment in San Francisco. I told him I wanted to launch a food truck. I felt like I had to deliver, since it was on national TV (laughs). I joined La Cocina and enrolled. They were like “What? Edible insects?” And that’s how we became a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Monica Martinez\"]‘We don’t preach about only eating insects. … But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.’[/pullquote]But it hasn’t been easy. I never left art. My career is an artistic endeavor, not always about making money. I still feel like an artist. I have a good friend [who is] a designer, and I told her I don’t have studio practice, so I’m not an artist. And she told me my studio is my insect farm. Before Don Bugito, I wasn’t in an industrial kitchen, and so I burned my hand in a steamer. I was used to being in shops and galleries. So I switched my mindset and started to treat my business like an art design project. I’ve been teaching classes on food systems the whole time: the future of foods, biodesign, everything related to the environment, agriculture, food. Agriculture. It goes beyond having a snack package. How does it affect us? Our health? Our environment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Why are insects the right solution for our future in food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t want the world to start eating only insects because that can be catastrophic. We don’t preach about only eating insects. We want a balanced diet and respect for the environment. You can eat meat — go for it. But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insects are the future of food because they’re sustainable. They use little energy to yield large amounts of protein. You can replace conventional protein with insects. Again, we don’t preach only that, but it’s possible. If the world collapses tomorrow, I have an insect farm that barely uses any resources to create protein. Insects don’t need water. Very little amounts. The amount of food they need is very little in comparison to a cow. They eat a diet of cereals and can even eat waste if needed. We have thousands of mealworms in a small amount of space. They’re easy to store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950672\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg\" alt=\"A plastic bin full of thousands of frozen mealworms.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A freshly frozen batch of mealworms arrive for preparation at Don Bugito’s San Mateo facility. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we were cooking at the SF Street Food Festival, we used to arrive with a few boxes, but my neighbors carried large containers of heavy meat. How far do you transport that? How much energy does that take? Insects can be cultivated anywhere, in small spaces, and moved easily. Genetically, they are far more removed from humans so there’s less risk of cross contamination. You’ve heard of avian flu, mad cow disease. That affects humans. There is less risk of that with bugs. That’s all very positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Don Bugito\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is based in San Mateo and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.donbugito.com/collections/all\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Its products can also be purchased locally at Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley), Foodhall (SF), Casa Lucas (SF), the Ferry Building (SF), Mandela (Oakland) and Rancho Gordo (Napa).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, you probably don’t think of crickets and mealworms as snacks. That’s because munching on insects isn’t particularly accessible or socially commonplace for most Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with her snack company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">Don Bugito\u003c/a>, Monica Martinez is modernizing the Mesoamerican insect diet for today’s eaters — and it’s more delicious than you might imagine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of one of the region’s only edible insect companies, Martinez has steadily grown her vision to expand North America’s palate. After immigrating from Mexico City to attend design school on the East Coast, Martinez anchored herself along San Francisco’s shores over a decade ago, teaching courses on industrial design and insect-based alternative diets at the California College of Arts. She currently operates the only mealworm (i.e., dark beetle larva) farm in the Bay Area — in Oakland — where her small team cultivates insects to produce snacks like toasted mealworms, coconut brittle crickets with amaranth, chile-lime crickets with pumpkin seeds and chocolate-covered crickets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez has been an innovator in the edible insect movement for over a decade. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s innovative approach has attracted attention from outlets like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22bug.html\">\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/eating-insects-to-save-the-world/60dcaea6c0270c3fe86479b1\">\u003ci>VICE\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/bug-protein-how-entrepreneurs-are-persuading-americans-to-eat-insects.html\">\u003ci>CNBC\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, but she says the Bay Area hasn’t fully caught on yet — ironically, most of her business comes from outside this region. But that lack of local awareness hasn’t prevented her from distributing her culinary passion from her chic food innovation space in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not be used to seeing your housemates munch on a chile-doused cricket yet. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable option — one report predicts that \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-insects-set-to-become-8-billion-business-barclays-2019-6#:~:text=Edible%20insects%20are%20set%20to,sustainable%20alternatives%20to%20traditional%20meat.\">the edible bug business could be worth $8 billion by 2030\u003c/a>. It isn’t about the profit for Martinez, though. She’s more concerned with providing an alternative to the planet’s current, unsustainable food sources. In Mexico, for example, chapulines (large grasshoppers) have long been a prevalent botana. The tradition just hasn’t migrated across the border in the same way that tamales, tostadas, tortas and other forms of Mexican cuisine have. Martinez wants to change that. And I’m all for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the New Year underway, I visited the madly creative, ever-hungry insect advocate at her production plant to learn more about the joys and challenges of convincing Bay Area eaters to snack on toasted crickets instead of Hot Cheetos. The former professor schooled me on all of that — and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: Where does the name Don Bugito come from? And how do you explain what you do as a foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MONICA MARTINEZ:\u003c/b> Don Bugito, as a name, is a play on words. It comes from “don.” In Mexico, that’s how you address an elder with respect. Bugito comes from bug and “ito,” which means small in Spanish. It’s like the big little guy — it’s little but is such a big, powerful food. We’re a business trying to bring diversity into our food systems. Reviving native American ingredients and celebrating the tradition of entomophagy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, ento-what?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entomophagy. There’s a line of academia that studies the culture of eating insects. In Mexico, it’s very common. We want to revive that — pre-Columbian, pre-Hispanic cuisines that aren’t well known in the United States. [U.S. residents] are not aware of indigenous Mexican culinary traditions outside of tacos and tamales. There’s also venison, rabbit, fish, insects — all these proteins that were here before we had pork, cows, chicken. That includes North American Native people. We’re celebrating that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg\" alt=\"a foodmaker displays edible insects in her hands\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez shows a piece of coconut brittle baked with crickets. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I don’t know any other edible insect food companies in the Bay Area. How did you start out? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We launched in 2011 at the SF Street Food Festival. I was a street food vendor making tacos and tostadas with chile-lime crickets, larvae tacos and mealworm vanilla ice cream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you still serve insect-based dinners?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sometimes host private dinners, but it’s a lot of work. That’s how I started out though. It was a great way to test if Americans were ready for insects, and we sold out. It made me realize Americans will eat insects (laughs). When I worked as a street vendor, I was one of the only ones selling organic [insect-based meals] at the time, competing with fried chicken. It wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did your upbringing influence your food making?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I moved from Mexico City to Boston for school, the first thing I felt was homesick for food. No avocados, no Mexican restaurants. There was just one outside of the city, and it was owned by Indians. It wasn’t even Mexican food. I remember the cafe on campus and had culture shock because the food was horrible. I asked the chef why it was so bad and where it came from. He pointed at the freezer. That made me realize like, wait a minute, there’s a disconnect where our food comes from in New England versus Mexico. My practice started to evolve from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>When I went back to Mexico to visit, I would go to markets and ask about everything. I’ve been going to farmers markets since growing up. There’s people giving you fresh crema and tostadas, smelling fresh cilantro, preparing fresh meat. That was growing up in Mexico City, an immense city with incredibly fresh, fast-moving food. There is so much demand that the freshness there can’t be replicated anywhere. So I was feeling miserable with the frozen foods in Boston. I was thinking about how food moves in a city. How many tons of product come in and get distributed to supply millions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a super large market in Mexico City called Central de Abasto. They have a school, a hospital; it’s like a city that’s probably bigger than San Francisco (laughs). That’s where I started to get an understanding. When I decided to do Don Bugito, I didn’t have a culinary background. I only had memories from childhood, and that was the flavors I grew up with in Mexico. I knew crunchy things: chile, lime, amaranth, nuts, chocolate, paletas, alegrias. That’s sold on every corner in the city. Don Bugito started with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950671\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of two tacos topped with edible insects\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez started out by selling insect-topped tacos around San Francisco as a graduate of La Cocina. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of La Cocina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has being in the Bay Area shaped Don Bugito, and how has your business model changed in the past 13 years?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We went from street vending to packaging online deliveries in an organic way. There was no Shopify when I started. But that’s huge now for businesses. We were one of the first to do that. Square, too. I remember talking to three engineers at Square when they first started out about getting into their system. They invited me and gave lessons on how to use their gadget to charge people, step by step. Being in the Bay Area helped with that. It was a smooth process and in our backyard. I see how big it’s all grown since then. Everything moves way faster now. There was Amazon, but you couldn’t sell edible insect snacks 13 years ago. It wasn’t that kind of platform. Now I can’t imagine my business without any of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t come here to run a food business. But here, I can celebrate local farming. Support local systems. Create jobs. It does suit me very well to be here. Now we have a farm in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me more about your insect farm.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have an urban farm in shipping containers. Our goal is not to replicate industrial farming practices. We use modular systems for small batches. No hormones or antibiotics. We allow the insects to follow their natural life cycles. We respect that. We tap into that to save resources. We call our farm a “holistic farm.” We are an organic farm, zero waste. Nothing gets thrown out. The poop is fertilizer. We are the only insect farm around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the challenges of running the only urban edible insect farm in the Bay Area, and how has it helped your business grow?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A challenge for us has always been sourcing insects. I worked with a couple insect farms in Texas at the beginning, but I was concerned with sustainability. They supplied crickets. I wanted non-GMO and organic insects, but it wasn’t offered back then. In 2017, I launched Mighty Bugito Farms — we just finally launched the domain and are developing the brand. We farm organic crickets and organic mealworms. Don Bugito will become a smaller brand within that. We also make fertilizer from insect poop. We’re also launching a pet food line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950670\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg\" alt=\"Insect snacks in colorful packaging displayed on a table.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don Bugito distributes a range of insect-based snacks nationally. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have a background in visual art and also taught design at the California College of Arts for nearly a decade. How does that influence your culinary art?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don Bugito came out as a project for alternative farming — for farms to cultivate their own insects for alternative kitchens. I presented that at a gallery in New York when I was an artist. Next door, there was a place called Brooklyn Kitchen. Now it’s super famous. They found out about the edible insects exhibit and hosted a dinner. The\u003ci> New York Times\u003c/i> found out, and we did an exclusive during the beginning of the edible insect movement in the U.S., around 2009, 2010. Andrew Zimmern from Food Network’s \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> read the story and asked me to cook lunch for him. We cooked for him in our apartment in San Francisco. I told him I wanted to launch a food truck. I felt like I had to deliver, since it was on national TV (laughs). I joined La Cocina and enrolled. They were like “What? Edible insects?” And that’s how we became a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We don’t preach about only eating insects. … But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But it hasn’t been easy. I never left art. My career is an artistic endeavor, not always about making money. I still feel like an artist. I have a good friend [who is] a designer, and I told her I don’t have studio practice, so I’m not an artist. And she told me my studio is my insect farm. Before Don Bugito, I wasn’t in an industrial kitchen, and so I burned my hand in a steamer. I was used to being in shops and galleries. So I switched my mindset and started to treat my business like an art design project. I’ve been teaching classes on food systems the whole time: the future of foods, biodesign, everything related to the environment, agriculture, food. Agriculture. It goes beyond having a snack package. How does it affect us? Our health? Our environment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Why are insects the right solution for our future in food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t want the world to start eating only insects because that can be catastrophic. We don’t preach about only eating insects. We want a balanced diet and respect for the environment. You can eat meat — go for it. But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insects are the future of food because they’re sustainable. They use little energy to yield large amounts of protein. You can replace conventional protein with insects. Again, we don’t preach only that, but it’s possible. If the world collapses tomorrow, I have an insect farm that barely uses any resources to create protein. Insects don’t need water. Very little amounts. The amount of food they need is very little in comparison to a cow. They eat a diet of cereals and can even eat waste if needed. We have thousands of mealworms in a small amount of space. They’re easy to store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950672\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg\" alt=\"A plastic bin full of thousands of frozen mealworms.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A freshly frozen batch of mealworms arrive for preparation at Don Bugito’s San Mateo facility. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we were cooking at the SF Street Food Festival, we used to arrive with a few boxes, but my neighbors carried large containers of heavy meat. How far do you transport that? How much energy does that take? Insects can be cultivated anywhere, in small spaces, and moved easily. Genetically, they are far more removed from humans so there’s less risk of cross contamination. You’ve heard of avian flu, mad cow disease. That affects humans. There is less risk of that with bugs. That’s all very positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Don Bugito\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is based in San Mateo and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.donbugito.com/collections/all\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Its products can also be purchased locally at Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley), Foodhall (SF), Casa Lucas (SF), the Ferry Building (SF), Mandela (Oakland) and Rancho Gordo (Napa).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "tamales-venezuelan-hallacas-christmas-arepas-en-bici-hella-hungry",
"title": "Sorry, Tamales: Venezuelans Say Hallacas Are the Ultimate Christmas Dish",
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"headTitle": "Sorry, Tamales: Venezuelans Say Hallacas Are the Ultimate Christmas Dish | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the son of Mexican immigrants — with one parent currently living in México and the other obsessively watching the Mexican soccer league’s playoffs as I write this — I’m about to get lambasted for saying the following: Forget about Mexican tamales on Nochebuena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, I’m going for Venezuelan hallacas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, hallacas are tamale-esque — masa-thick, meat-stuffed and delicately wrapped in banana leaves that are boiled and dispersed like little edible gifts around a table of hungry-mouthed, happy-eyed recipients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the words of San Francisco-based foodmaker and Venezuelan immigrant Victor Aguilera, \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/11/13/21562592/arepas-en-bici-bike-delivery-venezuelan-hallacas-pan-de-jamon-christmas-thanksgiving\">hallacas are much more than “Venezuelan tamales.”\u003c/a> For starters, they’re heftier. That’s because they’re filled with guiso (a flavorful stew), veggies and a panoply of proteins (including a trifecta of chicken, beef and pork).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguilera — who opened his food operation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/arepasenbici/?hl=en\">Arepas en Bici\u003c/a>, during the COVID peak of shelter in place by \u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/the-chef-who-makes-and-delivers-his-own-food/61dda8ae3522aa50d007101c\">delivering homemade arepas\u003c/a> on his bicycle, up and down San Francisco’s steeply angled avenues — learned how to make hallacas and other Venezuelan holiday favorites, like pan de jamón, from his grandmother in Venezuela.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13939532\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez.jpg\" alt='A drag performer in a bright orange dress, a chef wearing glasses, and a journalist in white sneakers sit on stage. The words \"Arepas en Bici\" are projected onto the screen behind them.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drag performer Dulce de Leche and KQED Arts staff writer Alan Chazaro interviewed Aguilera (center) on stage during a tamal-themed KQED event. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, KQED hosted Aguilera — along with the chefs behind \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/omsabor/?hl=en\">Om Sabor\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popoca.oakland/?hl=en\">Popoca\u003c/a> — for a live event focused on holiday culinary traditions and the joy of hosting a good old-fashioned \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2022/12/tamales-and-tamaladas/\">tamalada\u003c/a>. I spoke with Aguilera to learn more about his memories of home, music, rum and — Venezuela’s Nochebuena centerpiece — hallacas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: What exactly are hallacas? They were served at KQED’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/3597?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7OqrBhD9ARIsAK3UXh1BwWOgtjp0_B0D-I3oiHUf1cdU0O0obKLIm-8Ihut-TVzWK5ChRTEaAmY1EALw_wcB\">Celebrating the Holidays with Tamales\u003c/a>” live event. But they’re not tamales.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Victor Aguilera:\u003c/b> Hallacas are a Venezuelan holiday food, traditionally served every Christmas, like tamales. Now that there are more Venezuelans in the U.S., they’re also being made for Thanksgiving as well. Sometimes they’re eaten at other times of the year, but it’s really mostly for the holidays with your family. The inside is very different from tamales. A tamal might have one protein and maybe cheese with salsa in the dough. Sometimes it can get dry, or if you’re lucky, it’s moist and has that juicy fat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hallacas, the filling is chicken, beef and pork — all three. It’s slow-cooked in a guiso, which is like a stew, using African- and French-influenced spices. You get this nice, beautiful guiso and then you put that in the hallaca. You add some raw onions, peppers, olives and raisins, then you stuff that in the plantain leaf and wrap it all in butcher’s twine and you boil it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love that. What does using a plantain leaf add to the flavor profile, as opposed to using a corn husk, which is more commonly seen throughout Northern Mexico and here in California?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I believe it’s moister. It gives a fresher, more dense flavor to the masa. If you think about it, there are more cuisines that use plantain leaves for their dishes as well. Steamed fish in Vietnam and rice cakes around different Asian countries. They like wrap food and other items in plantain leaves. It gives a nice, woody flavor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Arepas en Bici is a clever name. You started out by actually selling arepas on your bicicleta, or bici, around San Francisco. Tell us about how that happened. And are you still pedaling around?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, I got laid off like everybody, and during a month of uncertainty — and, really, just survival mode kicking in —with the help of my fiancée, we started Arepas en Bici. We had $63 and started the business just by selling arepas on Instagram. I made a menu and had maybe two clients per day at first. Two weeks later I had an \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/4/22/21230298/arepas-en-bici-venezuelan-bicycle-delivery-san-francisco\">interview\u003c/a> [with now KQED Food editor, Luke Tsai] at Eater SF and that gave like 2,000 followers added in less than a month. We had orders back to back to back. The laws were not fully in effect about what we could or couldn’t do, but we did our best trying to keep it all safe by making food at home and delivering it by bicycle. I was on \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/make-chef-victor-aguileras-delicious-home-chicken-avocado-71755150\">\u003ci>Good Morning America\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.telemundoareadelabahia.com/noticias/local/arepas-en-bicicleta-en-san-francisco/2077519/\">Telemundo\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now we’re three years in, and as restaurants have opened again, business slowed down for us and we had to readjust. We’re not really operating from home anymore. I do some prep work, but usually we are [popping up] at different event spaces. We haven’t found our own location yet, unfortunately. But that’s the goal. We do private dinners and services. Catering. We’re about to work at a concert with about 200 people, serving holiday food and arepas as a seasonal menu, with pernil and asado negro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What sort of Northern California influences have you introduced to your Venezuelan recipes?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We do lots of Venezuelan cuisine in a California farm-to-table setting; I also work with cannabis in food, too, using oils. Everything right now is farm to table. Two months ago, we switched to fully organic. I usually go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heartofthecityfm/\">Heart of the City Farmers Market\u003c/a> for my ingredients. If not, we’re using \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/biritesf/\">Bi Rite\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gussmarket/\">Gus’s\u003c/a>, which is purchased from local sources and farmers. That makes it easier for me. For my hallacas, I offer another version, it’s not the regular one — it’s vegan. That’s not common in Venezuela. We love our meat (laughs). But here in the Bay Area, there are many varieties of clientele, and I want everyone to try Venezuelan traditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Prior to Arepas en Bici, how long had you been living in the Bay? What are the challenges of being a small business owner here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in Venezuela and raised there, then moved to the U.S. when I was 12. I was in Florida for a while, and have now been in San Francisco for seven years. I would love to make it out in the Bay Area, even though it seems to be getting harder, but we’re trying to push to stay here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13939534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a brown apron shows off two banana leaf-wrapped hallacas on a wooden cutting board.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aguilera shows off the finished dish: two banana leaf–wrapped hallacas. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’d never heard of hallacas prior to this. Are there other Venezuelan places serving them around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As far as I know, I was one of the first to bring them to this area, as mentioned in the \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/11/13/21562592/arepas-en-bici-bike-delivery-venezuelan-hallacas-pan-de-jamon-christmas-thanksgiving\">Eater SF\u003c/a> article, but now there are more independent sellers doing it, too. There is an amazing chef who is doing Chinese Venezuelan food at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cantoosf/\">Cantoo\u003c/a>. That’s actually very common in Venezuela. I miss eating Venezuelan Chinese food. As a kid I was not very into it, but now I eat it way more, and it reminds me of home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What other memories remind you of Venezuela, particularly during the holidays?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So there’s three dishes together: hallacas, pan de jamón, and our version of coquito, which is called ponche de crema and is made with Venezuelan rum. It’s like our eggnog. For the pan de jamón, it’s freshly baked rolls with homemade dough, filled with ham, bacon, olives and raisins with a panela glaze I make that is brushed on the inside and outside. It’s crispy. It’s sweet. It’s savory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13938479,arts_13930138,arts_13913355']\u003c/span>At the table, the family comes together for all of this. Everyone helps in preparing the meal, and you go up the ranks as you get older. You get different responsibilities in making the hallacas. First, it’s cleaning the leaves. After that, you put the masa on the leaves. The next person puts the guiso inside. Next, the little ingredients are added. Finally, the wrapping and tying the hallaca. That’s where you spill your family gossip and have some ponche or Venezuelan rum while listening to Venezuelan Christmas music. Our holiday music isn’t always promoted very much, but we listen to \u003ca href=\"https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2021/12/01/gaita-the-ultimate-venezuelan-holiday-music/\">gaita\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nice part is you can freeze and store the hallacas after, and they last for months and months. Usually, at the end of December, you have an extra 20 and eat them throughout the next year. I actually had a client the other day, and he sent me a picture of one he bought the year before. And he ate it. I was scared for him, but he said it still tasted good. I was like, I wouldn’t eat that, but it’s cool to know they last that long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/\">\u003ci>Arepas en Bici\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is currently taking orders from its \u003c/i>\u003ci>annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/holidaymenu\">holiday menu\u003c/a> until Dec. 20\u003c/i>\u003ci>. Check its \u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/popups\">calendar\u003c/a> or reach out directly to learn about future events, catering and private dinners.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylrLD0hBR8U\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A Venezuelan chef shares his evolving holiday traditions.\r\n",
