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On this week's episode, we have chef Nikko Cagalanan. Born and raised in the Philippines. Nikko grew up in a family that loved food. His dad cooked. His aunt cooked. And his grandmother, Mansueta, cooked. Sure, he didn’t always want to be in the kitchen, but food was an integral part of their family.
Eventually, he moved to the United States, landing in Massachusetts. Cooking wasn’t his career back then. Nursing was. But, like many of us who feel the kitchen calling us, Nikko decided he wanted to start a career in cooking. With no formal training, he essentially had to start at the bottom.
You’ll hear the story of how he got his start, and eventually launched his own pop-up. If you’re someone who’s thought about starting one, Nikko will share how he did it, and some things to consider. We also talk about collaborations and his recent appearance on the show Chopped where he had to cook pork uterus, among other bizarre food items.
NIKKO CAGALANAN
Nikko’s Instagram
Mansueta’s Instagram
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Over the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap. Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.
USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.
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I love Filipino food. In fact, I'm getting hungry right now just thinking about it. Today I've chef Nikko Cagalanan of Mansueta's Filipino food, the pop up he's currently running in Charleston, South Carolina. If you want to hear about how he brought this pop up to life, and how he recently won chopped cooking, pork uterus, stick around. My name is Chris spear. And I'm the host of Chefs Without Restaurants the program where I speak with culinary entrepreneurs and people working in the food and beverage industry outside of a traditional restaurant setting. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nico grew up in a family that loves food. His Dad cooked, his aunt cooked, and his grandmother men Sweta cooked. Sure, he didn't always want to be in the kitchen. He was a kid enjoying doing typical kid stuff. But food was an integral part of their family. Eventually, he moved to the United States landing in Massachusetts. Cooking wasn't his career back then, nursing was. But like many of us who feel the kitchen calling us Nico decided he wanted to start a career in cooking. With no formal training, he essentially had to start at the bottom, you'll hear the story of how he got his start and eventually launched his own pop up. If you're someone who has thought about starting one, Nikko shares how he did it and some things to consider. We also talked about collaborations and his reason appearance on the show chopped where he had to cook pork uterus among other bizarre items. So I'm keeping the intros short and sweet. Just a quick reminder that I love connecting with people on the internet. So find me at Chefs Without Restaurants on Instagram, or go to chefs without restaurants.org For more info. And this is the part of the show where I talk about sponsors. This show is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors. If you go to chefs without restaurants.com, forward slash sponsors, you're going to find all the info on our current sponsors, previous sponsors and affiliate partners, with the affiliate partners. All that means is those are products that I use and love. And if you click on the links in my profile, I'm gonna get a small commission when you buy stuff. But I'm most thankful for our podcast audio ad sponsors. So before this week's episode starts, you're going to hear from the United States personal chef Association. Thanks so much and have a great week. Over the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill those dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap. Central to all of that is the United States personal chef Association, representing nearly 1000 chefs around the US and Canada. USPCA provides a strategic backbone to those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It's a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal. USPTA provides training to become a personal chef through our preparatory membership. Looking to showcase your products or services to our chefs and their clients. partnership opportunities are available. Call Angela today at 1-800-995-2138. Extension 705. Or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info. Hey, Chef, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for coming on.
Nikko Cagalanan:Hey, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Chris Spear:I can't wait to talk to you about some delicious food today. I haven't had your food yet. But it looks really good based on your Instagram profile.
Nikko Cagalanan:Thank you. I can't wait for you to visit Charleston. One of my favorite places. We're just talking about that. I didn't get down there this summer. But I'm hoping that next summer, so maybe like six months from now. We'll be down there. Cool. Please, please let me know. Yeah, I would love to like bring you to some places here too. Well, I usually start the show by getting your culinary backstory, your origin story, if you will, as it relates to food and cooking. So I want to hear a little bit about your background. You're growing up. Did you always love food? Did you love cooking? I know you were born and raised in the Philippines. So kind of let's start there. Yeah, so the funny thing is, I hated being in the kitchen when I was young. And my my grandmother, my aunt, my dad, my dad is a great cook. They will always be in the kitchen and I will always be trying to get out of the house and trying to get out of the kitchen. When you're a kid you really want to be out and about and like playing games with your friends not like doing chores in the kitchen. So that was like me when I was a kid. But I grew up watching my grandma, my my dad my aunt cook every day. And that's when I was trying to learn how to cook Filipino food. That's how it was easy for me to remember everything because like I grew up watching the
Unknown:Um, cook. Fortunately, I'm lucky my dad loves to cook. And he makes a really mean like soups, like any soup that I wanted. So every time I go home to the Philippines, that's the first thing I would ask him is like to make me any soups. Yeah. So I mean, usually it's like, woman is the one cooking in the Philippines. But I'm lucky to have my dad be also like cooking and being involved in the kitchen.
