At Barrio Fiesta on 4420 Eagle Rock Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041
The restaurant offers popular dishes such as Pancit, Lumpia, Kare Kare, and Pinakbet.
They also specialize in my favorite dessert, Halo Halo!
Which means "mix mix," it is a blend of shaved ice, ice cream, milk, and sweet beans.
What surprised me most was the colorful atmosphere. When you step into the restaurant, you are instantly hit with rich reds, yellows, greens, and blues. All of the decorations that adorn the walls explain a different dimension of Filipino culture. One mirror display showed Catholic Filipinos, while the other showed Muslim Filipinos. It can be a great conversation starter with your family or friends.
A surprising thing about Barrio Fiesta is that it aims to strengthen ties between the Filipino American community and foreign born Filipinos. On Saturday, the 13th, they held a charity poker game, "All in for giving," where half of the winnings would be donated to the Damacsus Foundation Inc., a school and feeding center for poor and malnourished children in the Philippines.
The next tournament will be this Friday, the 19th.
You may be wondering, why are Filipino restaurants so few and far between, when Filipinos are the second largest Asian group in America, following close behind the Chinese. (According to the US Cenus)
Well first off, all successful Filipino restaurants in America were imported from the Philippines. Barrio Fiesta, Goldilocks, Jollibee, and Red Ribbon all originated from the Philippines and are wildly popular. That is why Filipino Americans who want to open a restaurant have a difficult time, because of the competition from foreign imported restaurants. Secondly, most Filipinos believe in forgoing business endeavors that are financially stable, and the restaurant business doesn't provide that luxury.
While the restaurant business may be unstable, there isn't a lack of Chinese restaurants in America.
So you must ask yourself this...
If Filipino Americans are hesitant to open restuarants why don't Chinese Americans share this same hesitation?
3 comments:
mmmmmmm lets learn tagalog.
i wanna start a blog too.
Now you just have to help me find a good Mexican restaurant in D.C. cause so far I've had no luck.
-Adolfo
Hi Jackie - learned about your blog from Tita Baby's e-mail. Having fun reading it. BTW, did you know that Toym did the decor for that Barrio Fiesta? :-) I'll tell him when he wakes up that you've been there.
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