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"title": "Forget Tamales: Venezuelan Hallacas Are the Best Christmas Dish | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the son of Mexican immigrants — with one parent currently living in México and the other obsessively watching the Mexican soccer league’s playoffs as I write this — I’m about to get lambasted for saying the following: Forget about Mexican tamales on Nochebuena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, I’m going for Venezuelan hallacas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, hallacas are tamale-esque — masa-thick, meat-stuffed and delicately wrapped in banana leaves that are boiled and dispersed like little edible gifts around a table of hungry-mouthed, happy-eyed recipients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the words of San Francisco-based foodmaker and Venezuelan immigrant Victor Aguilera, \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/11/13/21562592/arepas-en-bici-bike-delivery-venezuelan-hallacas-pan-de-jamon-christmas-thanksgiving\">hallacas are much more than “Venezuelan tamales.”\u003c/a> For starters, they’re heftier. That’s because they’re filled with guiso (a flavorful stew), veggies and a panoply of proteins (including a trifecta of chicken, beef and pork).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguilera — who opened his food operation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/arepasenbici/?hl=en\">Arepas en Bici\u003c/a>, during the COVID peak of shelter in place by \u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/the-chef-who-makes-and-delivers-his-own-food/61dda8ae3522aa50d007101c\">delivering homemade arepas\u003c/a> on his bicycle, up and down San Francisco’s steeply angled avenues — learned how to make hallacas and other Venezuelan holiday favorites, like pan de jamón, from his grandmother in Venezuela.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13939532\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez.jpg\" alt='A drag performer in a bright orange dress, a chef wearing glasses, and a journalist in white sneakers sit on stage. The words \"Arepas en Bici\" are projected onto the screen behind them.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas3_estefany-gonzalez-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drag performer Dulce de Leche and KQED Arts staff writer Alan Chazaro interviewed Aguilera (center) on stage during a tamal-themed KQED event. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, KQED hosted Aguilera — along with the chefs behind \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/omsabor/?hl=en\">Om Sabor\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popoca.oakland/?hl=en\">Popoca\u003c/a> — for a live event focused on holiday culinary traditions and the joy of hosting a good old-fashioned \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2022/12/tamales-and-tamaladas/\">tamalada\u003c/a>. I spoke with Aguilera to learn more about his memories of home, music, rum and — Venezuela’s Nochebuena centerpiece — hallacas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: What exactly are hallacas? They were served at KQED’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/3597?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7OqrBhD9ARIsAK3UXh1BwWOgtjp0_B0D-I3oiHUf1cdU0O0obKLIm-8Ihut-TVzWK5ChRTEaAmY1EALw_wcB\">Celebrating the Holidays with Tamales\u003c/a>” live event. But they’re not tamales.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Victor Aguilera:\u003c/b> Hallacas are a Venezuelan holiday food, traditionally served every Christmas, like tamales. Now that there are more Venezuelans in the U.S., they’re also being made for Thanksgiving as well. Sometimes they’re eaten at other times of the year, but it’s really mostly for the holidays with your family. The inside is very different from tamales. A tamal might have one protein and maybe cheese with salsa in the dough. Sometimes it can get dry, or if you’re lucky, it’s moist and has that juicy fat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hallacas, the filling is chicken, beef and pork — all three. It’s slow-cooked in a guiso, which is like a stew, using African- and French-influenced spices. You get this nice, beautiful guiso and then you put that in the hallaca. You add some raw onions, peppers, olives and raisins, then you stuff that in the plantain leaf and wrap it all in butcher’s twine and you boil it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love that. What does using a plantain leaf add to the flavor profile, as opposed to using a corn husk, which is more commonly seen throughout Northern Mexico and here in California?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I believe it’s moister. It gives a fresher, more dense flavor to the masa. If you think about it, there are more cuisines that use plantain leaves for their dishes as well. Steamed fish in Vietnam and rice cakes around different Asian countries. They like wrap food and other items in plantain leaves. It gives a nice, woody flavor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Arepas en Bici is a clever name. You started out by actually selling arepas on your bicicleta, or bici, around San Francisco. Tell us about how that happened. And are you still pedaling around?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, I got laid off like everybody, and during a month of uncertainty — and, really, just survival mode kicking in —with the help of my fiancée, we started Arepas en Bici. We had $63 and started the business just by selling arepas on Instagram. I made a menu and had maybe two clients per day at first. Two weeks later I had an \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/4/22/21230298/arepas-en-bici-venezuelan-bicycle-delivery-san-francisco\">interview\u003c/a> [with now KQED Food editor, Luke Tsai] at Eater SF and that gave like 2,000 followers added in less than a month. We had orders back to back to back. The laws were not fully in effect about what we could or couldn’t do, but we did our best trying to keep it all safe by making food at home and delivering it by bicycle. I was on \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/make-chef-victor-aguileras-delicious-home-chicken-avocado-71755150\">\u003ci>Good Morning America\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.telemundoareadelabahia.com/noticias/local/arepas-en-bicicleta-en-san-francisco/2077519/\">Telemundo\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now we’re three years in, and as restaurants have opened again, business slowed down for us and we had to readjust. We’re not really operating from home anymore. I do some prep work, but usually we are [popping up] at different event spaces. We haven’t found our own location yet, unfortunately. But that’s the goal. We do private dinners and services. Catering. We’re about to work at a concert with about 200 people, serving holiday food and arepas as a seasonal menu, with pernil and asado negro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What sort of Northern California influences have you introduced to your Venezuelan recipes?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We do lots of Venezuelan cuisine in a California farm-to-table setting; I also work with cannabis in food, too, using oils. Everything right now is farm to table. Two months ago, we switched to fully organic. I usually go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heartofthecityfm/\">Heart of the City Farmers Market\u003c/a> for my ingredients. If not, we’re using \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/biritesf/\">Bi Rite\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gussmarket/\">Gus’s\u003c/a>, which is purchased from local sources and farmers. That makes it easier for me. For my hallacas, I offer another version, it’s not the regular one — it’s vegan. That’s not common in Venezuela. We love our meat (laughs). But here in the Bay Area, there are many varieties of clientele, and I want everyone to try Venezuelan traditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Prior to Arepas en Bici, how long had you been living in the Bay? What are the challenges of being a small business owner here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in Venezuela and raised there, then moved to the U.S. when I was 12. I was in Florida for a while, and have now been in San Francisco for seven years. I would love to make it out in the Bay Area, even though it seems to be getting harder, but we’re trying to push to stay here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13939534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a brown apron shows off two banana leaf-wrapped hallacas on a wooden cutting board.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/hallacas1_estefany-gonzalez-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aguilera shows off the finished dish: two banana leaf–wrapped hallacas. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’d never heard of hallacas prior to this. Are there other Venezuelan places serving them around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As far as I know, I was one of the first to bring them to this area, as mentioned in the \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/11/13/21562592/arepas-en-bici-bike-delivery-venezuelan-hallacas-pan-de-jamon-christmas-thanksgiving\">Eater SF\u003c/a> article, but now there are more independent sellers doing it, too. There is an amazing chef who is doing Chinese Venezuelan food at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cantoosf/\">Cantoo\u003c/a>. That’s actually very common in Venezuela. I miss eating Venezuelan Chinese food. As a kid I was not very into it, but now I eat it way more, and it reminds me of home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What other memories remind you of Venezuela, particularly during the holidays?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So there’s three dishes together: hallacas, pan de jamón, and our version of coquito, which is called ponche de crema and is made with Venezuelan rum. It’s like our eggnog. For the pan de jamón, it’s freshly baked rolls with homemade dough, filled with ham, bacon, olives and raisins with a panela glaze I make that is brushed on the inside and outside. It’s crispy. It’s sweet. It’s savory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>At the table, the family comes together for all of this. Everyone helps in preparing the meal, and you go up the ranks as you get older. You get different responsibilities in making the hallacas. First, it’s cleaning the leaves. After that, you put the masa on the leaves. The next person puts the guiso inside. Next, the little ingredients are added. Finally, the wrapping and tying the hallaca. That’s where you spill your family gossip and have some ponche or Venezuelan rum while listening to Venezuelan Christmas music. Our holiday music isn’t always promoted very much, but we listen to \u003ca href=\"https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2021/12/01/gaita-the-ultimate-venezuelan-holiday-music/\">gaita\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nice part is you can freeze and store the hallacas after, and they last for months and months. Usually, at the end of December, you have an extra 20 and eat them throughout the next year. I actually had a client the other day, and he sent me a picture of one he bought the year before. And he ate it. I was scared for him, but he said it still tasted good. I was like, I wouldn’t eat that, but it’s cool to know they last that long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/\">\u003ci>Arepas en Bici\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is currently taking orders from its \u003c/i>\u003ci>annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/holidaymenu\">holiday menu\u003c/a> until Dec. 20\u003c/i>\u003ci>. Check its \u003ca href=\"https://www.arepasenbici.com/popups\">calendar\u003c/a> or reach out directly to learn about future events, catering and private dinners.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "p-lo-filipino-food-bay-area-hella-hungry",
"title": "P-Lo Is Feeding the Bay Area With More Than Just His Music",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this season, the team formerly known as the Oakland Raiders won a pivotal Sunday Night Football game in Las Vegas. Afterwards, the players celebrated in their locker room while blasting Bay Area rap anthems and puffing cigars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The song of choice for the adrenalized group? \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/p-lo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">P-Lo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s “Light This Bitch Up.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many ways, P-Lo has become one of the Bay Area’s avatars for winning, having ascended to stardom as a multi-platinum producer and lyricist after starting out as a founding member of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938026/hbk-gang-iamsu-jay-anthony-p-lo-sage-gemini\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">HBK Gang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. His resume includes producing hits for all of your favorite rappers and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">collaborating with the Golden State Warriors for events like \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HQr2HSrZU0\">Filipino Heritage Night\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at Chase Center, where he often receives energetic daps from the 3-point god, Steph Curry, himself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The versatile Filipino from Pinole isn’t just popular among sports celebrities, though; he’s also beloved in the Bay’s expansive food world. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In recent years, P-Lo has steadily furthered his place in the culinary ecosystem by partnering with notable food brands. He’s \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935891/p-lo-senor-sisig-filipino-food-tour-oakland\">twice collaborated with San Francisco’s iconic Señor Sisig\u003c/a> to create his own signature burrito and chicken wings\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He also organized a star-studded, transnational “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/p_lo/status/1709035954156290326\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Very Good Food Tour\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” to celebrate Filipino American History Month this summer. Did I mention \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">his music is featured in a nationwide \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j62YJP6yWQ\">Wingstop commercial\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936934\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936934\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An indoor space filled with people with murals on the wall.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd fills Señor Sisig during P-Lo’s Very Good Food Tour. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It only felt right that I caught up with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/6GsGCToyCrO0PokU9RQSjM\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">STUNNA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. After sitting down with the artist in San Francisco to watch a Friday night Warriors game on TV, I slid by his sold-out food event in Oakland the following afternoon to grub on wings. He spoke to me about sustaining intergenerational love, cooking up independent success and staying well-fed in the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: I recently spoke with \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931355/michael-sneed-is-more-than-a-vibe-hes-a-symbol-for-oakland\">\u003cb>Oakland rapper Michael Sneed\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>, and he credited you and your older brother, Kuya Beats, as being mentors to his generation. It’s something I hear often when speaking to younger artists around our region.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>P-Lo:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s something my brother instilled in me because he’s always been a teacher. Also, I think that’s like, you know, that we’re from here. I want to be able to usher in the new. You know what I’m saying? ‘Cause I’m not going to be doing it forever. I want to be able to make sure that the next generation don’t have to go through all the bruises and bumps that generations before them did. I just wanna be able to pass down the game.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about your Very Good Food Tour. You hit eight cities around North America during Filipino American History Month to promote small Filipino-owned businesses.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It really started out just doing a bunch of stuff with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935891/p-lo-senor-sisig-filipino-food-tour-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Señor Sisig\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I love food. I love culture. I love learning about not just my culture but other people’s cultures — which is something in the Bay that we grew up on. Our friends are from hella places. All my friends come from different backgrounds. They knew so much about Filipino culture just from being around me, and I know about their cultures from being around them. It’s an exchange, and I wanted to continue that exchange on a larger scale. As humans, that’s how we move forward. The world needs that right now. There’s so much division — narratives in the media, financial. Know what I’m saying? Any way I can bring people together, whether music, food, culture, I’m gonna try my best to do that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So how did you select the restaurants in each city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I tapped in with folks in each community. I like to know what the cool restaurants are, and when we’re going to these places, I like to know where my friends and the people living there go. I like to learn from those communities so we can, you know, do things correctly. How can we get ourselves involved there? That’s important to me, connecting with the people and sharing each other’s platforms. Restaurants have their own platforms, I have mine, so it’s beneficial to both parties.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936933\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936933\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dish of fried chicken next to a purple drink in a tall glass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">P-Lo’s signature special during his food tour stop at Señor Sisig: crispy wings tossed in sinagang seasoning. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re also creating an original dish for each venue.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. We’re doing that collaboration to make it even more saucy. It’s cool because music brings people together and so does food, so it’s a perfect meshing. Food is an art form. Just like you can taste when something is made with love, you can hear when something is made with love. It has a certain soul to it. That’s just energy being transferred in both cases. People never forget how you made them feel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>As far as feeding the people, you’ve been cooking up Bay Area hits for years now. Is there a certain dish or restaurant in the Bay that you think gives people a similar feeling of regional pride and identity as your music does?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For me, whenever I come back home from being away, it’s usually going to the Mission for a burrito. I actually got into an argument with some dudes on L.A. radio telling them that [the best] burritos come from San Francisco, and they were like “hell no, this and that,” and I’m like bro, look it up. You know, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11961178/what-is-a-mission-style-burrito-maybe-a-myth\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what many people think of burritos nowadays, that style, that came from San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You can never go wrong with a burrito. In the past, you’ve actually teamed up with the chefs at Señor Sisig to make your own signature burrito. This time around, you’re doing spicy sinigang chicken wings with them. What draws you to working with Señor Sisig?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Man, it’s just a fusion that represents who I am. My Filipino background is rooted in family, and on top of that I have my Bay Area background rooted in music. So that’s what this collab is about, in a dish. I love spicy food. I got that from my dad; he hella likes spicy food. I recently learned that spicy food releases endorphins and shit like that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is there a strong culture of spicy foods in the Philippines? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bro, me and my homie literally just got back from the Philippines, and we were talking about this. There’s not really spice like that, to be honest. At Sisig, you can add jalapeños and peppers, but in general Filipino food is not very spicy. But I still love hella spices, spicy sauces, things like that on my food.[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"P-Lo\"]‘Now you’re seeing ube at Trader Joe’s and Starbucks and things like that. That’s amazing, that’s cool. Growing up, you didn’t really see that as much.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What restaurant, besides Señor Sisig, were you most looking forward to on your food tour?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Toronto. I’ve been visiting Toronto pretty frequently and I like eating there. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/ontario/toronto/restaurant/bb-s\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were just added to the Michelin guide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (one of 11 Filipino restaurants to do so). Toronto kinda reminds me of here. How the Filipino culture is ingrained. Everyone in Toronto has a Filipino friend. That feels like home to me. One of the gifts of doing this is being able to connect with more people and experience different cultures. It’s not the same everywhere, so growing up in the Bay you think the world is like this. But it’s not. The more I grow older and understand how special it is to be in a place like this, it’s been amazing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you noticed a rise in the popularity of Filipino food trends everywhere in recent years? And how do you feel about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely. Filipinos really only been here for like 50, 60 years. We started coming over in the 60s, 70s. I think over time it’s just grown, and now is the moment for this. We have roots here now. We got critical mass. Now it’s time for the take over [laughs]. Now you’re seeing ube at Trader Joe’s and Starbucks and things like that. That’s amazing, that’s cool. Growing up, you didn’t really see that as much. I’m for it, man. That’s one of the reasons why we even started doing this tour and these collaborations. I want people to feel pride in who they are. Most of the time people have to suppress how they grew up or their backgrounds in order to fit in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But man, from the reactions so far of people who have come to our events, it’s been dope. Our team definitely likes to think outside of the box and create experiences in other ways, and not just always buying a ticket to one of my concerts. How do we create an experience that’s unique to us? This felt like the perfect thing. This encompasses what I’m fully about.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936935\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936935\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A vinyl album with the photo of a person in a baseball cap on it beside a trucker hat with the words "Very Good Food Tour 23'" written on it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Merch from P-Lo’s Very Good Food Tour. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What defines Filipino food for you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The hominess of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, do you mean that as in “homely” or “homie”?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean like that feeling of being at home.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Got you. I thought you meant it as sharing it with your homies, because that works too. But being centered on the home is definitely on point as well, especially for immigrant diasporas.