Chris Spear:What's one of your favorite soups?
Unknown:It's called cine gun, which is like a summer, tamarind sour soup. With like pork belly, some radish, eggplant, and some water spinach. Via is like the first thing I asked him every single time I go home, it's like missing the gun. Like the fatter you are the pork belly, the better. Like the green. Like when you see the grease, like floating on top, the better.
Chris Spear:That's the good stuff right there. I haven't had it in a while. But I know what you're talking about. And I do love it.
Unknown:I haven't been home in four years. Because of COVID. But um, might go home next year and just like, be home.
Chris Spear:When did you move over to the United States?
Unknown:I moved here 2011. From Philippines to Massachusetts.
Chris Spear:So you're missing the cold weather right now. Right about now.
Unknown:Definitely not hate the snow. Yeah, but Charleston
Chris Spear:has that humidity and all those gnats? Just the gnats alone? I don't know if I could live down there.
Unknown:Yeah. I mean, you're right, though.
Chris Spear:How did you transition into what you're doing now? Which is cooking professionally? Where was that? How did that transition start?
Unknown:Probably almost eight years now. So I used to be, I used to be a nurse. I graduated nursing, nursing school in the Philippines, and then move here in the States and then work in nursing home in Massachusetts. And then I really miss Filipino food the way I remember in the fall in in my house. And I just started trying to I just started cooking and like trying to learn how to cook Filipino food. Just watching YouTube. And just like reading cookbooks, it started from being like a home cook for me. And then I wanted to like expand my I want to learn more. So I was like, I asked one of my friends if they know a restaurant that would hire a chef or a cook that's has zero experience. And luckily, he said yes. So I transitioned to from doing I actually did both job for like almost a year like 73 nursing home, three to 11. Restaurant. Now that's a rough grind. Yeah, it was. But it was fun. Because now I was like trying to figure out which direction I want to go. And then I just decided to like, quit nursing and like fully commit to cooking.
Chris Spear:So what kind of restaurant was that? What were they serving?
Unknown:It was a British pub in Franklin, Massachusetts. It's called British beer company. That was my first restaurant experience. I was there for like a month and a half. And I was like, I'm not really learning anything in here. And then I started like, Googling and like researching where should I go next? Like, what's the best restaurant in my town? What's the best restaurant in my city, or like the next city. So I did that. And then I from that first restaurant I went to zebra Bistro, where I work with a chef that works for Jamie Bissonnette and Ken oranger
Chris Spear:I love those guys there. They have some of my favorite restaurants. My one of my best meals ever was at Toro. Jaime is just awesome. And the people who've cooked for them have gone on to do some wonderful things as well.
Unknown:Yeah, especially this guy that I worked for. His name is Andrew gross. And he's super talented. A lot of like, with the Toro that restaurant. They do a lot of like, sugary and curing stuff. So my chef, kind of like did that in the restaurant. We were working together. Yeah, it was a fun experience for sure. That was like probably the probably my first real restaurant experience where everything is like made from scratch. And then I fell in love.
Chris Spear:So you were just getting really solid on the job training, learning how to cook just by throwing yourself into it.
Unknown:Yeah, I was just like, if a want to learn stuff and like if I want to be the best, I want to, like work for like the best people. I didn't want to settle, settle for like just an okay restaurant. So I keep like looking for like the next, like the next best thing.
Chris Spear:But at the same time you were still kind of working on your own to get your Filipino cooking kind of to the next level.
Unknown:This time. I haven't even like, figure out that
Chris Spear:yet. You weren't even there. You're just trying to build your cooking skills. Yeah,
Unknown:that's like this time, I'm just like trying to like build the basic fundamentals of like cooking, like how to use a knife, how to use the Vitamix and Robo coup, and other stuff. Like how to make like a salad Vinogradov and those those basic stuff and like how to season your salad and stuff. My first test, my chef asked me to, like make him like, a medium burger. And I was just like, I didn't know how to do it. But I I acted like 100% like know how to do it. I was like, Yeah, I got you. I got you. And I don't actually don't remember how I did. It's probably not good.
