Pinoy cuisine big hit at SF Street Food Fesitval

SAN FRANCISCO – Over 50,000 people attended the seventh annual San Francisco Street Food Festival to get a taste of various cuisines offered by over 100 food vendors.

People lined up in front of Filipino stands where they got freshly-made Pinoy favorite meals.

Lumpia may be known as an appetizer but Chefs Alex Retodo and Eric Pascual of the Lumpia Company transformed it into an entree.

They took well known dishes and rolled them into lumpias, creating a bacon cheeseburger lumpia and an apple pie lumpia a la mode.

“This is what we like to do. We like to cook with our friends, have a good time, and share Filipino food with everybody all around the world,” said Retodo.

“I’m glad to see all the happy faces after that put that lumpia in their mouth and just take that first bite out of it. It’s been great to get that experience,” said Pascual.

And then there were those who stuck to traditional Pinoy dishes like lechon.

At Dennis Villafranca’s Jeepney Guy stand they were treated to boneless lechon served over garlic pancit noodles.

“People love the lechon,” said Villafranca. “It is our number one seller and it feels good to kind of introduce it to them. They like call it a porchetta and I say nope that is not a porchetta it’s a lechon. It’s 100 percent Filipino.”

San Juan native Jay Dava grew up loving Filipino street food and now he shares it with Americans through chicken and pork skewers from Antoniks BBQ.

“As much as I love seeing fellow Filipinos enjoy our food it makes my heart that much bigger when I see other nationalities enjoying our food,” said Dava.

And finally Jason Angeles of Frozen Kuhsterd is offering a new take on the popular Filipino dessert.

His creation is a “churro” kouign amann sandwich which is a caramelized croissant drizzled with cinnamon sugar and with frozen custard in the middle.

Angeles also offered a shot of vanilla bean custard to be dropped in root beer.

Angeles and the other Pinoy chefs agree that Filipino cuisine is becoming more and more popular in the mainstream.

“I see it as a way of sharing my story and who I am. I was born here but I’m very proud of where my parents are from and that’s how I represent being Filipino,” said Angeles.

“All of us love sharing our experience with the food and that’s kind of what it’s about,” said Villafranca.

“All of us have long lines. It’s amazing,” said Retodo. “We’re representing and [Filipino food] is here to stay.”