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh yeah, totally [laughs]. They both work. My parents are immigrants, so that experience of eating Filipino food at the house, or at a homie’s house, it’s gotta be that for me. I do like the elevated versions of Filipino food though. I appreciate that. Taking it to the next level. But nothing beats when your mom or auntie cooks it. And that’s something I don’t want to leave out. It should feel homely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve been thinking a lot about the random intersection of Bay Area slang in rap songs and food. Obviously, E-40 is responsible for most of it. Does anything come to mind for you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]. Yeah, E-40 is responsible for probably 90% of that. Um, let me think. I know \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13908052/food-doesnt-slap\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">food definitely doesn’t slap\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s where I draw the line. Someone said that on TikTok and completely butchered it. That’s not how it’s used. That’s just not it. But yeah, I also talk about chicken in my songs. Referencing money. That’s just something I’ve heard in conversation that I started using in my music.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s inspiring you musically right now?\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been listening to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jordanward/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jordan Ward\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’s tight. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/4karri/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Karri\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — he has a song out called “3am in Oakland.” He’s a Filipino kid, too. He’s super tight. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sneedlovesu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Michael Sneed\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’s very unique. He’s been out in L.A. working in our studio, going back and forth to the Bay. Watching him create and get it has been super cool. He’s one of the purest people I know. That’s inspiring to be around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGOmeRPuYhQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re considered one of the Bay Area’s biggest voices right now. You’re vocal about different issues like positive community representation, the Warriors and supporting one another. How does it feel to be in that position now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m just grateful, man. I want to keep growing, no matter how big or small, on every level. That’s a credit to the people around me. They allow me to think in progressive ways and bring new ideas to life. It’s truly that, to be honest. Having the right people. And always being open to learning. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gucci1017/status/1017765522555981829\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gucci Mane said something like, “If you not growing, you dead.”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If something’s not growing, it’s finished. So I like to be a permanent student, to embrace the youth, the next generation. Anybody that came out the Bay, I’ve tried to bring them on tour with me. ALLBLACK, [22nd] Jim, Rexx Life Raj, Caleborate, Sneed. Just embracing that growth no matter what.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who played that role for you when you were coming up?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13934248,arts_13936325,arts_13932574']For me, Kool John and IAMSU!, it really starts there as a member of Heartbreak Gang. Iamsu! and Kool John really gave me all the confidence to do what I’m doing, and they showed me the way. Sage, too. G-Eazy played a huge part and taught me some game. Shit, 40. Uncle Earl. Just having phone conversations with him, or him calling me to get my opinion on things. That’s surreal. I grew up on him. Being around all of them. They gave me that push like, “Bruh, you can really do this.” Being a producer at first, people thought I could only do that. SU! and Kool John pushed me to actually be on songs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938026/hbk-gang-iamsu-jay-anthony-p-lo-sage-gemini\">\u003cb>HBK Gang has played a tremendous role in the Bay Area’s artistic renaissance\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> over the past decade. Looking back on it, what influence do you think you all had?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That era set the table for pretty much the future of Bay Area music. There wasn’t really anything for the soundscape in the Bay at the time, in terms of production, what it all sounded like, and fashion at the time as well. We did collabs with Pink Dolphin, stuff like that. People weren’t doing collabs with clothing brands. Like any Bay Area story, we’re always ahead of the times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where do you think that inventiveness comes from in Bay Area people?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re all like hippies, for real. We’re eccentric. And eclectic. It may be the drugs, maybe something in the water. Our water, our air, it’s really good. That’s important. I really think it makes us function in a way that’s different from the rest of the world. We also get exposed to a lot here, and we find beauty in the imperfections. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I agree. We’re blessed and bipped at the same time.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. I got homies in the tech world, and I got homies in jail right now. Growing up with that spectrum is wide. That makes us worldly people. You can drop a Bay Area person anywhere and they’ll be alright. And you can always spot us out by just playing Too $hort’s “Blow the Whistle.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936937\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand together talking as one holds a young child.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Alan Chazaro holds his son Maceo while posing with P-Lo at Señor Sisig. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "P-Lo Is Feeding the Bay Area With Filipino Food Collaborations | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this season, the team formerly known as the Oakland Raiders won a pivotal Sunday Night Football game in Las Vegas. Afterwards, the players celebrated in their locker room while blasting Bay Area rap anthems and puffing cigars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The song of choice for the adrenalized group? \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/p-lo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">P-Lo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s “Light This Bitch Up.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many ways, P-Lo has become one of the Bay Area’s avatars for winning, having ascended to stardom as a multi-platinum producer and lyricist after starting out as a founding member of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938026/hbk-gang-iamsu-jay-anthony-p-lo-sage-gemini\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">HBK Gang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. His resume includes producing hits for all of your favorite rappers and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">collaborating with the Golden State Warriors for events like \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HQr2HSrZU0\">Filipino Heritage Night\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at Chase Center, where he often receives energetic daps from the 3-point god, Steph Curry, himself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The versatile Filipino from Pinole isn’t just popular among sports celebrities, though; he’s also beloved in the Bay’s expansive food world. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In recent years, P-Lo has steadily furthered his place in the culinary ecosystem by partnering with notable food brands. He’s \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935891/p-lo-senor-sisig-filipino-food-tour-oakland\">twice collaborated with San Francisco’s iconic Señor Sisig\u003c/a> to create his own signature burrito and chicken wings\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He also organized a star-studded, transnational “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/p_lo/status/1709035954156290326\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Very Good Food Tour\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” to celebrate Filipino American History Month this summer. Did I mention \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">his music is featured in a nationwide \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j62YJP6yWQ\">Wingstop commercial\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936934\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936934\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An indoor space filled with people with murals on the wall.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-029-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd fills Señor Sisig during P-Lo’s Very Good Food Tour. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It only felt right that I caught up with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/6GsGCToyCrO0PokU9RQSjM\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">STUNNA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. After sitting down with the artist in San Francisco to watch a Friday night Warriors game on TV, I slid by his sold-out food event in Oakland the following afternoon to grub on wings. He spoke to me about sustaining intergenerational love, cooking up independent success and staying well-fed in the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: I recently spoke with \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931355/michael-sneed-is-more-than-a-vibe-hes-a-symbol-for-oakland\">\u003cb>Oakland rapper Michael Sneed\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>, and he credited you and your older brother, Kuya Beats, as being mentors to his generation. It’s something I hear often when speaking to younger artists around our region.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>P-Lo:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s something my brother instilled in me because he’s always been a teacher. Also, I think that’s like, you know, that we’re from here. I want to be able to usher in the new. You know what I’m saying? ‘Cause I’m not going to be doing it forever. I want to be able to make sure that the next generation don’t have to go through all the bruises and bumps that generations before them did. I just wanna be able to pass down the game.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about your Very Good Food Tour. You hit eight cities around North America during Filipino American History Month to promote small Filipino-owned businesses.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It really started out just doing a bunch of stuff with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935891/p-lo-senor-sisig-filipino-food-tour-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Señor Sisig\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I love food. I love culture. I love learning about not just my culture but other people’s cultures — which is something in the Bay that we grew up on. Our friends are from hella places. All my friends come from different backgrounds. They knew so much about Filipino culture just from being around me, and I know about their cultures from being around them. It’s an exchange, and I wanted to continue that exchange on a larger scale. As humans, that’s how we move forward. The world needs that right now. There’s so much division — narratives in the media, financial. Know what I’m saying? Any way I can bring people together, whether music, food, culture, I’m gonna try my best to do that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So how did you select the restaurants in each city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I tapped in with folks in each community. I like to know what the cool restaurants are, and when we’re going to these places, I like to know where my friends and the people living there go. I like to learn from those communities so we can, you know, do things correctly. How can we get ourselves involved there? That’s important to me, connecting with the people and sharing each other’s platforms. Restaurants have their own platforms, I have mine, so it’s beneficial to both parties.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936933\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936933\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dish of fried chicken next to a purple drink in a tall glass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-025-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">P-Lo’s signature special during his food tour stop at Señor Sisig: crispy wings tossed in sinagang seasoning. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re also creating an original dish for each venue.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. We’re doing that collaboration to make it even more saucy. It’s cool because music brings people together and so does food, so it’s a perfect meshing. Food is an art form. Just like you can taste when something is made with love, you can hear when something is made with love. It has a certain soul to it. That’s just energy being transferred in both cases. People never forget how you made them feel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>As far as feeding the people, you’ve been cooking up Bay Area hits for years now. Is there a certain dish or restaurant in the Bay that you think gives people a similar feeling of regional pride and identity as your music does?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For me, whenever I come back home from being away, it’s usually going to the Mission for a burrito. I actually got into an argument with some dudes on L.A. radio telling them that [the best] burritos come from San Francisco, and they were like “hell no, this and that,” and I’m like bro, look it up. You know, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11961178/what-is-a-mission-style-burrito-maybe-a-myth\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what many people think of burritos nowadays, that style, that came from San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You can never go wrong with a burrito. In the past, you’ve actually teamed up with the chefs at Señor Sisig to make your own signature burrito. This time around, you’re doing spicy sinigang chicken wings with them. What draws you to working with Señor Sisig?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Man, it’s just a fusion that represents who I am. My Filipino background is rooted in family, and on top of that I have my Bay Area background rooted in music. So that’s what this collab is about, in a dish. I love spicy food. I got that from my dad; he hella likes spicy food. I recently learned that spicy food releases endorphins and shit like that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is there a strong culture of spicy foods in the Philippines? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bro, me and my homie literally just got back from the Philippines, and we were talking about this. There’s not really spice like that, to be honest. At Sisig, you can add jalapeños and peppers, but in general Filipino food is not very spicy. But I still love hella spices, spicy sauces, things like that on my food.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Now you’re seeing ube at Trader Joe’s and Starbucks and things like that. That’s amazing, that’s cool. Growing up, you didn’t really see that as much.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What restaurant, besides Señor Sisig, were you most looking forward to on your food tour?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Toronto. I’ve been visiting Toronto pretty frequently and I like eating there. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/ontario/toronto/restaurant/bb-s\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were just added to the Michelin guide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (one of 11 Filipino restaurants to do so). Toronto kinda reminds me of here. How the Filipino culture is ingrained. Everyone in Toronto has a Filipino friend. That feels like home to me. One of the gifts of doing this is being able to connect with more people and experience different cultures. It’s not the same everywhere, so growing up in the Bay you think the world is like this. But it’s not. The more I grow older and understand how special it is to be in a place like this, it’s been amazing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Have you noticed a rise in the popularity of Filipino food trends everywhere in recent years? And how do you feel about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely. Filipinos really only been here for like 50, 60 years. We started coming over in the 60s, 70s. I think over time it’s just grown, and now is the moment for this. We have roots here now. We got critical mass. Now it’s time for the take over [laughs]. Now you’re seeing ube at Trader Joe’s and Starbucks and things like that. That’s amazing, that’s cool. Growing up, you didn’t really see that as much. I’m for it, man. That’s one of the reasons why we even started doing this tour and these collaborations. I want people to feel pride in who they are. Most of the time people have to suppress how they grew up or their backgrounds in order to fit in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But man, from the reactions so far of people who have come to our events, it’s been dope. Our team definitely likes to think outside of the box and create experiences in other ways, and not just always buying a ticket to one of my concerts. How do we create an experience that’s unique to us? This felt like the perfect thing. This encompasses what I’m fully about.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936935\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936935\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A vinyl album with the photo of a person in a baseball cap on it beside a trucker hat with the words "Very Good Food Tour 23'" written on it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-030-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Merch from P-Lo’s Very Good Food Tour. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What defines Filipino food for you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The hominess of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, do you mean that as in “homely” or “homie”?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean like that feeling of being at home.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Got you. I thought you meant it as sharing it with your homies, because that works too. But being centered on the home is definitely on point as well, especially for immigrant diasporas.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh yeah, totally [laughs]. They both work. My parents are immigrants, so that experience of eating Filipino food at the house, or at a homie’s house, it’s gotta be that for me. I do like the elevated versions of Filipino food though. I appreciate that. Taking it to the next level. But nothing beats when your mom or auntie cooks it. And that’s something I don’t want to leave out. It should feel homely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve been thinking a lot about the random intersection of Bay Area slang in rap songs and food. Obviously, E-40 is responsible for most of it. Does anything come to mind for you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]. Yeah, E-40 is responsible for probably 90% of that. Um, let me think. I know \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13908052/food-doesnt-slap\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">food definitely doesn’t slap\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s where I draw the line. Someone said that on TikTok and completely butchered it. That’s not how it’s used. That’s just not it. But yeah, I also talk about chicken in my songs. Referencing money. That’s just something I’ve heard in conversation that I started using in my music.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s inspiring you musically right now?\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been listening to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jordanward/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jordan Ward\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’s tight. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/4karri/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Karri\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — he has a song out called “3am in Oakland.” He’s a Filipino kid, too. He’s super tight. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sneedlovesu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Michael Sneed\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’s very unique. He’s been out in L.A. working in our studio, going back and forth to the Bay. Watching him create and get it has been super cool. He’s one of the purest people I know. That’s inspiring to be around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/RGOmeRPuYhQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/RGOmeRPuYhQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re considered one of the Bay Area’s biggest voices right now. You’re vocal about different issues like positive community representation, the Warriors and supporting one another. How does it feel to be in that position now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m just grateful, man. I want to keep growing, no matter how big or small, on every level. That’s a credit to the people around me. They allow me to think in progressive ways and bring new ideas to life. It’s truly that, to be honest. Having the right people. And always being open to learning. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gucci1017/status/1017765522555981829\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gucci Mane said something like, “If you not growing, you dead.”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If something’s not growing, it’s finished. So I like to be a permanent student, to embrace the youth, the next generation. Anybody that came out the Bay, I’ve tried to bring them on tour with me. ALLBLACK, [22nd] Jim, Rexx Life Raj, Caleborate, Sneed. Just embracing that growth no matter what.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who played that role for you when you were coming up?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For me, Kool John and IAMSU!, it really starts there as a member of Heartbreak Gang. Iamsu! and Kool John really gave me all the confidence to do what I’m doing, and they showed me the way. Sage, too. G-Eazy played a huge part and taught me some game. Shit, 40. Uncle Earl. Just having phone conversations with him, or him calling me to get my opinion on things. That’s surreal. I grew up on him. Being around all of them. They gave me that push like, “Bruh, you can really do this.” Being a producer at first, people thought I could only do that. SU! and Kool John pushed me to actually be on songs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938026/hbk-gang-iamsu-jay-anthony-p-lo-sage-gemini\">\u003cb>HBK Gang has played a tremendous role in the Bay Area’s artistic renaissance\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> over the past decade. Looking back on it, what influence do you think you all had?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That era set the table for pretty much the future of Bay Area music. There wasn’t really anything for the soundscape in the Bay at the time, in terms of production, what it all sounded like, and fashion at the time as well. We did collabs with Pink Dolphin, stuff like that. People weren’t doing collabs with clothing brands. Like any Bay Area story, we’re always ahead of the times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where do you think that inventiveness comes from in Bay Area people?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re all like hippies, for real. We’re eccentric. And eclectic. It may be the drugs, maybe something in the water. Our water, our air, it’s really good. That’s important. I really think it makes us function in a way that’s different from the rest of the world. We also get exposed to a lot here, and we find beauty in the imperfections. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I agree. We’re blessed and bipped at the same time.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. I got homies in the tech world, and I got homies in jail right now. Growing up with that spectrum is wide. That makes us worldly people. You can drop a Bay Area person anywhere and they’ll be alright. And you can always spot us out by just playing Too $hort’s “Blow the Whistle.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936937\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13936937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand together talking as one holds a young child.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/231021-PLoFoodInterview-008-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Alan Chazaro holds his son Maceo while posing with P-Lo at Señor Sisig. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "jubo-iguanas-filipino-burrito-juborrito-collaboration-san-jose",
"title": "Spam and Garlic Tots in Your Burrito? These San Jose Brothers Are Starting the Trend",