Chris Spear:I think steak and hamburger cooking is actually one of the harder things to do to kind of nail those temperatures, right? It's not like any other thing I say, I can do a lot of stuff. But being a short order burger Cook, not my forte.
Unknown:Yeah, me too. I, I hated it. But it was fine.
Chris Spear:So when did you move down to Charleston? How long have you been there?
Unknown:I moved to Charleston 2018. So, like what I said earlier, I want to learn more. I want to learn from the best people. So I moved here to like venture out Charleston because like Charleston is probably like one of the best city in the country with their food scene. Plus Charleston is just like a really beautiful city.
Chris Spear:So where did you start cooking down there?
Unknown:My first job was at zero George with a chef Vince and petralia. It's a tasting menu restaurant. And it's super inventive. He's super talented. So that day that I started with him. I just I just saw something different. Like, I haven't done this cuisine before. And he offered me the job and I was like, alright, I'll take it. Well, I'd
Chris Spear:love to kind of fast forward to the future and talk about what you're doing now. So I guess what are you doing now for work? You know, having you're having your business your pop up? I kinda want to hear about that.
Unknown:So yeah, after after I did work with Vinson, Patricio zero George. I told him I'm ready to pursue my my, my food, my Filipino food. And I started my pop up early 2019. He like really full on support me like, he wants me to pursue a my food. And I did. Yeah. So now I'm trying to try to represent Filipino food in Charleston. And I think it's, it's been great since I started like, everyone has been super welcoming about my food.
Chris Spear:How did you how did you launch that? What was your first event you did?
Unknown:Just a small pop up at the brewery. I literally brought everything like I brought my my little fryer. I brought my little yakitori grill. I literally like brought everything. So I was in a brewery. It's called Palmetto brewery. That was my first ever pop up. And yeah, it was a great, great one. But like, it's always like hard to figure out the first couple pop ups because like, no one really like knows about it yet. And it was hard in the beginning. But it's Oh, it's all worth it. And then one of city paper charts instead of paper like pick up on it and made an article about me. And after that it's been crazy good and crazy busy.
Chris Spear:That kind of blew it out of the water, huh? Yeah.
Unknown:This community in Charleston is it's it's amazing. Even even the other people that are doing Papa we all like try to support each other and like try to push each other. There's also like a lot of chefs that doing pop up already opened a restaurant in their restaurant from starting pop ups, which is like such an inspiration for me.
Chris Spear:So what's your approach to Filipino cooking? Do you lean towards the side of kind of traditional? Or are you more on the modern contemporary side?
Unknown:In terms of flavors? Yes, traditional, like very authentic, because like I grew up in the Philippines, I know what it should taste like. I don't have any problem, trying to make a Filipino dish and like trying to, not not even trying, but like trying to make it like, authentic as possible. Because like, I know for a fact that the flavor of my food is traditional. But the way I'm plating it is, it's like a more like a modern, like a fine dining approach to it. When when I'm plating it, just because I'm not only like catering to Filipino people, I'm, like, catering to everyone I want people to like to see that like Filipino food can be beautiful as well. And also, like It tastes freakin good.
Chris Spear:So that's something I want to talk about is what's the kind of percentage of people who dine with you Filipino? who are looking for those foods they love versus people who've maybe never had it before? Do you have an idea of kind of your customer makeup?
Unknown:It's probably like 90% non Filipino? Yeah, everyone is 10% Filipino. And the rest is like, Yeah, different.
Chris Spear:Are you surprised to see kind of how Filipino has grown in the mainstream, like, I'd say over the past 1015 years.
Unknown:I'm not really surprised. I just know for a fact. Like, our food is really great. And I know a lot of people is starting to realize that now. And like, now I know a lot of Filipino chef is like really pushing the boundaries of Filipino food in in America, and just not even in America. Also, like in different parts of the world. I think it's just about time that we step up our game, and like, just stay true and legs focused on representing our food. I think that now that's like, what we're what we have to do is like, keep pushing it. Okay, just keep pushing our food.
