Just in time for Prescott Market\u2019s first anniversary, FOB West has joined the lineup of food vendors. Janice Dulce\u2019s FOB Kitchen started as a pop-up in 2015, three years before opening in Temescal. Although Dulce wasn\u2019t looking for another location, a friend of theirs who lives in West Oakland told them they should check the place out. \u201cSo then I go, and I fell in love with the space,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Dulce told me the new menu is more playful at the second location. \u201cThe FOB Kitchen menu is 100% Filipino,\u201d they said. \u201cFOB West is an homage to the places I grew up.\u201d Nods to Guam include red rice, chicken kelaguen and dipping sauces like finadene, which is made with soy sauce and hot chili peppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also grew up in San Jose, in the 408,\u201d Dulce said. \u201cThis past weekend we just put tacos on the menu.\u201d The chef now makes vegan jackfruit adobo tacos and beef cheeks adobo, which come with Oaxacan cheese and a birria-inspired consomm\u00e9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shanghai lumpia\u2014with pork, carrots and water chestnuts\u2014has graced the menu since the pop-up started. \u201cIt\u2019s crunchy. It\u2019s fried. It\u2019s delicious. It\u2019s portable,\u201d the chef said. \u201cIt\u2019s the first thing at a \u2018handaan\u2019 buffet table, which is a Filipino party. You can grab a lumpia and take a bite of it while you\u2019re filling your plate, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
The recipe is, word for word, Dulce\u2019s grandmother\u2019s. The chef, who\u2019d been serving tables at Bar Crudo and Out the Door, decided to take a trip to the Philippines in 2015 to really pay attention to their grandmother\u2019s cooking. \u201cI\u2019m having a grand opening on April 1, and my grandma\u2019s going to be there. She\u2019s 96,\u201d Dulce said. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting that she\u2019ll be able to see the second location, because she taught me how to roll lumpia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pancit, a bowl of glass noodles with carrots, cabbage and green beans, is another dish Dulce\u2019s been making since the pop-up. I tried it at Prescott and ate the entire bowl. Usually the dish is made with chicken or pork broth, but the chef makes a version of the dish that\u2019s 100% vegan.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people that would come in to try my food, vegans or vegetarians, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, I can\u2019t eat Filipino food because there aren\u2019t many options,\u2019\u201d Dulce said. The chef makes FOB\u2019s pancit with roasted vegetables, kombu and a homemade vegetable stock. Carnivores, Dulce said, like it too and haven\u2019t asked why there\u2019s no meat in it.<\/p>\n
Dulce\u2019s fiesta plate is another \u201cplayful\u201d dish on FOB West\u2019s menu. \u201cIt\u2019s a play on a holiday party plate if you were to go to my family\u2019s house,\u201d they said. \u201cThere\u2019s dipping sauce, rice, a mixed-green salad, a protein and a potato or macaroni salad.\u201d Serving food at the Prescott is also less formal than at FOB Kitchen. \u201cIt\u2019s gotta be one plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Dulce first started to cook professionally, Filipino restaurants were harder to find than they are now. The chef said the food was primarily available at family parties, pop-ups and at restaurants with turo-turo steam tables. \u201cTuro-turo means \u2018pick-pick\u2019 or \u2018choose-choose\u2019\u2014there wasn\u2019t much besides those places,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I opened my restaurant, I wanted to do something different,\u201d Dulce said. At the time there were \u201ccool\u201d Thai and Italian restaurants but not Filipino ones. \u201cLike a place where you can bring your friends and they\u2019re playing cool music and there\u2019s a really cool ambiance and decor.\u201d At FOB Kitchen, Dulce wanted Filipinos and Filipino Americans to feel proud about bringing themselves and their friends in to introduce them to the food.<\/p>\n
Filipino restaurants such as The Sarap Shop, Abac\u00e1 and Tropa have since opened throughout the Bay Area. \u201cI have a bunch of friends in the Filipino restaurant world,\u201d Dulce said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of all of them, and I\u2019m happy to be a part of the whole community. And I still haven\u2019t tried Tropa yet, and I need to.\u201d<\/p>\n