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"headTitle": "Spam and Garlic Tots in Your Burrito? These San Jose Brothers Are Starting the Trend | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a fresh energy bubbling in \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/sanjosefood\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Though some might assume Silicon Valley’s capital lacks the cosmopolitan grandeur of San Francisco or the bohemian flair of the East Bay, I implore you to spend an evening on foot in the sprawling downtown. You won’t find any true epicenter. Instead, you’ll encounter scattershot offerings of reinvigorated creativity: a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goodtimebarsj/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">natural wine haven\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sliceofhomage/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">nightlife-fueled pizzeria\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/conazucarcafe/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mexican cafe that serves the largest pan dulce\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> you’ll ever try to cram into your not-wide-enough mouth.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forget about Google, Facebook, Tesla and Apple. I’m talking about the real creators — lifelong community members, musicians, immigrants, clothing makers and small business owners who carefully alchemize the soulful ingredients of their home to provide a delicious, shareable experience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For streetwear label \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juboclothing/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jubo Clothing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and the zany, family-owned taqueria, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iguanasburritozilla/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iguanas\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the recipe is as simple as remixing a California classic. It’s called the Juborrito, a limited-time item on a menu that has been feeding hungry San Jose State students since 1994. The gold-wrapped burrito — stuffed with Spam, garlic tots, scrambled eggs, cheese and Zilla Sauce (a housemade concoction of orange-hued spiciness) — is surprisingly fluffy to the bite and jam-packed with memories of childhood comfort. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For an extra kick, customers who purchase the burrito can also buy a custom shirt designed by Jubo’s Nemedez brothers (Jason, 30; Averill, 27; Brian, 22). Their effort is a subtle homage to classic San Jose streetwear brands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breezyexcursion/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Breezy Excursion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which used to host T-shirt giveaways at Iguanas when they were growing up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936648\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936648 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters.jpg\" alt=\"inside a taqueria's kitchen, four burritos are being prepared with tater tots as a prominent ingredient\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Juborritos” (which feature garlic tater tots and Spam) are prepared inside Iguanas in San Jose.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To learn about the 408’s subcultural depths, I kicked it with the first-generation Filipino trendsetting brothers, who pulled up a chair for me to eat at their table. With burritos binding us all together, we reflected on what it means to be from a place that isn’t always embraced.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Iguanas is the home of the famed \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/7SDU7-4VBfY\">\u003cb>“Burritozilla” — a five-pound, 18-inch burrito\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. Your burrito, the Juborrito, isn’t as epic in scale, but it’s a fresh take on your Filipino upbringing. How did the idea for your burrito collab come about?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason Nemedez:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We wanted to recreate a popular Filipino breakfast. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936649\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1558px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936649 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-scaled.jpg\" alt='a Godzilla-themed poster shows a burrito named \"Juborrito\" inside a San Jose taqueria' width=\"1558\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-scaled.jpg 1558w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-800x1315.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-1020x1676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-160x263.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-768x1262.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-935x1536.jpg 935w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-1246x2048.jpg 1246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1558px) 100vw, 1558px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Juborrito” poster inside Iguanas, a taqueria known for their massive “Burritozilla.” \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill Nemedez:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Garlic fried rice, eggs, Spam. Know what I’m saying? We used to eat that all the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s it. It’s like a breakfast burrito. But we’ll eat Spam anytime of the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian Nemedez: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is our first time working with Iguanas. We would always come and line up for events here for free T-shirt Fridays. Get a burrito and steak fries. It was the spot to go to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s also like, what other restaurant is doing cool shit like that? Iguanas has always been open to that. We grew up eating the food and coming to events here. We’re paying our dues. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> [San Jose rapper] \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reyresurreccion/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rey Resurreccion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is how we actually got it rolling. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He linked us up together. He was cool with the owner here. We’re just reaching new audiences, you know.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve never had Spam in a burrito. It’s definitely not common in Mexican cuisine. Was that even an option on the menu at Iguanas before this? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nah, we didn’t know we could even add an ingredient like that. They added it just for this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It reminded us of, like, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CGx0fcuBrzA/\">tosilog burrito\u003c/a>. The owners said we could do it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> On the day of the debut event, they actually ran out of Spam. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx1S--qyqIn/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The crowd was lined up all around the block\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It was crazy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve noticed a rise in popularity and demand for Filipino brands and foods lately, like ube. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s ube lattes now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think that’s cool, it gives more exposure to our culture. That’s sick. But we need to go a little bit deeper into it. Not just the basic stuff like adobo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Man, kare-kare [a peanut-sauce stew with oxtails].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, kare-kare is fire. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re mostly known for your clothing. Where does your brand’s name, Jubo, come from? You started out by doing graffiti, right?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I used to have another tagging\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">name, but then I got caught. So my brother Averill gave me the name Jubo. I didn’t want to get caught again, so I transitioned into making T-shirts. We all used to draw back then, and then we would all sign it. My signature was always “Jubo.” When I started DJing, people would say, “Aye, Jubo, play that slap,” and that’s where I got that from. That leveled up to us designing and turning it all into a logo. It became a well-known name where we grew up. It just became its own thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936645 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag.jpg\" alt=\"a San Jose artist showcases a shirt he designed for a local taqueria\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Averill Nemedez shows off his Iguanas and Juborrito collaborative T-shirt. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When did you start actually making T-shirts?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been into it since middle school. At first we made stencils using manila folders and an Exacto knife. Then I bought a screen printing press when I was in high school. Eventually Jubo became official in about 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We had a brand before that, back in high school. But it was a wack brand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, no one has to know about that [laughs]. I just used Microsoft Word, which was hard, because it’s not meant for design.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And Microsoft Paint. We just printed things out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After high school,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I took a few classes at Evergreen Valley College. The teacher pushed me to do more. She gave me my first art show. She taught me hella shit about mock-ups, the process. But then I went to San Jose State, and it felt completely different. They didn’t care about what I wanted to do. I was working at a car wrapping spot at the time, learning different things. I also worked at a custom print shop in the mall. So I dropped out. Having those design experiences, I was able to teach Averill and Brian what to do. Now those guys are better than me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has San Jose shaped your approach to clothing, fashion and community?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been here our whole lives. People from here are built different, you know? You gotta hustle and have multiple streams of income. You gotta figure out how to make it. My mom immigrated here from the Philippines and had three different hustles at once. She had a 9 to 5 and then she would sell blankets at night. She would sell fish and longaniza, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jewelry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Toys and shit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. When we were younger, we’d go on drop-offs with her ’til midnight. Bruh, I used to hate it, but now we do drop-offs for our own products. Now I get it. She did that for us to be able to thrive out here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb> Besides family (shout out immigrant parents), who has influenced you to pursue your creative passions?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">E-40\u003c/a> did it out the trunk, independently. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, he’s basically a millionaire out the trunk. But for me, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10141391/dream-but-dont-sleep-remembering-mike-dream-francisco\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[TDK] Dream\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was a big influence. He was a Filipino dude doing graffiti. He did commercial shit, but he also had his own style. I realized there was something you could do with graffiti. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936644\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936644 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back.jpg\" alt=\"three brothers stand with their backs to the camera inside a taqueria\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nemedez brothers (Averill, right; Jason, center; Brian, left) oversee the making of “Juborritos” at Iguanas in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What makes clothing your ideal medium for self-expression?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clothing is very personal. It’s about what’s comfortable to you. Nobody really has any say in what you choose to put on. It’s you. Other opinions don’t matter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s cool because it gives you an outlet to show who you are. We make shit inspired by what we like. Musical artists, cartoons, sports, movies we watched growing up. You can display it all without saying a word. Someone might see you and identify with you, they might be able to relate and connect off that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before us, San Jose had a big renaissance in terms of streetwear and creative outlets. Breezy was a top brand. Cukui. Headliners. Holloway. They all came up together. And it came with the music at the time like Rey Res, City Shawn, The Bangerz, Cutso and them. And \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907735/remembering-traxamillion-whose-beats-defined-the-bay-area-sound\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Traxamillion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, RIP. We actually made merch for him. In 2020 he had a Street Fighter album [\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/4qpg7wKEQK4yaLrMvoRP4f\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Super Beat Fighter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">], and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.traxamillion.com/products/black-super-beat-fighter-slapp-edition-t-shirt\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">he asked me to give Ryu a durag instead of a headband\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. All that got us excited for designing clothes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think outsiders misunderstand or overlook about San Jose?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The creative scene. We’re surrounded by all this technology, everyone just thinks of that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13904835,arts_13920483,arts_13932574']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You have to be in it to know what’s going on. If you’re from the outside, you wouldn’t know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re also neighboring San Francisco and Oakland, which are more prominent. But San Jose for sure has its own style. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have a chip on our shoulder.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. I like to say I’m from San Jose and not the Bay Area. When I tell people I’m from the Bay they’re like, “So, San Francisco?” and I’m like, “Nah, that’s an hour away.” I think something that plays a part in that is we don’t really have any music venues here, so artists don’t really come out here unless they’re huge like Drake and can sell out the SAP Center. So a lot of people just skip over us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936647 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped.jpg\" alt=\"a gold-foil wrapped burrito is displayed on an outdoor table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The limited-edition “Juborrito” (which includes Spam, garlic tater tots, cheese, and egg) is inspired by classic Filipino breakfast meals.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So how is San Jose’s style different from other parts of the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Someone once told me that they think of San Jose more like L.A. rather than San Francisco or Oakland. Because we have hella lowriders. That’s huge here. That Chicano influence is fasho big out here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s kind of that vintage style, too. That workwear. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And skate culture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How are you keeping that San Jose style alive? Where can the people find you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We have a brick-and-mortar shop in Japantown. It’s called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/coldwater.sj/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coldwater\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It’s an ode to our grandma, who lived on Coldwater Drive, where we grew up. We each sell our own separate brands there, and Jubo Clothing is our team brand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> My brand is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/madebyrila/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Made by Rila\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I do a lot of custom hats. Shirts. I did a skateboard recently.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mine is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bigavegetpaid/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big Ave Get Paid\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I make graphic designs on shirts. I want to try doing jackets in the future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juboslaps/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jubo Slaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is my personal brand. It’s all just a reflection of San Jose and our experiences growing up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Juborrito will be served at all three \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iguanasburritozilla/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iguanas\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> locations (330 S. Third St., San Jose; 4848 San\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Felipe Rd., San Jose; 4300 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara) through the end of November. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/coldwater.sj/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coldwater\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (205 Jackson St., San Jose) is open Thu. through Sun., from 12:30 to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. on weekends).\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Iguanas and the Jubo streetwear brand team up for an epic Filipino-Mexican collaboration.",
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"title": "San Jose's Jubo and Iguanas Create a Mexican-Filipino Burrito | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a fresh energy bubbling in \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/sanjosefood\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Though some might assume Silicon Valley’s capital lacks the cosmopolitan grandeur of San Francisco or the bohemian flair of the East Bay, I implore you to spend an evening on foot in the sprawling downtown. You won’t find any true epicenter. Instead, you’ll encounter scattershot offerings of reinvigorated creativity: a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goodtimebarsj/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">natural wine haven\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sliceofhomage/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">nightlife-fueled pizzeria\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/conazucarcafe/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mexican cafe that serves the largest pan dulce\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> you’ll ever try to cram into your not-wide-enough mouth.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forget about Google, Facebook, Tesla and Apple. I’m talking about the real creators — lifelong community members, musicians, immigrants, clothing makers and small business owners who carefully alchemize the soulful ingredients of their home to provide a delicious, shareable experience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For streetwear label \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juboclothing/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jubo Clothing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and the zany, family-owned taqueria, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iguanasburritozilla/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iguanas\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the recipe is as simple as remixing a California classic. It’s called the Juborrito, a limited-time item on a menu that has been feeding hungry San Jose State students since 1994. The gold-wrapped burrito — stuffed with Spam, garlic tots, scrambled eggs, cheese and Zilla Sauce (a housemade concoction of orange-hued spiciness) — is surprisingly fluffy to the bite and jam-packed with memories of childhood comfort. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For an extra kick, customers who purchase the burrito can also buy a custom shirt designed by Jubo’s Nemedez brothers (Jason, 30; Averill, 27; Brian, 22). Their effort is a subtle homage to classic San Jose streetwear brands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breezyexcursion/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Breezy Excursion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which used to host T-shirt giveaways at Iguanas when they were growing up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936648\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936648 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters.jpg\" alt=\"inside a taqueria's kitchen, four burritos are being prepared with tater tots as a prominent ingredient\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_taters-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Juborritos” (which feature garlic tater tots and Spam) are prepared inside Iguanas in San Jose.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To learn about the 408’s subcultural depths, I kicked it with the first-generation Filipino trendsetting brothers, who pulled up a chair for me to eat at their table. With burritos binding us all together, we reflected on what it means to be from a place that isn’t always embraced.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Iguanas is the home of the famed \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/7SDU7-4VBfY\">\u003cb>“Burritozilla” — a five-pound, 18-inch burrito\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. Your burrito, the Juborrito, isn’t as epic in scale, but it’s a fresh take on your Filipino upbringing. How did the idea for your burrito collab come about?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason Nemedez:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We wanted to recreate a popular Filipino breakfast. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936649\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1558px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936649 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-scaled.jpg\" alt='a Godzilla-themed poster shows a burrito named \"Juborrito\" inside a San Jose taqueria' width=\"1558\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-scaled.jpg 1558w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-800x1315.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-1020x1676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-160x263.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-768x1262.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-935x1536.jpg 935w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_poster-1246x2048.jpg 1246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1558px) 100vw, 1558px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Juborrito” poster inside Iguanas, a taqueria known for their massive “Burritozilla.” \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill Nemedez:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Garlic fried rice, eggs, Spam. Know what I’m saying? We used to eat that all the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s it. It’s like a breakfast burrito. But we’ll eat Spam anytime of the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian Nemedez: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is our first time working with Iguanas. We would always come and line up for events here for free T-shirt Fridays. Get a burrito and steak fries. It was the spot to go to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s also like, what other restaurant is doing cool shit like that? Iguanas has always been open to that. We grew up eating the food and coming to events here. We’re paying our dues. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> [San Jose rapper] \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reyresurreccion/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rey Resurreccion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is how we actually got it rolling. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He linked us up together. He was cool with the owner here. We’re just reaching new audiences, you know.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve never had Spam in a burrito. It’s definitely not common in Mexican cuisine. Was that even an option on the menu at Iguanas before this? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nah, we didn’t know we could even add an ingredient like that. They added it just for this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It reminded us of, like, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CGx0fcuBrzA/\">tosilog burrito\u003c/a>. The owners said we could do it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> On the day of the debut event, they actually ran out of Spam. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx1S--qyqIn/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The crowd was lined up all around the block\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It was crazy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’ve noticed a rise in popularity and demand for Filipino brands and foods lately, like ube. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s ube lattes now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think that’s cool, it gives more exposure to our culture. That’s sick. But we need to go a little bit deeper into it. Not just the basic stuff like adobo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Man, kare-kare [a peanut-sauce stew with oxtails].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, kare-kare is fire. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re mostly known for your clothing. Where does your brand’s name, Jubo, come from? You started out by doing graffiti, right?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I used to have another tagging\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">name, but then I got caught. So my brother Averill gave me the name Jubo. I didn’t want to get caught again, so I transitioned into making T-shirts. We all used to draw back then, and then we would all sign it. My signature was always “Jubo.” When I started DJing, people would say, “Aye, Jubo, play that slap,” and that’s where I got that from. That leveled up to us designing and turning it all into a logo. It became a well-known name where we grew up. It just became its own thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936645 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag.jpg\" alt=\"a San Jose artist showcases a shirt he designed for a local taqueria\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_collab_swag-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Averill Nemedez shows off his Iguanas and Juborrito collaborative T-shirt. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When did you start actually making T-shirts?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been into it since middle school. At first we made stencils using manila folders and an Exacto knife. Then I bought a screen printing press when I was in high school. Eventually Jubo became official in about 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We had a brand before that, back in high school. But it was a wack brand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, no one has to know about that [laughs]. I just used Microsoft Word, which was hard, because it’s not meant for design.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And Microsoft Paint. We just printed things out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After high school,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I took a few classes at Evergreen Valley College. The teacher pushed me to do more. She gave me my first art show. She taught me hella shit about mock-ups, the process. But then I went to San Jose State, and it felt completely different. They didn’t care about what I wanted to do. I was working at a car wrapping spot at the time, learning different things. I also worked at a custom print shop in the mall. So I dropped out. Having those design experiences, I was able to teach Averill and Brian what to do. Now those guys are better than me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has San Jose shaped your approach to clothing, fashion and community?