Chris Spear:I agree. The reason I asked is because my best friend's Filipino, but he's Filipino American grew up in New Jersey, but his parents came over. He was my roommate in culinary school, actually. And we talked, you know, 20 years ago, and he said, Filipino food is never going to be in the mainstream. People who are from the Philippines or our Filipino American are not going to go out to a Filipino restaurant, because they're just gonna make it at home. And the food is maybe a little I don't know, if you use the word weird. And it's just funny to see, you know, in the 20 years since I've known Ryan, now how it's such a big cuisine. I mean, in the DC area alone, we have so many places that are so highly regarded for Filipino cooking. It's really great to see. But you know, I talked to him. And it's like, I don't think he even as a Filipino saw that coming the way it's kind of popped into the mainstream, if you will.
Unknown:I agree with what he said like Filipino people won't go out to pave to a Filipino restaurant. It because they can make it at home. I think that's like a very Filipino thing to say. Yeah, sure.
Chris Spear:All of it. You know, like, if you come from a very big Italian heritage and have grown up cooking it like you're probably not going out for Italian food. Right,
Unknown:right. But yeah, it's it's funny that he said that. Literally. There's also a lot of Filipino in Charleston, like there's there's a small community in Charleston, up in August, great. And I rarely see Filipino people go to my pop ups like the Filipino that's like born and raised in the Philippines. Yeah, I would, I would see some Filipino American go to my papa. And they all love it. Like, a lot of like people, like Filipino American friends of mine has been supporting me to like keep pushing my food. Like, someone made my logo from for my man sweaters for my pop up. Someone did my T shirt also Filipina. They just want to like, make sure that what I'm doing would like last in Charleston and just won't disappear.
Chris Spear:That's really cool. The the outro music I use on my podcast is actually from one of my guests who is Filipino and does Filipino pop ups here in the Baltimore area, and he's actually a musician and music producer. He goes by the name toil monsy. Yeah, we're friends and Instagram, Dylan, who Balto so Dylan was like the fourth person I had on this podcast or something like we went to his recording studio in Baltimore to record and when we were just getting the podcast going he He gave us a bunch of music that he had created. It was just like take whatever you want and use it for intros. outros anything you want.
Unknown:Yeah, that's cool. His name pop ups name is color sock, I think. Yeah, yeah. We talked like before small world. Yeah, I think it's just like if you're doing Filipino pop ups or like Filipino food, people will like those Filipino chef or like really like, started to know you. Like one of one of the chefs I've been looking up since I started my pop up Paulo Dunker from Boogie boy in ye.
Chris Spear:I was just there like, two weeks ago. Really? Yeah, that's funny. Yeah. And he's got you know, he's got a well, he's getting a new place open. It was kind of a pop up in the pokey boy space. Yeah, it looks like he's not too far out from opening his new restaurant.
Unknown:Yeah, I'm super excited for him. He's actually going to be my guest chef. here in Charleston for the Charleston wine and food. Amazing. In March, him and silver from Nick Jr. in Nashville.
Chris Spear:Very cool. I might have to come down for that event. That sounds like it'll be a good time. Yeah,
Unknown:we're doing like a kamayan dinner. It's the first of like a Filipino chefs in Charleston has like a private private dinner or like a private event in Charleston wine and food. And yeah, I couldn't be more excited.
Chris Spear:So what is your plan? Are you looking to turn this into a full time thing brick and mortar all that?
Unknown:I mean, at the end of the day, like I would want to have like a space where I don't have to travel to different places to different restaurants to do my pop up. Like, I would love to have a brick and mortar for sure. At actually like right now. It's in the works right now. But it's still in the early stage. But it's, it's working right now.
Chris Spear:It will so I mean, it's so much work. It's so expensive. There's so many reasons why pop ups seem to work. And you know, I've actually never wanted to have a restaurant, but I love the idea of doing the pop ups.
Unknown:Yeah. There's always like doubts. For me. It's like, I love doing pop ups. Like I don't have to worry about like, what if somebody didn't, this didn't show up, like people called out like this breakdown that breakdown. I don't have to worry about it. Yeah, there's always doubts for me in the beginning. But the more I get deeper in my food in my Filipino culture, the more I really wanted to, like, have a space to showcase more of what Filipino food is, like what Filipino culture is. I want this the I want the space. So people can if they go to my restaurant, they can see like, this is how I'm opening my house to or like, the way my grandmother would always like welcome people when when they walk into her house in the Philippines.
