{"id":105265,"date":"2025-04-24T15:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T20:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=105265"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:05:29","slug":"listen-chicagos-filipino-food-scene-continues-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/listen-chicagos-filipino-food-scene-continues-to-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"LISTEN: Chicago&#8217;s Filipino food scene continues to grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Layna Hong<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Chicago&#039;s Filipino food scene continues to grow by MedillReports\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2081316093&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;maxwidth=800\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>HOST INTRO: <\/strong>A Pew Research Center study finds only 1% of Asian restaurants in America serve Filipino food. But in Chicago, Filipino restaurants are growing in both number and influence.<\/p>\n<p>Layna Hong has more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> Saturdays at Umaga Bakehouse in Albany Park are chaotic. People file into the bakery, loading up on Filipino breads. But many are on a mission for the bakery\u2019s weekends-only special. Bakery owner Kissel Fagaragan says se\u00f1orita bread is similar to traditional Spanish bread.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FAGARAGAN: SO THAT ONE HAS A THICK BUTTER FILLING, BIGGER. SE\u00d1ORITA BREAD IS JUST LIKE THE LITTLE SISTER TO IT. THEY\u2019RE SMALLER, THE BUTTER IS MELTED. SO WHEN YOU EAT IT, IT\u2019S KIND OF LIKE A MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH KIND OF THING. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> Umaga Bakehouse opened last spring, making them part of the growing wave of Filipino restaurants in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FAGARAGAN: THAT\u2019S WHY WE OPENED, BECAUSE OF ALL THE RESTAURANTS THAT ARE GETTING, LIKE, RECOGNITION, LIKE YOU KNOW, BOONIE\u2019S<\/strong><strong> OR BAYAN KO<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> I counted at least 30 Filipino food spots in the city. Many of them, like Umaga, Boonie\u2019s and Bayan Ko, opened within the last five years.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, there\u2019s Kasama, which opened in 2020. It\u2019s almost impossible to talk about Filipino food in Chicago without mentioning the East Ukrainian Village spot. The line is out the door every weekend. Every food honor you can think of, James Beard, Michelin star, Bib Gourmand \u2026 they\u2019ve earned it.<\/p>\n<p>To add to its reputation, Kasama was featured on the show \u201cThe Bear.\u201d In the episode, Ayo Edebiri\u2019s character, Sydney, is looking for inspiration in Chicago\u2019s restaurants. Kasama is her first stop.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TAPE FROM \u201cTHE BEAR\u201d: CAN I GET THE BREAKFAST SANDWICH WITH LONGANIZA AND ALSO CAN I GET A HASH BROWN? I\u2019LL ALSO HAVE THE MUSHROOM ADOBO AND ONE OF THOSE MANGO TARTS \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> In 2012, Kristine Subido brought a new approach to Filipino cuisine to the city with her chicken restaurant Pecking Order.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SUBIDO: YEAH, I WAS WAY TOO AHEAD OF THE CURVE WHEN THAT HAPPENED \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> Pecking Order was in Uptown and the first of its kind at the time. Subido combined her classical training with Filipino cuisine to create unique dishes like fried Italian rice balls stuffed with coconut chicken adobo. She says her approach confused many people who came into her restaurant expecting traditional Filipino food.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SUBIDO: WHEN YOU\u2019RE KIND OF LIKE THE FIRST ONE TO DO IT, IT\u2019S SCARY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, YOU KNOW, YOU <\/strong><strong>HAVE TO CONVINCE PEOPLE.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> Pecking Order closed after two years. Subido says it\u2019s great there are now so many chefs showing how diverse Filipino food is.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SUBIDO: WE&#8217;RE SO MUCH MORE THAN UBE, PANCIT, LUMPIA, YOU KNOW, WE&#8217;RE JUST SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> This Filipino food moment doesn\u2019t come as a surprise to those in the food world. Here\u2019s award winning chef and TV food personality Andrew Zimmern in an interview from 2017.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ZIMMERN: I THINK FILIPINO FOOD IS \u2014 YOU KNOW, I\u2019VE BEEN CALLING IT FOR FIVE YEARS \u2014 IT\u2019S GONNA KEEP GETTING MORE AND MORE POPULAR.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> It makes sense why Filipino food has become so big in Chicago. Filipinos are the second largest Asian ethnic group in Illinois, and they mostly live in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. And the state\u2019s Filipino population has only been growing in the last few years.<\/p>\n<p>At Umaga Bakehouse, many customers have never tried se\u00f1orita bread \u2026 even those who grew up with Filipino food, like Vernalynne De La Rosa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DE LA ROSA: I\u2019VE NEVER SEEN IT, AT LEAST IT\u2019S NOT SOMETHING THAT\u2019S ON MY RADAR.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> She opens a box of the ube-filled se\u00f1orita breads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DE LA ROSA: IT\u2019S THE SOFT JAM IN THE MIDDLE, AND ITS WRAPPED, SO IT\u2019S HARD ON THE OUTSIDE, SOFT AND GOOEY IN THE MIDDLE \u2014 OH MY GOD, IT\u2019S FREAKING PHENOMENAL. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>HONG:<\/strong> She and her mother buy two dozen\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n<p>Layna Hong, Albany Park, Medill Reports.<\/p>\n<p><em>Host intro credit: Christopher Pennant for Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Layna Hong is a graduate student at Medill in the social justice and solutions specialization. Find her on X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/laynanhong\">@laynanhong<\/a> or Instagram <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/laynareports\">@laynareports<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Layna Hong Medill Reports HOST INTRO: A Pew Research Center study finds only 1% of Asian restaurants in America serve Filipino food. But in Chicago, Filipino restaurants are growing in both number and influence. Layna Hong has more. HONG: Saturdays at Umaga Bakehouse in Albany Park are chaotic. People file into the bakery, loading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1009,"featured_media":105266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,27,5251,5542,5493],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-business","category-chicago","category-msj25","category-spring-2025"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LISTEN: Chicago&#039;s Filipino food scene continues to grow - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Pew Research Center study finds only 1% of Asian restaurants in America serve Filipino food. 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