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve been here our whole lives. People from here are built different, you know? You gotta hustle and have multiple streams of income. You gotta figure out how to make it. My mom immigrated here from the Philippines and had three different hustles at once. She had a 9 to 5 and then she would sell blankets at night. She would sell fish and longaniza, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jewelry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Toys and shit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exactly. When we were younger, we’d go on drop-offs with her ’til midnight. Bruh, I used to hate it, but now we do drop-offs for our own products. Now I get it. She did that for us to be able to thrive out here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb> Besides family (shout out immigrant parents), who has influenced you to pursue your creative passions?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">E-40\u003c/a> did it out the trunk, independently. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, he’s basically a millionaire out the trunk. But for me, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10141391/dream-but-dont-sleep-remembering-mike-dream-francisco\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[TDK] Dream\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was a big influence. He was a Filipino dude doing graffiti. He did commercial shit, but he also had his own style. I realized there was something you could do with graffiti. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936644\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936644 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back.jpg\" alt=\"three brothers stand with their backs to the camera inside a taqueria\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_back-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nemedez brothers (Averill, right; Jason, center; Brian, left) oversee the making of “Juborritos” at Iguanas in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What makes clothing your ideal medium for self-expression?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clothing is very personal. It’s about what’s comfortable to you. Nobody really has any say in what you choose to put on. It’s you. Other opinions don’t matter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s cool because it gives you an outlet to show who you are. We make shit inspired by what we like. Musical artists, cartoons, sports, movies we watched growing up. You can display it all without saying a word. Someone might see you and identify with you, they might be able to relate and connect off that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before us, San Jose had a big renaissance in terms of streetwear and creative outlets. Breezy was a top brand. Cukui. Headliners. Holloway. They all came up together. And it came with the music at the time like Rey Res, City Shawn, The Bangerz, Cutso and them. And \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907735/remembering-traxamillion-whose-beats-defined-the-bay-area-sound\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Traxamillion\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, RIP. We actually made merch for him. In 2020 he had a Street Fighter album [\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/4qpg7wKEQK4yaLrMvoRP4f\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Super Beat Fighter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">], and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.traxamillion.com/products/black-super-beat-fighter-slapp-edition-t-shirt\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">he asked me to give Ryu a durag instead of a headband\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. All that got us excited for designing clothes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think outsiders misunderstand or overlook about San Jose?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The creative scene. We’re surrounded by all this technology, everyone just thinks of that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You have to be in it to know what’s going on. If you’re from the outside, you wouldn’t know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re also neighboring San Francisco and Oakland, which are more prominent. But San Jose for sure has its own style. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have a chip on our shoulder.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. I like to say I’m from San Jose and not the Bay Area. When I tell people I’m from the Bay they’re like, “So, San Francisco?” and I’m like, “Nah, that’s an hour away.” I think something that plays a part in that is we don’t really have any music venues here, so artists don’t really come out here unless they’re huge like Drake and can sell out the SAP Center. So a lot of people just skip over us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13936647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13936647 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped.jpg\" alt=\"a gold-foil wrapped burrito is displayed on an outdoor table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/juborrito_gold_cropped-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The limited-edition “Juborrito” (which includes Spam, garlic tater tots, cheese, and egg) is inspired by classic Filipino breakfast meals.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So how is San Jose’s style different from other parts of the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Someone once told me that they think of San Jose more like L.A. rather than San Francisco or Oakland. Because we have hella lowriders. That’s huge here. That Chicano influence is fasho big out here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s kind of that vintage style, too. That workwear. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And skate culture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How are you keeping that San Jose style alive? Where can the people find you?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We have a brick-and-mortar shop in Japantown. It’s called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/coldwater.sj/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coldwater\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It’s an ode to our grandma, who lived on Coldwater Drive, where we grew up. We each sell our own separate brands there, and Jubo Clothing is our team brand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brian:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> My brand is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/madebyrila/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Made by Rila\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I do a lot of custom hats. Shirts. I did a skateboard recently.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Averill:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mine is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bigavegetpaid/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big Ave Get Paid\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I make graphic designs on shirts. I want to try doing jackets in the future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jason:\u003c/b> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juboslaps/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jubo Slaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is my personal brand. It’s all just a reflection of San Jose and our experiences growing up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Juborrito will be served at all three \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iguanasburritozilla/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iguanas\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> locations (330 S. Third St., San Jose; 4848 San\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Felipe Rd., San Jose; 4300 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara) through the end of November. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/coldwater.sj/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coldwater\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (205 Jackson St., San Jose) is open Thu. through Sun., from 12:30 to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. on weekends).\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "egg-pals-breakfast-sandwich-pop-up-hella-hungry",
"title": "These Weekend-Only Egg Sandwiches Are Worth Getting Out of Bed For",
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"headTitle": "These Weekend-Only Egg Sandwiches Are Worth Getting Out of Bed For | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to weekend brunch foods, I’m a prickly curmudgeon. More than any other meal, a worthwhile brunching experience in the Bay Area often involves a line-down-the-block wait — and can quickly run up the bill, too. So if I’m exiting my house in pajamas and fur-lined Crocs to grub in the a.m., the food had better be damn good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m elated to report, then, that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">Egg Pals\u003c/a> — a weekend-only pop-up serving breakfast sandwiches and snacks on the fly — is worth the post-sleep pilgrimage. Without the fancy buzz or overwrought allure of a high-profile eatery, these egg sandies served beneath a tarp are simply delicious. The pop-up’s recipe is refreshingly basic: It’s just two dudes making egg sandwiches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Morgan and Brack Defries met a decade ago while working in restaurants and bars around Oakland. They’ve since been running Egg Pals for just over a year. Whether tucked off to the side at an open-air vintage market or set up on a sidewalk, Egg Pals is delivering what Morgan calls the “upside down smiley face emoji” equivalent of a breakfast experience — more on that later. They pair the sandwiches with a rotating bevy of miscellaneous goodies (see: miso chocolate chip cookies, housemade potato chips, “wedgie” salads, carbonated margaritas and Arnold “Pal”-mers).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During our visit, my wife enjoyed a classic Egg Pal (two fried eggs, bacon, American cheese, herby mayo and pickled red onions on buttery brioche) while I crushed a Veggie Pal (fried eggs, roasted Jimmy Nardellos and smoked Gouda). In addition, they offer a revolving array of specialty sandwiches — a Spam melt, tomato melt, nectarine melt and katsu sandwich, to name a few — that vary with each event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After sipping on a cold brew fizz topped with orange blossom foam from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mollysrefresher/?hl=en\">Molly’s Refresher\u003c/a>, a drinks-focused pop-up that regularly collaborates with the Pals, I felt affirmed in my decision to crawl out of bed on a slow Sunday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what Morgan and Defries had to reveal about their breakfast sandwich revolution after a weekend of frying eggs for the people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934756\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934756 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs.jpg\" alt=\"two chefs prepare a dozen breakfast egg sandwiches outside beneath a tarp\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Morgan (right) and Brack Defries (left) get cracking on a dozen egg sandwiches during their pop-up in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Let’s start off with the basics. What are your most popular breakfast egg sandwiches?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Morgan:\u003c/b> The Egg Pal and the Veg Pal are our signatures, so we always do those. The Egg Pal is always two fried eggs, American cheese, bacon, herby mayo and pickled onions on a brioche bun from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/starterbakery/?hl=en\">Starter Bakery\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brack Defries:\u003c/b> The Veg Pal is fun, and we change the vegetables based on the season. The first one we ever did was with roasted delicata squash. People really liked that and still ask about it. It’ll be fun to bring that back once it starts popping up again. We also like to have some palate-cleansing options, since, you know, the food we serve is a rich, greasy, sloppy breakfast sandwich. We want to cut through that to balance it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Some sides we generally have are our house potato chips made with our own seasoning and served with Blowhole Hot Mayo, which our friend makes in Oakland using rocoto pepper plants in his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We just started doing a Pickle Pal, which people really like. It’s a similar set up to the Egg Pal, but with a mixture of housemade pickles — dill red onions, pickled cucumbers from my garden and some pickled carrots and pickled garlic. We’ll play around with that pickling variation [going forward].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What makes a perfect egg sandwich?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I just love a sloppy breakfast egg sandwich to start my day. It’s simple but indulgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> The Egg Pal is designed as exactly what we would want to eat as our perfect breakfast sandwich. We were set on brioche. It’s soft, sweet. It’s a must. American cheese, also a must. Then you get the salty, smoky bacon to go with the cheesiness that becomes a sort of sauce. And the brightness of the onions with the herbiness of the mayo. It all gives some depth. It’s very simple, but it also has essential components.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934757\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934757 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic.jpg\" alt=\"sideview of an egg breakfast sandwich wrapped in tin foil\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Egg Pal is a no-frills breakfast sandie, served on-the-go. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How long have you known each other, and how did Egg Pals become your thing? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We met about 10 years ago. I was working at Kronnerburger with Chris’s partner at the time. So we would see each other a lot, just out and about in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I was at Starline at the time. We became better friends when we worked at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fishbirdizakaya/?hl=en\">Fish & Bird \u003c/a>together. That’s where we do our prep now, and that’s where we came up for the idea of this pop-up. Coming back from the pandemic, I had a friend opening a breakfast spot on the East Coast. I was talking about it with Brack, and it just seemed like a cool concept. There weren’t many places I could think of around the Bay for getting a quick, good breakfast sandwich. Not on my radar, at least. So I went out to New York and helped my friend for a few months and saw how it was done. Brack started our social media account and came up with the name. And a friend of ours who was doing Molly’s Refresher needed food. So we went from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> Our concept was to keep things simplified but still use the bountiful ingredients and produce that we all love out here. We aim to keep it approachable but as delicious as possible, and that’s what we steer towards. We just hit our one-year anniversary a week ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> It’s a 50/50 split partnership. We prep all the food together. We split admin and errands. Brack runs our social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We refer to ourselves as co-owners because we each do a little bit of everything. Chris is the egg cooker, though (laughs). I run the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/dining/restaurant-kitchen-expediters.html\">expo station\u003c/a> on the day of the pop-up or event. We really try to share our duties in leading it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934759\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934759 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini.jpg\" alt=\"a collection of antique knick-knacks are playfully laid out on a table next to a hand painted sign that reads “eggs”\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to Chris Morgan, Egg Pals has an “upside down smiley face” breakfast vibe. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How have your prior experiences in food informed what you do now? Are you still working day jobs elsewhere?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> I still do other work part time — bar consulting, pop-ups, beverage catering. I’ve worked in many kinds of restaurants in the past. I actually have helped to open a handful of restaurants; not intentionally, but just joining projects as they were starting out. You learn and absorb a lot of what to do and what not to do in those situations. It goes back to keeping things simple, straightforward. We wanted to start with our core idea and slowly build it out — staying focused without trying to do too much right away. You sometimes see expansion and doing too much early on instead of nailing down what your vision is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I have a part time job at a barbershop in Oakland as a shop person helping things run, cleaning up. I don’t cut hair (laughs). I stay away from the shears (laughs).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are some challenges you’ve encountered while running your pop-up?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13934248,arts_13931303,arts_13899700']\u003c/span>Defries:\u003c/strong> We started our business a year ago, and after three months eggs prices suddenly tripled. So yeah, that has been fun to navigate. It is leveling out more, but it’s still twice the price than when we first started out. To be honest, the cost of all goods has gone up in the last year alone. In the Bay, there are two sides to it all. It’s hard to find things, like a prep kitchen, because we can’t afford it. We’re looking around, but it’s crazy how expensive it is for just one or two days. We’re so grateful to those who have allowed us to use their space, like Fish and Bird, who are so gracious and accommodating for one day a week. We’d have a hard time without them. We have to store shit all over town: in our kitchens, at friends’, at other places we work at. We can’t have our own space quite yet, but we’re working towards that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> This probably goes for most pop-ups, but just knowing how much food to bring to sell, managing that. The goal is to sell out because then you don’t have waste. But when we get so busy we sell out quickly, and people get disappointed when they show up and we’re all out. So we’ve had to dial that in over the year. We have a better sense now, especially if we’re returning to a place we’ve been before. We can land closer to the right amount. Usually, we make an average of 150 over-medium eggs in one outing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What other foodmakers have you’ve drawn inspiration from?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacososcar/\">Tacos Oscar\u003c/a> is one of my favorite places, good buddies of ours. They use seasonal, local produce and just combine flavors so well. Also, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rangelife_livermore/?hl=en\">Range Life\u003c/a> out in Livermore. Hands down a favorite place to eat. I worked with the chef for a while, and his palate is easily one of my favorites. Very classic New Californian food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> As far as breakfast sandwiches, there used to be a spot called Jodie’s in Albany. Hole-in-the-wall kind of place. Jodie and his grandson Charles used to run it. When I first moved here, that’s where I went to feel at home. Outside of the Bay, there’s a place in New Orleans called Molly’s Rise and Shine, and they did everything so well and it inspired me to do breakfast foods. And Rosie’s in the Hudson Valley was a big influence; I was able to help open it, and it’s where I could first try out making only breakfast foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934755\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13934755\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a San Francisco tourism book is laid out on a patterned table outside next to a\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Egg Pals ephemera at Oakland’s Vintage Market in Jack London Square. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You mentioned moving to the East Bay. Where did you move from? And since arriving in the Bay, how has it shaped your sense of food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I moved here in 2011, over 12 years ago. I was 19 when I moved. I only worked in one restaurant in my hometown, Asheville, North Carolina, before moving out. The Bay is definitely home now and has had a huge impact on the career path I’ve fallen into. I’ve gotten to work at awesome restaurants with amazing people here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brack:\u003c/strong> I’m from Missouri originally, north of Kansas City. I moved out about nine years ago. My partner at the time had a plan to move out here so I just tagged along. I worked in food a lot in Missouri, and I just got lucky here by getting a nice introduction in the food scene by working at Kronnerburger. I learned a lot from the chefs there about the abundance of delicious, year-round shit out here and the creative ways to use it all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>If you had to choose an emoji from your phone to represent your egg sandwiches, which would it be? To be clear, I searched some up before our interview, and the official name of what I would call the “yum face” emoji is actually called the “food savoring face,” but that just sounds hella clunky and basic.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Wow. This might just be personality-wise, but the upside down smiley face feels right. Or the one where the smiley face is kind of melting (laughs). Those two do it for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> (Laughs). Maybe the one with the bright, smiling face and the hands out? We’re just goofing and having a good time. That’s what we try to embody with Egg Pals. We’re just talking shit to each other and having fun while we cook, and we hope that carries over to the food we serve. We want it to be a vibrant and fun experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Also the handshaking emoji. Shout out to our friends who help us. When we pop up, there’s a cashier, a helper and some great friends we’ve made in the restaurant industry. It’s a rotating squad of pals who help us do this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">\u003ci>Egg Pals\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will be popping up with \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/calacacoffee/\">\u003ci>Calaca Coffee\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at the \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/icasanfrancisco/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Institute of Contemporary Art SF\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (901 Minnesota St., San Francisco) on Sept. 16 and Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They also plan to pop up at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thecrownoak/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Crown Coffee Shop\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (2523 Broadway, Oakland) in October. Egg Pals rotates venues around the Bay Area every weekend. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">Check their page\u003c/a> for updated listings.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Egg Pals' Breakfast Sandwiches Are Worth Getting Out of Bed For | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to weekend brunch foods, I’m a prickly curmudgeon. More than any other meal, a worthwhile brunching experience in the Bay Area often involves a line-down-the-block wait — and can quickly run up the bill, too. So if I’m exiting my house in pajamas and fur-lined Crocs to grub in the a.m., the food had better be damn good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m elated to report, then, that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">Egg Pals\u003c/a> — a weekend-only pop-up serving breakfast sandwiches and snacks on the fly — is worth the post-sleep pilgrimage. Without the fancy buzz or overwrought allure of a high-profile eatery, these egg sandies served beneath a tarp are simply delicious. The pop-up’s recipe is refreshingly basic: It’s just two dudes making egg sandwiches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Morgan and Brack Defries met a decade ago while working in restaurants and bars around Oakland. They’ve since been running Egg Pals for just over a year. Whether tucked off to the side at an open-air vintage market or set up on a sidewalk, Egg Pals is delivering what Morgan calls the “upside down smiley face emoji” equivalent of a breakfast experience — more on that later. They pair the sandwiches with a rotating bevy of miscellaneous goodies (see: miso chocolate chip cookies, housemade potato chips, “wedgie” salads, carbonated margaritas and Arnold “Pal”-mers).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During our visit, my wife enjoyed a classic Egg Pal (two fried eggs, bacon, American cheese, herby mayo and pickled red onions on buttery brioche) while I crushed a Veggie Pal (fried eggs, roasted Jimmy Nardellos and smoked Gouda). In addition, they offer a revolving array of specialty sandwiches — a Spam melt, tomato melt, nectarine melt and katsu sandwich, to name a few — that vary with each event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After sipping on a cold brew fizz topped with orange blossom foam from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mollysrefresher/?hl=en\">Molly’s Refresher\u003c/a>, a drinks-focused pop-up that regularly collaborates with the Pals, I felt affirmed in my decision to crawl out of bed on a slow Sunday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what Morgan and Defries had to reveal about their breakfast sandwich revolution after a weekend of frying eggs for the people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934756\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934756 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs.jpg\" alt=\"two chefs prepare a dozen breakfast egg sandwiches outside beneath a tarp\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_chefs-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Morgan (right) and Brack Defries (left) get cracking on a dozen egg sandwiches during their pop-up in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Let’s start off with the basics. What are your most popular breakfast egg sandwiches?