Chris Spear:And what's the name of your pop up? I don't think we actually mentioned that.
Unknown:Oh, it's mon sweaters Filipino food. Man sweaters is the name of my grandmother. That's awesome. Yeah, it's everything I do is from, from the memory of her cooking all the all different dishes like it's a respect for me to like, our homage to her cooking.
Chris Spear:Talking about the pop up. You know, a lot of people listen on the show because they want kind of tactical advice. What are your tips for someone who's listening who maybe is thinking about doing a pop up? Like how to get started some of the challenges you've had? What can you give for words of wisdom?
Unknown:If you're thinking to do a pop up, I mean, it's you you open, you're gonna open a business. Just make sure you you do everything right, you get your LLC, you get those business license, get some liability insurance, just for like, that's like the basic and then moving on to finding finding a location to do your pop up. It's just like talking like, introduce yourself. Tell those restaurant owner or breweries or wine bars, like talk to them, introduce yourself what you're trying to do. Be confident that you can like, pull it off. I'm 100% sure is going to be hard in the first in the beginning. But if you just keep pushing, it's going to be worth it.
Chris Spear:So how many people work with you?
Unknown:When we do like a full restaurant takeover? I usually run with for fun of the house and three back of the house plus a day dishwasher. But also that's the always like varies, like, how big is the menu, and like, how big is the restaurant, there's so many different aspects that could change everything, like from your menu, menu size to the restaurant size. That's how I usually staff it, depending on the size of the restaurant, and depending on the size of my menu,
Chris Spear:which is the same as kind of how I work it with a personal chef. I mean, every night, I'm going into someone else's kitchen, different setup, they've got different amounts of counter space, you have different customer counts, you know, when you have to plan accordingly and be able to think on your toes, right?
Unknown:Yeah. And like, when when I do my pop up, I would visit that restaurant or brewery or wine bar and see how their how their kitchen is set up. The so that way I can like, smartly. Plan my menu from what what they have in that kitchen. Like I don't write my main menu. Unless I know the kitchen setup.
Chris Spear:Yeah, I think that's one of the most challenging because I get that a lot of people wanting to do an event at say, a winery and it's like, I have some stuff I can bring with me. But you know, it's not the same as working in a real like, preexisting kitchen that's there all the time.
Unknown:Doing pop ups and like going to different kitchen helps me prepare myself with that chop that I did eight months ago.
Chris Spear:Yeah, talking about that. So you were on Chopped. How did you do?
Unknown:Great. I won. Whoa, yeah. I still cannot believe it. That it was a great experience. But like, just just being in that show. It's just like, that's a winner already.
Chris Spear:Is that something you'd wanted to do? Being on a cooking show? Like, how did you end up on the show?
Unknown:I didn't really expect to be in the cooking show in television. It's funny, they messaged me on Instagram. And I thought it was fake. So I didn't look it up. I just open it. And I was like Ha this is this is a scam. So I like the following week. I was like I look it up again. I opened the message and I started like researching who's that person that messaged me. And I was like, Shit, I think this is legit. So I kind of like email them right away. I was like, well, I'll do it. Yeah, let's let's do it. What what do you guys need from me? I literally like was freaking out because like, I was such a huge fan of chop. That was like one of the first cooking show that I started watching since I got here in the US.
Chris Spear:What was one of the dishes you had to make? Do you remember all the dishes you made on that show?
Unknown:Yeah, I made poor kidney, Adobo. Poor kidney
Chris Spear:Adobo. Wow. Were you given pork kidneys? Was that one of the ingredients?
Unknown:Yeah, so the theme of the episode was bizarre food. Oh, cool. Yeah. So every of the weird stuff. So on the first round, it was like the weirdest one was like pork uterus.
Chris Spear:I don't think I've ever cooked or eaten uterus. I have no idea what I would do with that.
Unknown:Yeah, that's yeah, that's literally what I was thinking like, I don't know what to do with this. And then the second round was a beef kidney. Not poor kidney. Yeah, beef kidneys, cardoons, which I never used before. It looks like celery, but it's not. Rooster testicle was weird, too.
Chris Spear:I didn't even realize. I mean, it makes sense. But I don't know that I've ever seen rooster testicles. They're big. They really went bizarre on this one.
Unknown:Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about it. The under desert round two. They they throw in crickets on the desert. I was like, Damn,
Chris Spear:I'm gonna have to find this episode because I know I've not seen it. It's a fun one. So are you currently cooking anywhere else or just doing your own thing?
Unknown:I'm just doing a full time pop up right now. I've done a lot of like traveling across the East Coast, doing collaboration with different chefs. I'm actually going to Asheville next week to collaborate with Luis Martinez, which is like He's like one of the best chefs in Nashville. He does well how can pop up in Nashville.
Chris Spear:That's one of my favorite places. We were down there last summer right before we went to Charleston we did to Asheville and Charleston on the same trip and I only had two days there definitely not enough time to eat through the city but really enjoyed it while I was there.
Unknown:It I love it there as like, not too far from Charleston. So the drive is great and the view when you are Almost in Asheville, it's just beautiful. I enjoy it every time.
Chris Spear:Maybe I shouldn't admit to not knowing my geography. I didn't even realize how close Tennessee was to there. Because when we, when we usually drive to Charleston, it's straight just to Charleston. So we go down like 95. Five, yeah. But we decided we're going to Asheville first and I was sleeping, and my wife was driving. And then she woke me up in a panic and said, We just crossed into Tennessee, and I woke up kind of like, not even realizing what was going on. I'm like, What do you mean, we're in Tennessee, we're going to Asheville. And then I looked at the map, I was like, Oh, shit, how about that? We're just gonna, we're gonna be in Tennessee for about half an hour. So, you know, maybe maybe I need to study my US geography a little better.
Unknown:Yeah, I might do that, too.
Chris Spear:What do you like for culinary resources? You know, I'd like to find out. Are there cookbooks? Or there are websites? Like how are you staying? You know, inspired, I guess?
Unknown:When I do collaboration with people, just listening to their stories, and why they're doing it and like, what's keeping them inspired of what, why they're pushing their food that helps me do the same and like, helps me just keep pushing what I'm what I'm doing.
Chris Spear:I think travel and eating is a great way to be inspired for sure. And, you know, collaboration, how do you choose who you want to collaborate with? Are you just reaching out to people? Are they reaching out to you? What does that look like?
Unknown:Vice versa, the same? I mean, if I'm interested to someone or somebody's cuisine, I just message him and like, tell them my stories. And that I'm really wanting to do a collaboration with them. It always ends up really well. It always happens to like we always do it. Like we always end up doing that collaboration. I just just always be genuine when you're telling your stories. Hmm,
Chris Spear:that's great advice. Well, you know, 2023 is probably on a lot of people's minds. Are you a goal setter? And if so, what are you hoping to accomplish in 2023?
Unknown:Yeah, I can't believe it's almost 2023. I think for 2023, it's just gonna be the same for me, I'm just gonna be I'm just gonna keep pushing myself. Just trying to represent my food here in Charleston, and just also just here, just across the country. Also, I'm hoping that the restaurant is going to be open by then. I'll welcome you when you go to Charleston. Yeah, I would love to cook for you one day. I would
Chris Spear:love that. Well, what does it mean to you to be a chef, this is something I ask all of my guests these days.
Unknown:That's so deep. I mean, for me, being a chef is I think it's always like mentoring other other people. If you're not willing to teach other people that want to know about what I'm doing. That's, that's not really like being a chef. I think it's all about like, teaching and like, informing other people. What my intention is, and like, what my dishes history, and what I'm doing.
Chris Spear:I love that. You know, I hear you saying teaching, because I think that is so important.
Unknown:Yeah, yeah, I think just just being a really good mentor, or like T teacher will, like, bring you places. And one thing too is like, I think a chef should be a storyteller. Like, especially with, if you're representing a culture, you should be a storyteller.
Chris Spear:How do you tell stories with your food? Are you talking to your guests? What does that look like? Because I've talked to a number of my guests on the podcast about that is, you know, this dish means something to me. But if I don't verbally convey that or convey it in a written form, then the customer might not get that. How are you communicating that story besides just putting down a plate of food?
Unknown:Yeah. So every time I do a pop up, I make sure that I go out in the dining room and I make sure I talked to everyone. I just want to make sure that everyone's that everyone that's coming to my pop up, knows what my story is, and like, how did they How did they come up with this dish? And like, what's my sweater Like, where did that come from? Like, nobody really knows the name and sweaters until I told them, it's my grandmother's. Yeah, it's very important to like, tell them your story personally, instead of like your server like going there. For me, it's like, a little personal touch.