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Morgan:\u003c/b> The Egg Pal and the Veg Pal are our signatures, so we always do those. The Egg Pal is always two fried eggs, American cheese, bacon, herby mayo and pickled onions on a brioche bun from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/starterbakery/?hl=en\">Starter Bakery\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brack Defries:\u003c/b> The Veg Pal is fun, and we change the vegetables based on the season. The first one we ever did was with roasted delicata squash. People really liked that and still ask about it. It’ll be fun to bring that back once it starts popping up again. We also like to have some palate-cleansing options, since, you know, the food we serve is a rich, greasy, sloppy breakfast sandwich. We want to cut through that to balance it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Some sides we generally have are our house potato chips made with our own seasoning and served with Blowhole Hot Mayo, which our friend makes in Oakland using rocoto pepper plants in his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We just started doing a Pickle Pal, which people really like. It’s a similar set up to the Egg Pal, but with a mixture of housemade pickles — dill red onions, pickled cucumbers from my garden and some pickled carrots and pickled garlic. We’ll play around with that pickling variation [going forward].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What makes a perfect egg sandwich?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I just love a sloppy breakfast egg sandwich to start my day. It’s simple but indulgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> The Egg Pal is designed as exactly what we would want to eat as our perfect breakfast sandwich. We were set on brioche. It’s soft, sweet. It’s a must. American cheese, also a must. Then you get the salty, smoky bacon to go with the cheesiness that becomes a sort of sauce. And the brightness of the onions with the herbiness of the mayo. It all gives some depth. It’s very simple, but it also has essential components.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934757\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934757 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic.jpg\" alt=\"sideview of an egg breakfast sandwich wrapped in tin foil\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_classic-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Egg Pal is a no-frills breakfast sandie, served on-the-go. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How long have you known each other, and how did Egg Pals become your thing? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We met about 10 years ago. I was working at Kronnerburger with Chris’s partner at the time. So we would see each other a lot, just out and about in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I was at Starline at the time. We became better friends when we worked at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fishbirdizakaya/?hl=en\">Fish & Bird \u003c/a>together. That’s where we do our prep now, and that’s where we came up for the idea of this pop-up. Coming back from the pandemic, I had a friend opening a breakfast spot on the East Coast. I was talking about it with Brack, and it just seemed like a cool concept. There weren’t many places I could think of around the Bay for getting a quick, good breakfast sandwich. Not on my radar, at least. So I went out to New York and helped my friend for a few months and saw how it was done. Brack started our social media account and came up with the name. And a friend of ours who was doing Molly’s Refresher needed food. So we went from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> Our concept was to keep things simplified but still use the bountiful ingredients and produce that we all love out here. We aim to keep it approachable but as delicious as possible, and that’s what we steer towards. We just hit our one-year anniversary a week ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> It’s a 50/50 split partnership. We prep all the food together. We split admin and errands. Brack runs our social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> We refer to ourselves as co-owners because we each do a little bit of everything. Chris is the egg cooker, though (laughs). I run the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/dining/restaurant-kitchen-expediters.html\">expo station\u003c/a> on the day of the pop-up or event. We really try to share our duties in leading it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934759\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934759 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini.jpg\" alt=\"a collection of antique knick-knacks are playfully laid out on a table next to a hand painted sign that reads “eggs”\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_mini-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to Chris Morgan, Egg Pals has an “upside down smiley face” breakfast vibe. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How have your prior experiences in food informed what you do now? Are you still working day jobs elsewhere?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> I still do other work part time — bar consulting, pop-ups, beverage catering. I’ve worked in many kinds of restaurants in the past. I actually have helped to open a handful of restaurants; not intentionally, but just joining projects as they were starting out. You learn and absorb a lot of what to do and what not to do in those situations. It goes back to keeping things simple, straightforward. We wanted to start with our core idea and slowly build it out — staying focused without trying to do too much right away. You sometimes see expansion and doing too much early on instead of nailing down what your vision is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I have a part time job at a barbershop in Oakland as a shop person helping things run, cleaning up. I don’t cut hair (laughs). I stay away from the shears (laughs).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are some challenges you’ve encountered while running your pop-up?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Defries:\u003c/strong> We started our business a year ago, and after three months eggs prices suddenly tripled. So yeah, that has been fun to navigate. It is leveling out more, but it’s still twice the price than when we first started out. To be honest, the cost of all goods has gone up in the last year alone. In the Bay, there are two sides to it all. It’s hard to find things, like a prep kitchen, because we can’t afford it. We’re looking around, but it’s crazy how expensive it is for just one or two days. We’re so grateful to those who have allowed us to use their space, like Fish and Bird, who are so gracious and accommodating for one day a week. We’d have a hard time without them. We have to store shit all over town: in our kitchens, at friends’, at other places we work at. We can’t have our own space quite yet, but we’re working towards that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> This probably goes for most pop-ups, but just knowing how much food to bring to sell, managing that. The goal is to sell out because then you don’t have waste. But when we get so busy we sell out quickly, and people get disappointed when they show up and we’re all out. So we’ve had to dial that in over the year. We have a better sense now, especially if we’re returning to a place we’ve been before. We can land closer to the right amount. Usually, we make an average of 150 over-medium eggs in one outing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What other foodmakers have you’ve drawn inspiration from?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacososcar/\">Tacos Oscar\u003c/a> is one of my favorite places, good buddies of ours. They use seasonal, local produce and just combine flavors so well. Also, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rangelife_livermore/?hl=en\">Range Life\u003c/a> out in Livermore. Hands down a favorite place to eat. I worked with the chef for a while, and his palate is easily one of my favorites. Very classic New Californian food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> As far as breakfast sandwiches, there used to be a spot called Jodie’s in Albany. Hole-in-the-wall kind of place. Jodie and his grandson Charles used to run it. When I first moved here, that’s where I went to feel at home. Outside of the Bay, there’s a place in New Orleans called Molly’s Rise and Shine, and they did everything so well and it inspired me to do breakfast foods. And Rosie’s in the Hudson Valley was a big influence; I was able to help open it, and it’s where I could first try out making only breakfast foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934755\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13934755\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a San Francisco tourism book is laid out on a patterned table outside next to a\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/eggpals_vibe-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Egg Pals ephemera at Oakland’s Vintage Market in Jack London Square. \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You mentioned moving to the East Bay. Where did you move from? And since arriving in the Bay, how has it shaped your sense of food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> I moved here in 2011, over 12 years ago. I was 19 when I moved. I only worked in one restaurant in my hometown, Asheville, North Carolina, before moving out. The Bay is definitely home now and has had a huge impact on the career path I’ve fallen into. I’ve gotten to work at awesome restaurants with amazing people here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brack:\u003c/strong> I’m from Missouri originally, north of Kansas City. I moved out about nine years ago. My partner at the time had a plan to move out here so I just tagged along. I worked in food a lot in Missouri, and I just got lucky here by getting a nice introduction in the food scene by working at Kronnerburger. I learned a lot from the chefs there about the abundance of delicious, year-round shit out here and the creative ways to use it all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>If you had to choose an emoji from your phone to represent your egg sandwiches, which would it be? To be clear, I searched some up before our interview, and the official name of what I would call the “yum face” emoji is actually called the “food savoring face,” but that just sounds hella clunky and basic.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Wow. This might just be personality-wise, but the upside down smiley face feels right. Or the one where the smiley face is kind of melting (laughs). Those two do it for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Defries:\u003c/strong> (Laughs). Maybe the one with the bright, smiling face and the hands out? We’re just goofing and having a good time. That’s what we try to embody with Egg Pals. We’re just talking shit to each other and having fun while we cook, and we hope that carries over to the food we serve. We want it to be a vibrant and fun experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan:\u003c/strong> Also the handshaking emoji. Shout out to our friends who help us. When we pop up, there’s a cashier, a helper and some great friends we’ve made in the restaurant industry. It’s a rotating squad of pals who help us do this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">\u003ci>Egg Pals\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will be popping up with \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/calacacoffee/\">\u003ci>Calaca Coffee\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at the \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/icasanfrancisco/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Institute of Contemporary Art SF\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (901 Minnesota St., San Francisco) on Sept. 16 and Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They also plan to pop up at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thecrownoak/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Crown Coffee Shop\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (2523 Broadway, Oakland) in October. Egg Pals rotates venues around the Bay Area every weekend. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eggpals/\">Check their page\u003c/a> for updated listings.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "lyrics-born-cooking-show-dinner-in-place-berkeley-hella-hungry",
"title": "Berkeley Rap Icon Lyrics Born Now Has His Own Cooking Show",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saul’s Deli, a bustling Jewish delicatessen serving North Berkeley since 1986, isn’t where you’d expect to kick it with a rap legend. But it’s where Tsutomu Shimura — better known as Lyrics Born, the pioneering Japanese and Jewish American rapper — chose to meet me for lunch on a calm, sunny Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimura is a certified hip-hop veteran. As a founding member of the Bay Area rap group \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929861/latyrx-lateef-lyrics-born-solesides-quannum\">Latryx\u003c/a>, he was one of the first Asian American emcees to gain national fame in the early ’90s. His career stretches across decades with an impressive longevity that only \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13932488/e-40-way-magazine-street-renamed-vallejo\">E-40\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13922548/too-short-way-oakland-street-renamed\">Too $hort\u003c/a> could scoff at. Shimura was the first Asian American rapper to release more than 10 studio albums. He’s so prolific that on the day of our hangout, he also released a song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb9epoQCnuA\">Heaven and Armageddon\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And still, Shimura makes room for his latest creative appetite: food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A bagel with pastrami and a green sauce.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s’s salami egg bagel with added pastrami. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I like to try new things when I’m cooking, just like I would in a song,” he tells me while enjoying an order of trout, eggs and onions with extra pastrami. “It’s creative, there’s no rules. And you’ll probably like what I make, even if you’ve never heard of it before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCJDQP1p-o\">Having appeared on KQED’s \u003ci>Check, Please! Bay Area\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, he’s no stranger to the culinary game. The saucy wordsmith has never been afraid of being front and center, either. So it makes sense that the deep-voiced lyricist and diehard foodie — who grew up in Berkeley with an appreciation for the Bay’s culturally diverse cuisines — now has his own online food series, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFEwujFCNdkNoLfIIOKOwYb1bHpR0v_g\">\u003ci>Dinner In Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK2yFPkrwhs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show was born in the pandemic when Shimura was unable to tour internationally as frequently as he was accustomed to. A simple Instagram post of him making pasta with clams blew up, and requests from friends, family and fans flooded his inbox: \u003ci>When’s the next one?\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimura admits he was simply sharing his cooking out of boredom. But he quickly discovered that while on a path to dieting and home cooking in his spare time, he could share his journey with others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, \u003ci>Dinner In Place \u003c/i>is entering its fourth season. The show focuses on multiculturalism and culinary innovation with a range of guests — including Señor Sisig chef Gil Payumo and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/136410/sobre-mesa-brings-afro-caribbean-cocktails-and-light-bites-to-oakland\">Sobre Mesa\u003c/a> chef Nelson German — tied together by Shimura’s trademark baritone narration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over a plate of open-faced salami egg bagels (with extra pastrami, following Shimura’s lead), I tuned in to the hip-hop icon as he reflected on his love of food, music and wellness as a nourishing therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Many of us know you for your music career. But now you’re doing \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>Dinner In Place\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. How did your journey into making food videos begin?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lyrics Born:\u003c/b> During the pandemic, I had nothing but time on my hands. Prior to that, to be honest, I was feeling pretty burnt out artistically. Up to 2019, I was doing at least 100 [tour] dates a year. I was exhausted, bro. Putting out albums every 18 months for 20 years straight. I didn’t realize how tired I truly was. When everything shut down I was like wait a minute. No flight? No studio sessions? No gig? I’m sleeping in my own bed for more than a week? I love this. My lifestyle was such that six months prior to lockdown I was having health issues. Soreness, coughing. Shit like that. But then I started having anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934210 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The facade of a restaurant painted bright red.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saul’s has been a Berkeley institution since 1986. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So a few months before lockdown, I started to change my diet and exercise. I was up to 225 pounds, and I couldn’t do what I used to on stage, and that was upsetting. I literally couldn’t perform like I used to. So one of the best things I could’ve done was just drop some weight. I started to eat differently and exercise more, and so sliding into quarantine I had some momentum and control over my life. I was at home and started cooking more, since I had been eating out and on the go for years. Because of my health journey, I started to do plant-based stuff. I like to use social media, so I just shot the shit. No editing, just narrating as I went in real time. Everyone was at home also, and it was just a hit. I wasn’t writing anything else, and I didn’t want to do anything with music, so it gave me a new creative outlet instantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As time went on I started throwing in things from my childhood and travels, and it became weekly. It was cultural, and it was also conceptual like music. Like, wouldn’t it be cool if we took some vegan ground beef and turned it into a kung pao and then made that into a sloppy joe in between two Taiwanese pancakes and just called that a Kung Pao Sloppy Joe? You know what I mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934216 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A plate with homefries and other food on it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lyrics Born’s plate of trout, eggs and onion. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That’s definitely a rapper’s creative mind at work, just remixing hella ingredients.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all it was. I had time and headspace, and there was nothing else competing with my creativity. It was fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bay Area hip-hop has so many anthems — “I Got 5 On It,” “Tell Me When to Go,” “Thizzle Dance.” You put those songs on and Bay Area people will flock to the dance floor and know exactly what to do. What’s the equivalent of that for our region’s food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few restaurants in Berkeley. That’s what I know, so I’ll speak to that. Everett and Jones is one of them. They’ve been around since I was a kid in multiple locations. The one in Berkeley is the best, truth be told. People will have varying opinions on it all, but I also think Le Cheval — a longtime Vietnamese restaurant in Berkeley that unfortunately closed, where many people would go. Chez Panisse, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in Oakland, you have guys like Chef Nelson from Sobre Mesa. He just reopened \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alamaroakland/\">alaMar\u003c/a> with a new Dominican menu. The Bay needs that. Oakland is special because it has that diversity. There’s room, space and audience for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I noticed you’ve invited local chefs — like Chef Nelson — onto your show this season. What have been some favorite dishes you’ve learned how to make?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We actually released one today that I really love. A “Locrio Japonese.” Japanese curry, stir-fried rice, grilled pork. Dominican and Japanese fusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934214 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person cuts a pickle with a fork and knife.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pickled beets and cucumbers. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Are these all your original food ideas? Are they just for your private consumption?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We talk about it, bro. With every guest chef — I’ve even had my wife on for an episode — we talk about it, and if we have time, we demo it. I was able to demo the recipes at Señor Sisig and alaMar. Really generous, brilliant chefs. We’re actually doing a pop-up in alaMar, and we’ll be serving the actual dish. It was fun and cute during the pandemic, but I wanted to do more with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Now that you’re three decades into your career, having broken barriers like becoming the first Asian American rapper to perform at events like Coachella and Lollapalooza, what stands out to you — and how does food play into it all?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first couple decades of my career I never reflected. I never looked back, I was thinking about what’s next. It wasn’t until I made my greatest hits album that I was forced to reflect. Doing \u003cem>Dinner in Place\u003c/em> and cooking has really led me down a path that I just totally took for granted. I didn’t realize how special it was to make sushi with my father who I saw maybe once a year. And when I saw him, I was young at the time, and we’d make sushi together, or maybe go out for Korean barbecue in Japan. He spent some time in New York City, but he had health issues and went back to Japan. The last 15 years of his life were in Japan, and I’d go back when I could. Even though he was immobile, we still cooked. It was something I did with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when I got back, my son asked if I could roll sushi, and I was like fuck yeah, I can. Because I did it with my father. Let me start there. It opened up chapters in my life I could revisit. I didn’t consider that to be significant until later. Same with my grandma. She would take me to Jewish delis in L.A. with that side of the family. I grew up in places like Saul’s. \u003ci>Let’s deli.\u003c/i> That’s a Jewish thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you did it all while staying true to yourself and highlighting your heritage.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thank you. Rappers? Entertainers? There weren’t many who looked like me who were visible. We had a few here and there. And there were people before me, for sure. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13933283/undiscovered-sf-2023-filipino-culture-festival-food-hip-hop-anniversary-soma\">it was mostly DJs and breakdancers\u003c/a>. We were mostly in the background. But there was nobody — since hip-hop was so young — who I could look to in the way someone can look at me now and say, \u003ci>So that’s how you do it\u003c/i>. To have a 30-year career as an Asian American rapper in hip-hop and to see that path as possible.[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lyrics Born\"]“In my experience, being mixed is normal. Everything else is different.”[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those lessons exist now, but they didn’t really exist for me. I mean, hip-hop is turning 50 years old. I’ve been around for 30 of those. I took a lot of my cues from studying my peers, but also the previous generation of artists outside of hip-hop. Sammy Davis Jr. James Brown. Those were long careers. There’s a multitude of mountains you have to simultaneously climb. It’s hard for anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other layer is doing it as a person of color in a system that isn’t built for you to succeed. You’re fighting parallel battles. Then being Asian American, there was even less context as a performer. When I first started touring, I swear to god there were places where I was the only Asian American in the city. But it still sold out. It was about the music. And that’s why food is also so liberating. In my experience, being mixed is normal. Everything else is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That’s part of the beauty of growing up in the Bay Area, right?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t think my career could have been possible anywhere outside of the Bay Area. My reality has always been multicultural. And that’s even more so now. Everyone I grew up with in Berkeley is mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934213\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934213 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people laugh together at a booth in a restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lyrics Born sharing a meal — and reflections on his 30-year career in hip-hop — with KQED food writer Alan Chazaro. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you can just hustle your way into different situations and make it work.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13929861,arts_13930458,arts_13907726']\u003c/span>Bro, I never went to any culinary school. But I’m creative. And the food tastes good. I don’t give a shit about technique. About what is the way you’re supposed to do it. Just taste it. You’ll love it. You don’t need a chef’s coat. Whatever you wear isn’t gonna change the way you cook. I didn’t come from that. Yes, some of these guys can cook circles around me. But I’m a self-taught rapper. I didn’t take piano lessons or guitar lessons. I had a pen and paper and started writing down some words and hoped they rhymed to their own beat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And real chefs understand that. They get the raw creativity, and that’s what it all is for me. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko2k6RC4MCc\">sinigang ramen\u003c/a>. Nobody’s doing that or presenting it in the way we do. And I say that with pride, not to brag. We’re injecting something new into this. You’ll walk away feeling better, having learned something. And that’s important to me about the show. We wanna make great food, but what’s greater than expanding your horizons on different levels?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that part of growing up with immigrant parents? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totally. And the best part is that our experience [as children of immigrants] is mathematically going to be the dominant experience in this country. We’ll see more people like us — literally and figuratively. That’s not an opinion. That’s facts. It’s trending in a certain direction, and nothing can stop that. And we’ll be enjoying those flavors for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFEwujFCNdkNoLfIIOKOwYb1bHpR0v_g\">\u003cem>‘Dinner In Place’\u003c/em>\u003ci> is available to watch on YouTube on Lyrics Born’s channel\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Season 4 is now streaming. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lyricsborn/\">\u003ci>Lyrics Born\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will team up with chef Nelson German at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alamaroakland/\">\u003ci>alaMar Dominican Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (100 Grand Ave. #111, Oakland) for a live “Dinner In Place” pop-up on Thurs. Sep. 14 from 5 p.m. to closing.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A sit-down interview with the hip-hop veteran and host of 'Dinner In Place,' a food series with extra funk.",