Chris Spear:And you know, like, adding the context helps a lot. And you don't usually get that necessarily in a restaurant, even if your server introduces a dish. You know, like, right now I'm going through a period where I'm going through a lot of my mom's old recipes and my grandmother's recipes, and, you know, tinkering with them. I'm making them their way, but then I'm kind of putting my spins on it. But if I just serve it to you, and just like, drop a plate of food, it doesn't mean anything. You're like, oh, this is fine. You know, what is that about, but to say, like, Oh, this is the first dish I ever learned to cook for my mom. And I've cooked it dozens of times. But now this is how I've kind of adjusted it to make it my own like, that gives a much different impact than just plunking a plate of food down in front of someone.
Unknown:I 100% agree. I do that every single time I do a pop up. I just made sure I I told the story of the dish. And like how, how my grandmother is connected to all the debts that everyone's eating. I just love like telling that stories. I just want to keep telling that story is every time I do a pop up.
Chris Spear:When you do your pop ups. How often does your menu change? Like are you serving the same things over and over at different pop ups? Are you switching it up all the time?
Unknown:I'm switching it up all the time, but an exception for lumpia. So always lumpia always lumpia there's always lumpia in the menu. Yeah, I can't get rid of it.
Chris Spear:Are there any other fan favorites? Like do you get a feeling for what people really love the most?
Unknown:Ah, pork adobo is always a hit. Punch. It is always a hit. ceasing. Surprisingly like everybody loves seasick. It's crazy. So seasick is Anthony Bourdain, his favorite Filipino dish made of pig's head. You brace the pig's head for a few hours, and then you get you take all the good parts. This now the ears, the cheeks, and you die set up and then you you cook it again. In a wok, with a lot of aromatics. And you serve it in a sizzling platter. That's pretty much it.
Chris Spear:Do you remember the first time he cooked a pig's head? Yeah, because usually everyone remembers their first time I sure do.
Unknown:Yeah. So my, my grandma mon suada. She used to, we used to raise pigs, by we means she used to raise pigs. And oh my god, this is a brutal story. I remember. One morning, my dad and his friends was like trying to kill a pig outside the house using a baseball bat.
Chris Spear:Oh my god. Yeah,
Unknown:it was a terrible sound. It's a nightmare. It's it's yeah, it's only good. I have to delete that in my memory. Actually.
Chris Spear:Can I leave it in the podcast?
Unknown:Yeah. It's be Yeah, it gives me PTSD right now. But yeah, it's a fun memory. But it's like not like it's a nightmare one but it just thinking of it. Now. It's, it's funny.
Chris Spear:That's much different than my first experience. Mine was I went to, you know, like a butcher shop and asked for just a head and they gave me a head and a bag. I didn't have to deal with any of that other stuff.
Unknown:Yeah, this one is like from Yeah. head to tail for sure. When he's still alive. Yeah.
Chris Spear:Well, I can't wait to get down to Charleston. Like I said, it will probably be sometime next year. I hope.
Unknown:Yeah. Next summer, please let me know. Yeah, I'll keep you posted. I'll send you the link on chop, so you can watch it. And then yeah, and then be grossed out?
Chris Spear:And where do you want people to follow you online? What's the best place to get in contact with you?
Unknown:I have two Instagram account, which is one of my businesses, man sweaters Filipino food. And then Nick aka Lenin on personal.
Chris Spear:Awesome. I always link all that in the show notes. So it'll be really easy for our listeners to find. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. It was great talking to you.
Unknown:Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me. I've been such a I feel like I've been following you for two years now. And I've been such a huge fan.
Chris Spear:Well, that's great to hear. I love that. You know, I really wanted to build a community around the podcast and not just have it be you know me talking to random people. Well, I never interacting with listeners and, you know, I want to I want to build community. That's what's most important to me.
Unknown:Yeah. That's you. You're You're doing great. Yeah, I can't believe I mean your podcast now.
Chris Spear:You're kind of famous now. Yes, to God. And to all of our listeners, thanks for listening. This has been Chris with the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. Go to chefs without restaurants.org To find our Facebook group, mailing list and Chef database. The community's free to join. You'll get gig opportunities, advice on building and growing your business and you'll never miss an episode of our podcast. Have a great week.
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