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"title": "Berkeley Rap Icon Lyrics Born Now Has His Own Cooking Show | KQED",
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"headline": "Berkeley Rap Icon Lyrics Born Now Has His Own Cooking Show",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saul’s Deli, a bustling Jewish delicatessen serving North Berkeley since 1986, isn’t where you’d expect to kick it with a rap legend. But it’s where Tsutomu Shimura — better known as Lyrics Born, the pioneering Japanese and Jewish American rapper — chose to meet me for lunch on a calm, sunny Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimura is a certified hip-hop veteran. As a founding member of the Bay Area rap group \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929861/latyrx-lateef-lyrics-born-solesides-quannum\">Latryx\u003c/a>, he was one of the first Asian American emcees to gain national fame in the early ’90s. His career stretches across decades with an impressive longevity that only \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13932488/e-40-way-magazine-street-renamed-vallejo\">E-40\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13922548/too-short-way-oakland-street-renamed\">Too $hort\u003c/a> could scoff at. Shimura was the first Asian American rapper to release more than 10 studio albums. He’s so prolific that on the day of our hangout, he also released a song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb9epoQCnuA\">Heaven and Armageddon\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And still, Shimura makes room for his latest creative appetite: food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A bagel with pastrami and a green sauce.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s’s salami egg bagel with added pastrami. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I like to try new things when I’m cooking, just like I would in a song,” he tells me while enjoying an order of trout, eggs and onions with extra pastrami. “It’s creative, there’s no rules. And you’ll probably like what I make, even if you’ve never heard of it before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCJDQP1p-o\">Having appeared on KQED’s \u003ci>Check, Please! Bay Area\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, he’s no stranger to the culinary game. The saucy wordsmith has never been afraid of being front and center, either. So it makes sense that the deep-voiced lyricist and diehard foodie — who grew up in Berkeley with an appreciation for the Bay’s culturally diverse cuisines — now has his own online food series, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFEwujFCNdkNoLfIIOKOwYb1bHpR0v_g\">\u003ci>Dinner In Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/SK2yFPkrwhs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/SK2yFPkrwhs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show was born in the pandemic when Shimura was unable to tour internationally as frequently as he was accustomed to. A simple Instagram post of him making pasta with clams blew up, and requests from friends, family and fans flooded his inbox: \u003ci>When’s the next one?\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimura admits he was simply sharing his cooking out of boredom. But he quickly discovered that while on a path to dieting and home cooking in his spare time, he could share his journey with others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, \u003ci>Dinner In Place \u003c/i>is entering its fourth season. The show focuses on multiculturalism and culinary innovation with a range of guests — including Señor Sisig chef Gil Payumo and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/136410/sobre-mesa-brings-afro-caribbean-cocktails-and-light-bites-to-oakland\">Sobre Mesa\u003c/a> chef Nelson German — tied together by Shimura’s trademark baritone narration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over a plate of open-faced salami egg bagels (with extra pastrami, following Shimura’s lead), I tuned in to the hip-hop icon as he reflected on his love of food, music and wellness as a nourishing therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: Many of us know you for your music career. But now you’re doing \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>Dinner In Place\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. How did your journey into making food videos begin?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lyrics Born:\u003c/b> During the pandemic, I had nothing but time on my hands. Prior to that, to be honest, I was feeling pretty burnt out artistically. Up to 2019, I was doing at least 100 [tour] dates a year. I was exhausted, bro. Putting out albums every 18 months for 20 years straight. I didn’t realize how tired I truly was. When everything shut down I was like wait a minute. No flight? No studio sessions? No gig? I’m sleeping in my own bed for more than a week? I love this. My lifestyle was such that six months prior to lockdown I was having health issues. Soreness, coughing. Shit like that. But then I started having anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934210 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The facade of a restaurant painted bright red.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saul’s has been a Berkeley institution since 1986. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So a few months before lockdown, I started to change my diet and exercise. I was up to 225 pounds, and I couldn’t do what I used to on stage, and that was upsetting. I literally couldn’t perform like I used to. So one of the best things I could’ve done was just drop some weight. I started to eat differently and exercise more, and so sliding into quarantine I had some momentum and control over my life. I was at home and started cooking more, since I had been eating out and on the go for years. Because of my health journey, I started to do plant-based stuff. I like to use social media, so I just shot the shit. No editing, just narrating as I went in real time. Everyone was at home also, and it was just a hit. I wasn’t writing anything else, and I didn’t want to do anything with music, so it gave me a new creative outlet instantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As time went on I started throwing in things from my childhood and travels, and it became weekly. It was cultural, and it was also conceptual like music. Like, wouldn’t it be cool if we took some vegan ground beef and turned it into a kung pao and then made that into a sloppy joe in between two Taiwanese pancakes and just called that a Kung Pao Sloppy Joe? You know what I mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934216 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A plate with homefries and other food on it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lyrics Born’s plate of trout, eggs and onion. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That’s definitely a rapper’s creative mind at work, just remixing hella ingredients.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all it was. I had time and headspace, and there was nothing else competing with my creativity. It was fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bay Area hip-hop has so many anthems — “I Got 5 On It,” “Tell Me When to Go,” “Thizzle Dance.” You put those songs on and Bay Area people will flock to the dance floor and know exactly what to do. What’s the equivalent of that for our region’s food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few restaurants in Berkeley. That’s what I know, so I’ll speak to that. Everett and Jones is one of them. They’ve been around since I was a kid in multiple locations. The one in Berkeley is the best, truth be told. People will have varying opinions on it all, but I also think Le Cheval — a longtime Vietnamese restaurant in Berkeley that unfortunately closed, where many people would go. Chez Panisse, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in Oakland, you have guys like Chef Nelson from Sobre Mesa. He just reopened \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alamaroakland/\">alaMar\u003c/a> with a new Dominican menu. The Bay needs that. Oakland is special because it has that diversity. There’s room, space and audience for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I noticed you’ve invited local chefs — like Chef Nelson — onto your show this season. What have been some favorite dishes you’ve learned how to make?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We actually released one today that I really love. A “Locrio Japonese.” Japanese curry, stir-fried rice, grilled pork. Dominican and Japanese fusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934214 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person cuts a pickle with a fork and knife.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pickled beets and cucumbers. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Are these all your original food ideas? Are they just for your private consumption?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We talk about it, bro. With every guest chef — I’ve even had my wife on for an episode — we talk about it, and if we have time, we demo it. I was able to demo the recipes at Señor Sisig and alaMar. Really generous, brilliant chefs. We’re actually doing a pop-up in alaMar, and we’ll be serving the actual dish. It was fun and cute during the pandemic, but I wanted to do more with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Now that you’re three decades into your career, having broken barriers like becoming the first Asian American rapper to perform at events like Coachella and Lollapalooza, what stands out to you — and how does food play into it all?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first couple decades of my career I never reflected. I never looked back, I was thinking about what’s next. It wasn’t until I made my greatest hits album that I was forced to reflect. Doing \u003cem>Dinner in Place\u003c/em> and cooking has really led me down a path that I just totally took for granted. I didn’t realize how special it was to make sushi with my father who I saw maybe once a year. And when I saw him, I was young at the time, and we’d make sushi together, or maybe go out for Korean barbecue in Japan. He spent some time in New York City, but he had health issues and went back to Japan. The last 15 years of his life were in Japan, and I’d go back when I could. Even though he was immobile, we still cooked. It was something I did with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when I got back, my son asked if I could roll sushi, and I was like fuck yeah, I can. Because I did it with my father. Let me start there. It opened up chapters in my life I could revisit. I didn’t consider that to be significant until later. Same with my grandma. She would take me to Jewish delis in L.A. with that side of the family. I grew up in places like Saul’s. \u003ci>Let’s deli.\u003c/i> That’s a Jewish thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you did it all while staying true to yourself and highlighting your heritage.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thank you. Rappers? Entertainers? There weren’t many who looked like me who were visible. We had a few here and there. And there were people before me, for sure. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13933283/undiscovered-sf-2023-filipino-culture-festival-food-hip-hop-anniversary-soma\">it was mostly DJs and breakdancers\u003c/a>. We were mostly in the background. But there was nobody — since hip-hop was so young — who I could look to in the way someone can look at me now and say, \u003ci>So that’s how you do it\u003c/i>. To have a 30-year career as an Asian American rapper in hip-hop and to see that path as possible.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those lessons exist now, but they didn’t really exist for me. I mean, hip-hop is turning 50 years old. I’ve been around for 30 of those. I took a lot of my cues from studying my peers, but also the previous generation of artists outside of hip-hop. Sammy Davis Jr. James Brown. Those were long careers. There’s a multitude of mountains you have to simultaneously climb. It’s hard for anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other layer is doing it as a person of color in a system that isn’t built for you to succeed. You’re fighting parallel battles. Then being Asian American, there was even less context as a performer. When I first started touring, I swear to god there were places where I was the only Asian American in the city. But it still sold out. It was about the music. And that’s why food is also so liberating. In my experience, being mixed is normal. Everything else is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That’s part of the beauty of growing up in the Bay Area, right?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t think my career could have been possible anywhere outside of the Bay Area. My reality has always been multicultural. And that’s even more so now. Everyone I grew up with in Berkeley is mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13934213\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13934213 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people laugh together at a booth in a restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/230830-LRYICS-BORN-MD-05-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lyrics Born sharing a meal — and reflections on his 30-year career in hip-hop — with KQED food writer Alan Chazaro. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And you can just hustle your way into different situations and make it work.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Bro, I never went to any culinary school. But I’m creative. And the food tastes good. I don’t give a shit about technique. About what is the way you’re supposed to do it. Just taste it. You’ll love it. You don’t need a chef’s coat. Whatever you wear isn’t gonna change the way you cook. I didn’t come from that. Yes, some of these guys can cook circles around me. But I’m a self-taught rapper. I didn’t take piano lessons or guitar lessons. I had a pen and paper and started writing down some words and hoped they rhymed to their own beat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And real chefs understand that. They get the raw creativity, and that’s what it all is for me. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko2k6RC4MCc\">sinigang ramen\u003c/a>. Nobody’s doing that or presenting it in the way we do. And I say that with pride, not to brag. We’re injecting something new into this. You’ll walk away feeling better, having learned something. And that’s important to me about the show. We wanna make great food, but what’s greater than expanding your horizons on different levels?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that part of growing up with immigrant parents? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totally. And the best part is that our experience [as children of immigrants] is mathematically going to be the dominant experience in this country. We’ll see more people like us — literally and figuratively. That’s not an opinion. That’s facts. It’s trending in a certain direction, and nothing can stop that. And we’ll be enjoying those flavors for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFEwujFCNdkNoLfIIOKOwYb1bHpR0v_g\">\u003cem>‘Dinner In Place’\u003c/em>\u003ci> is available to watch on YouTube on Lyrics Born’s channel\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Season 4 is now streaming. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lyricsborn/\">\u003ci>Lyrics Born\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will team up with chef Nelson German at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alamaroakland/\">\u003ci>alaMar Dominican Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (100 Grand Ave. #111, Oakland) for a live “Dinner In Place” pop-up on Thurs. Sep. 14 from 5 p.m. to closing.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mestizo-san-jose-filipino-food-truck-la-pulga-mexican-hawaiian",
"title": "A New San Jose Food Truck Fuses Filipino, Mexican and Hawaiian Flavors",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For anyone with childhood memories of growing up in the South Bay, San Jose’s Berryessa Flea Market — or “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13905374/la-pulga-san-jose-flea-market-redevelopment-eulogy\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">La Pulga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,” as it’s endearingly known — has long been a haven of joy, particularly for immigrant families. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">La Pulga truly had it all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For as long as I can remember, the flea market has always been a humble space for entrepreneurial beginnings. At one point, my mom even ran her own stand selling used clothes there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More recently, though, the historic flea market, like much of the region, has undergone seismic redevelopments. There’s now a BART station within walking distance, adding metropolitan accessibility to the formerly industrial area — but also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/economy-business-labor/2023-02-27/a-family-at-the-berryessa-flea-market-fights-to-stay\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">displacing many longtime, predominantly Latinx vendors\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Across the street, there’s a glamorous new condominium complex where a dusty parking lot used to be. It all underscores the ongoing contradictions of a region that is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.archpaper.com/2021/07/san-jose-berryessa-flea-market-replaced-by-sprawling-mixed-use-development/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">yearning to grow\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> while simultaneously introducing a new set of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-berryessa-flea-market-changes-prove-costly-for-vendors/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">costly challenges for longtime community members\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite its struggles and the ensuing public backlash, the Berryessa Flea Market — which is still among the largest open-air markets in the United States — remains vibrant in a different kind of way. There’s a funky beer garden with live music and a weekly Friday night market. The reimagined space has allowed emerging food makers to gain visibility by introducing an assortment of new cuisines and experiences.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932716\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932716\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a crowd gathers in front of a food truck in San Jose\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo is building a loyal following in the South Bay with appearances at La Pulga in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That new wave includes \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/westaymixin/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mestizo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a homegrown trio of Filipino Americans who roll around the 408 in their food truck (not to be confused with San Francisco’s Yucatan-inspired food truck that has the same name). Childhood friends Keith Canda, Chris Zamora and Anthony Cruzet are dishing out fire meals of Filipino, Mexican and Hawaiian eats, including fried chicken mac salad burritos, tempura salmon tacos and “KaluaQuiles” — mole-bathed chilaquiles with fresh mango sauce and kalua pork. They also organized \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CtIC0ivL_DR/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose’s first-ever lumpia eating contest\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and frequently collaborate with popular San Jose streetwear brands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cukui/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cukui\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as well as a variety of local organizations — everything from low-rider bike clubs to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930207/the-simpsons-flash-tattoo-party-parallax-art-studio-milpitas\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tattoo shops\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I swung by with my older brother and dad on a busy night earlier this summer to meet Mestizo’s crew and soak up some nostalgic vibes. It was the first time my family had been back to La Pulga together in decades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: When and how did you all launch your Mestizo food truck together?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS ZAMORA:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We just started the truck this year. We wanted to come in and take it slow, but we’ve realized it’s all happening so quickly, especially this summer. It’s a culmination of our friendship over 20 years. We’ve always tried to find a project to work on together. We’re in three different industries as professionals, and we’ve never been able to officially collaborate on anything. This is that pinnacle for us. It’s not just getting together and partying like we did in our 20s. This has a deeper purpose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY CRUZET:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We decided on a food truck because Keith already had a food truck from a business he was doing with his cousins in the past. He was thinking of selling it, and Chris looked at me and asked if we should just try to run our own food truck. It was literally that easy. Why not? It fell into place, and we’re figuring it out as we go.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932710\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932710\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a group of three friends stand in front of their new food truck in San Jose\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo owners Chris Zamora (left), Anthony Cruzet (center) and Keith Canda (right) have known each other since grade school. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Talk to me about the name and concept of Mestizo. Where does that come from, and what does it represent for you all as mixed Filipinos?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In coming up with our name, we discussed the different kinds of foods we could do. It’s fusion, mixed. The definition of “mestizo” is being mixed race. We want our own version of that. I’m literally mestizo — half Filipino, half Mexican. So it’s a representation of myself. That’s connected with the foods we want to do, being Filipino-rooted with other influences.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We also wanted flexibility with our menu. Some places only do Filipino food, but we wanted versatility to evolve our dishes over time. We’re all in different stages in our lives right now. Me and Ant just got back from Thailand, so we’re coming back with new flavors, new concepts. We want that evolutionary kind of experience to provide our community. Yes, we’re known for our fried-chicken-and-gravy burrito and our KaluaQuiles, but we can imagine new things, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH CANDA:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> For me, Mestizo is a combination of a few things. All of us coming together is a mix of what we believe in, outside of food. We’re all mixed: We have different ideas, different goals, different careers. Then we put the food truck into play. Chris’s expertise in the kitchen. Ant in marketing and sales. And my little experience with running a food truck in the past. We stand by Mestizo because we believe in not just cultural fusion – Filipino, Hawaiian, Mexican – but in coming together as people with different skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Describe your food. What’s an example of a popular dish on your menu? What makes Mestizo unique?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The “Stay Rooted” burrito has fried chicken, which comes from one of us tasting chicken karaage in Japan. The mac salad in the burrito is from another one of us who took a trip to Hawaii. And then the gravy rice is from my memory of KFC gravy as a kid. There’s no rice at KFC, but I’ve always wanted to put that gravy on rice. So that’s all of us in one dish, literally. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932707\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932707\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a fried chicken burrito with Hawaiian mac salad is on display\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “Stay Rooted” burrito, which features fried chicken, Hawaiian mac salad and gravy, inspired an accompanying T-shirt made in collaboration with Cukui Clothing. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a menu-building standpoint, what I think is unique about us is that it’s really just all of us and our wives literally putting ideas together from scratch. One time, Ant sent us a video of an ube grilled cheese sandwich using ube jam. The text messages just started going off after that, and I showed my wife, who had some of her own thoughts to add, and we just combined all of that into our own idea. So the concepts just build from there within our own little community. It comes from our travels, our experiences, our families.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having a collaboration with Cukui with the Stay Rooted burrito adds another layer of community, too. We share a goal to bring the community together and collaborate, to give whatever we can offer. I work at a print shop that makes shirts for Cukui, and our businesses have grown up hand in hand because we’ve been printing for them for years. I just had the idea to offer a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cukui.com/collections/mens/products/mestizo-x-cukui-lowrider-tee-cream\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">collaborative T-shirt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as part of our menu. That’s the vibe we wanted. We bring those creative juices, our designs, the hype. Cukui has a super big following as it is. So having them to work with is huge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we [co-hosted] a lowrider bike anniversary event at History Park in San Jose with our T-shirts and food, so it’s a cross-pollination of businesses and representation. For the event, we partnered with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shinysideupshow/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shiny Side Up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from San Jose to design original shirts. That kind of community interaction is a staple for Mestizo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932714\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932714\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a food truck displays their food menu, along with custom t-shirts and basketball shorts\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo regularly collaborates with boutique streetwear makers around the Bay Area for custom apparel at their events. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s also with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thecruisershop/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cruiser Shop\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a custom bicycle shop [in Campbell]. It’s like a car show for bicycles. With food and custom clothing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You seem very rooted in San Jose and the South Bay. What’s your connection to the culture there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’re all born and raised in either Milpitas or San Jose. Ant and I went to kindergarten together, and we met Keith as teenagers. We all had Mustangs growing up and cruised together. That’s where it all kind of sparked from. I still have my ’73 Mach 1.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith has a ’67. I got a ’70 fastback. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mine has a 298 engine with a cam, nothing too crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith has a solid connection and foundation to San Jose and the brands and people here. I live in Milpitas now, but my cousins and I grew up in the Alum Rock area of East San Jose. That’s a whole thing to unravel in itself. There’s so much variety of cooking and food. Everyone has a favorite taco spot or torta spot, but there are so many to choose from that I think everyone finds their own way to stand out. It has influenced me and the way I cook and how we build menus by just taking the same simple ingredients to make our own magic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith is Mr. San Jose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What does “Mr. San Jose” have to say about the city’s food and culture?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose has a huge reputation for great Mexican food. But once you cross into Milpitas, there are a few great Filipino spots for such a small city. We wanted to bring that together since we are accustomed to growing up eating at Jaliscos and off of Alum Rock. Without growing up in San Jose and tasting the different spices and recipes of authentic immigrant foods, we wouldn’t be doing this. We’re coming together collectively and putting that all on one plate. We’re strongly rooted in that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The South Bay is such a big melting pot. Our palates were forced to get accustomed to all these different flavors. Indian food with Vietnamese food across the street and Chinese food next door. That’s the whole idea of Mestizo. We don’t want to be in a box. We want to open our menu to anything we grew up eating around the South Bay. Maybe we’ll do Filipino and Indian. We can do that. We know those flavors. Let’s see what we can create and who we might collaborate with for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think of Filipino food in the Bay Area? Besides your own kitchens, where do you go for the best Filipino dishes and how does it compare to your experiences in the Philippines?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Around here, there’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.mykalesa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kalesa\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s a sit-down. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.maxsrestaurantna.com/daly-city\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Max’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, even though it’s a global chain. But I think Filipino food is actually underrepresented overall. We’re seeing it a lot more now on food shows and the cooking channels of the world, but it’s still underrepresented. For a long time, it’s been represented to us as “turo turo.” That means “point point.” If you go to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldilocksph/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Goldilocks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you point at what you want to get. That’s what we were used to seeing growing up. But there’s a lot of space to explore where Filipino food is in the Bay Area right now and where it can be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932713\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of lumpia with orange sauce on display\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pounds of “Mestizo Lumpia” were served in San Jose’s first ever lumpia eating contest earlier this year. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We just got back from the Philippines recently. But even there, it’s not always represented well because the food is so connected to the U.S. nowadays. Burgers, fried chicken, hot dogs. You’ll find more of that than traditional Filipino food sometimes. For middle- and upper-class people, they don’t go out to eat Filipino food. Over there, there are thousands of islands, so there’s a thousand ways to make adobo, lumpia, all of it, and people do that at home. There’s this one dish I love with fish balls on a wooden stick. It’s barbecued street food from the Philippines. We want to do that kind of stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13928804,arts_13919707,arts_13905374']There’s also kamayan [a traditional Filipino method of eating with your bare hands]. Back in the day, during war times, the military was figuring out a way for generals and privates to share a table together. Typically, the tables were set up in ranks and separated. But they wanted a collaborative meal. So they laid out banana leaves on a big table and put rice and different proteins out for everyone to share. It’s called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hungryhuy.com/kamayan-feast/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “boodle fight,” a shared meal together\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. No utensils, just hands. It’s an interesting way of eating, since it’s very primal, but also offers space for a different kind of connection. That’s something I’d like to experiment with but not with the food truck. Our vision with that is to set up an event at a park and essentially put the banana leaves out, the decor, and do private events for small groups of friends. It could be weird if you do that with a complete stranger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That sounds amazing. You also recently hosted San Jose’s first lumpia eating contest. Is there any chance we’ll see that again?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’m the one who wants to do it every week [laughs]. We want to bring it back. My idea is to do a “champions league” lumpia eating contest. Champions from different events, from different parts of San Jose. But that’s still a dream in the conceptual stage. You do the math and you’re like, man, eating that much lumpia? We can do that. But then you see it, and it’s actually kind of hard to do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’ve talked about doing it again. But with more than just pork lumpia, since that’s limiting for some people’s diet. We want to try to do something with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">E-40’s Lumpia Company\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That would be dope to do something bigger featuring their lumpia and hosted by us. That’s just me putting that out into the universe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mestizo food truck pops up at various events around the South Bay. Their next appearance at La Pulga (1590 Berryessa Rd., San Jose) will be for the flea market’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://gardenattheflea.com/event/bnm-taco-night-of-innovation/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taco Night of Innovation\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on Fri., Aug. 18. For updates, follow Mestizo \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/westaymixin/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">on Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Mestizo Food Truck in San Jose Fuses Filipino, Mexican and Hawaiian Flavors | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For anyone with childhood memories of growing up in the South Bay, San Jose’s Berryessa Flea Market — or “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13905374/la-pulga-san-jose-flea-market-redevelopment-eulogy\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">La Pulga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,” as it’s endearingly known — has long been a haven of joy, particularly for immigrant families. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">La Pulga truly had it all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For as long as I can remember, the flea market has always been a humble space for entrepreneurial beginnings. At one point, my mom even ran her own stand selling used clothes there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More recently, though, the historic flea market, like much of the region, has undergone seismic redevelopments. There’s now a BART station within walking distance, adding metropolitan accessibility to the formerly industrial area — but also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/economy-business-labor/2023-02-27/a-family-at-the-berryessa-flea-market-fights-to-stay\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">displacing many longtime, predominantly Latinx vendors\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Across the street, there’s a glamorous new condominium complex where a dusty parking lot used to be. It all underscores the ongoing contradictions of a region that is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.archpaper.com/2021/07/san-jose-berryessa-flea-market-replaced-by-sprawling-mixed-use-development/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">yearning to grow\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> while simultaneously introducing a new set of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-berryessa-flea-market-changes-prove-costly-for-vendors/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">costly challenges for longtime community members\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite its struggles and the ensuing public backlash, the Berryessa Flea Market — which is still among the largest open-air markets in the United States — remains vibrant in a different kind of way. There’s a funky beer garden with live music and a weekly Friday night market. The reimagined space has allowed emerging food makers to gain visibility by introducing an assortment of new cuisines and experiences.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932716\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932716\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a crowd gathers in front of a food truck in San Jose\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_truck.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo is building a loyal following in the South Bay with appearances at La Pulga in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That new wave includes \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/westaymixin/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mestizo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a homegrown trio of Filipino Americans who roll around the 408 in their food truck (not to be confused with San Francisco’s Yucatan-inspired food truck that has the same name). Childhood friends Keith Canda, Chris Zamora and Anthony Cruzet are dishing out fire meals of Filipino, Mexican and Hawaiian eats, including fried chicken mac salad burritos, tempura salmon tacos and “KaluaQuiles” — mole-bathed chilaquiles with fresh mango sauce and kalua pork. They also organized \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CtIC0ivL_DR/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose’s first-ever lumpia eating contest\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and frequently collaborate with popular San Jose streetwear brands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cukui/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cukui\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as well as a variety of local organizations — everything from low-rider bike clubs to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930207/the-simpsons-flash-tattoo-party-parallax-art-studio-milpitas\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tattoo shops\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I swung by with my older brother and dad on a busy night earlier this summer to meet Mestizo’s crew and soak up some nostalgic vibes. It was the first time my family had been back to La Pulga together in decades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: When and how did you all launch your Mestizo food truck together?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS ZAMORA:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We just started the truck this year. We wanted to come in and take it slow, but we’ve realized it’s all happening so quickly, especially this summer. It’s a culmination of our friendship over 20 years. We’ve always tried to find a project to work on together. We’re in three different industries as professionals, and we’ve never been able to officially collaborate on anything. This is that pinnacle for us. It’s not just getting together and partying like we did in our 20s. This has a deeper purpose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY CRUZET:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We decided on a food truck because Keith already had a food truck from a business he was doing with his cousins in the past. He was thinking of selling it, and Chris looked at me and asked if we should just try to run our own food truck. It was literally that easy. Why not? It fell into place, and we’re figuring it out as we go.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932710\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932710\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a group of three friends stand in front of their new food truck in San Jose\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_group_photo.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo owners Chris Zamora (left), Anthony Cruzet (center) and Keith Canda (right) have known each other since grade school. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Talk to me about the name and concept of Mestizo. Where does that come from, and what does it represent for you all as mixed Filipinos?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In coming up with our name, we discussed the different kinds of foods we could do. It’s fusion, mixed. The definition of “mestizo” is being mixed race. We want our own version of that. I’m literally mestizo — half Filipino, half Mexican. So it’s a representation of myself. That’s connected with the foods we want to do, being Filipino-rooted with other influences.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We also wanted flexibility with our menu. Some places only do Filipino food, but we wanted versatility to evolve our dishes over time. We’re all in different stages in our lives right now. Me and Ant just got back from Thailand, so we’re coming back with new flavors, new concepts. We want that evolutionary kind of experience to provide our community. Yes, we’re known for our fried-chicken-and-gravy burrito and our KaluaQuiles, but we can imagine new things, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH CANDA:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> For me, Mestizo is a combination of a few things. All of us coming together is a mix of what we believe in, outside of food. We’re all mixed: We have different ideas, different goals, different careers. Then we put the food truck into play. Chris’s expertise in the kitchen. Ant in marketing and sales. And my little experience with running a food truck in the past. We stand by Mestizo because we believe in not just cultural fusion – Filipino, Hawaiian, Mexican – but in coming together as people with different skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Describe your food. What’s an example of a popular dish on your menu? What makes Mestizo unique?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The “Stay Rooted” burrito has fried chicken, which comes from one of us tasting chicken karaage in Japan. The mac salad in the burrito is from another one of us who took a trip to Hawaii. And then the gravy rice is from my memory of KFC gravy as a kid. There’s no rice at KFC, but I’ve always wanted to put that gravy on rice. So that’s all of us in one dish, literally. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932707\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932707\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a fried chicken burrito with Hawaiian mac salad is on display\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_burrito.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “Stay Rooted” burrito, which features fried chicken, Hawaiian mac salad and gravy, inspired an accompanying T-shirt made in collaboration with Cukui Clothing. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a menu-building standpoint, what I think is unique about us is that it’s really just all of us and our wives literally putting ideas together from scratch. One time, Ant sent us a video of an ube grilled cheese sandwich using ube jam. The text messages just started going off after that, and I showed my wife, who had some of her own thoughts to add, and we just combined all of that into our own idea. So the concepts just build from there within our own little community. It comes from our travels, our experiences, our families.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having a collaboration with Cukui with the Stay Rooted burrito adds another layer of community, too. We share a goal to bring the community together and collaborate, to give whatever we can offer. I work at a print shop that makes shirts for Cukui, and our businesses have grown up hand in hand because we’ve been printing for them for years. I just had the idea to offer a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cukui.com/collections/mens/products/mestizo-x-cukui-lowrider-tee-cream\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">collaborative T-shirt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as part of our menu. That’s the vibe we wanted. We bring those creative juices, our designs, the hype. Cukui has a super big following as it is. So having them to work with is huge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we [co-hosted] a lowrider bike anniversary event at History Park in San Jose with our T-shirts and food, so it’s a cross-pollination of businesses and representation. For the event, we partnered with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shinysideupshow/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shiny Side Up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from San Jose to design original shirts. That kind of community interaction is a staple for Mestizo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932714\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932714\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a food truck displays their food menu, along with custom t-shirts and basketball shorts\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_menushirts-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mestizo regularly collaborates with boutique streetwear makers around the Bay Area for custom apparel at their events. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s also with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thecruisershop/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cruiser Shop\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a custom bicycle shop [in Campbell]. It’s like a car show for bicycles. With food and custom clothing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You seem very rooted in San Jose and the South Bay. What’s your connection to the culture there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’re all born and raised in either Milpitas or San Jose. Ant and I went to kindergarten together, and we met Keith as teenagers. We all had Mustangs growing up and cruised together. That’s where it all kind of sparked from. I still have my ’73 Mach 1.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith has a ’67. I got a ’70 fastback. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mine has a 298 engine with a cam, nothing too crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith has a solid connection and foundation to San Jose and the brands and people here. I live in Milpitas now, but my cousins and I grew up in the Alum Rock area of East San Jose. That’s a whole thing to unravel in itself. There’s so much variety of cooking and food. Everyone has a favorite taco spot or torta spot, but there are so many to choose from that I think everyone finds their own way to stand out. It has influenced me and the way I cook and how we build menus by just taking the same simple ingredients to make our own magic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Keith is Mr. San Jose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What does “Mr. San Jose” have to say about the city’s food and culture?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEITH: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Jose has a huge reputation for great Mexican food. But once you cross into Milpitas, there are a few great Filipino spots for such a small city. We wanted to bring that together since we are accustomed to growing up eating at Jaliscos and off of Alum Rock. Without growing up in San Jose and tasting the different spices and recipes of authentic immigrant foods, we wouldn’t be doing this. We’re coming together collectively and putting that all on one plate. We’re strongly rooted in that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The South Bay is such a big melting pot. Our palates were forced to get accustomed to all these different flavors. Indian food with Vietnamese food across the street and Chinese food next door. That’s the whole idea of Mestizo. We don’t want to be in a box. We want to open our menu to anything we grew up eating around the South Bay. Maybe we’ll do Filipino and Indian. We can do that. We know those flavors. Let’s see what we can create and who we might collaborate with for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think of Filipino food in the Bay Area? Besides your own kitchens, where do you go for the best Filipino dishes and how does it compare to your experiences in the Philippines?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Around here, there’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.mykalesa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kalesa\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s a sit-down. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.maxsrestaurantna.com/daly-city\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Max’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, even though it’s a global chain. But I think Filipino food is actually underrepresented overall. We’re seeing it a lot more now on food shows and the cooking channels of the world, but it’s still underrepresented. For a long time, it’s been represented to us as “turo turo.” That means “point point.” If you go to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldilocksph/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Goldilocks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you point at what you want to get. That’s what we were used to seeing growing up. But there’s a lot of space to explore where Filipino food is in the Bay Area right now and where it can be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932713\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of lumpia with orange sauce on display\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mestizo_lumpia.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pounds of “Mestizo Lumpia” were served in San Jose’s first ever lumpia eating contest earlier this year. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We just got back from the Philippines recently. But even there, it’s not always represented well because the food is so connected to the U.S. nowadays. Burgers, fried chicken, hot dogs. You’ll find more of that than traditional Filipino food sometimes. For middle- and upper-class people, they don’t go out to eat Filipino food. Over there, there are thousands of islands, so there’s a thousand ways to make adobo, lumpia, all of it, and people do that at home. There’s this one dish I love with fish balls on a wooden stick. It’s barbecued street food from the Philippines. We want to do that kind of stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There’s also kamayan [a traditional Filipino method of eating with your bare hands]. Back in the day, during war times, the military was figuring out a way for generals and privates to share a table together. Typically, the tables were set up in ranks and separated. But they wanted a collaborative meal. So they laid out banana leaves on a big table and put rice and different proteins out for everyone to share. It’s called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hungryhuy.com/kamayan-feast/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “boodle fight,” a shared meal together\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. No utensils, just hands. It’s an interesting way of eating, since it’s very primal, but also offers space for a different kind of connection. That’s something I’d like to experiment with but not with the food truck. Our vision with that is to set up an event at a park and essentially put the banana leaves out, the decor, and do private events for small groups of friends. It could be weird if you do that with a complete stranger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>That sounds amazing. You also recently hosted San Jose’s first lumpia eating contest. Is there any chance we’ll see that again?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CHRIS:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’m the one who wants to do it every week [laughs]. We want to bring it back. My idea is to do a “champions league” lumpia eating contest. Champions from different events, from different parts of San Jose. But that’s still a dream in the conceptual stage. You do the math and you’re like, man, eating that much lumpia? We can do that. But then you see it, and it’s actually kind of hard to do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANTHONY:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’ve talked about doing it again. But with more than just pork lumpia, since that’s limiting for some people’s diet. We want to try to do something with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">E-40’s Lumpia Company\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That would be dope to do something bigger featuring their lumpia and hosted by us. That’s just me putting that out into the universe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mestizo food truck pops up at various events around the South Bay. Their next appearance at La Pulga (1590 Berryessa Rd., San Jose) will be for the flea market’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://gardenattheflea.com/event/bnm-taco-night-of-innovation/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taco Night of Innovation\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on Fri., Aug. 18. For updates, follow Mestizo \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/westaymixin/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">on Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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