Get extended access to 1600+ episodes, binge watch your favorite shows, and stream anytime - online or in the PBS app.
Already a Valley PBS member?
You may have an unactivated Valley PBS Passport member benefit. Check to see.
12/23/2019 | 54m 41s | Video has closed captioning.
Host Marcus Samuelsson goes to Seattle, where he spends time with immigrant and second-generation Filipinos who are taking charge of their city's food scene. As Filipino food gains more national, mainstream recognition, members of the community are working to tell the story on their own terms.
Aired: 12/23/19
- I'm coming to Seattle.
Don't know anything about Filipino food.
What are some of the musts?
- [Aaron] This is Batangueno bulalo.
- [Domingo] Kare-kare.
- [Sarah] Arroz caldo.
- Mm.
Is this lechon?
- [Geo] That's the crown jewel right there.
- Mm, its like candy.
Oh, what do we got here?
Talk to me.
What, we're goin' straight in?
- [Domingo] Oh, we're going right on top.
- What?!
I'm looking for the menu.
Where's the menu?
- I don't have a menu (Marcus laughing) 'cause I cook what I want.
- Seattle's small.
Even if you're not Filipino, chances are you got a Filipino friend.
- Why do you think Seattle became such a hub?
- 'Cause of the fishing.
(both laugh) - Now it's like the next big cuisine.
This is so good, man.
But when you taste Filipino food, you taste the history.
- 500 years of Spanish rule, the Chinese influences even before that.
- And the American gave you a spam.
Yeah, yeah, great.
(everyone laughs) That's really great.
- We can show lineage through our food but do it with Seattle ingredients.
- Doin' your own personal spin on it.
Nothing could be more hip-hop than that.
(Chera laughs) - [Melissa] We're goin' for the pho.
- There's such a depth in the community here.
Layers of different type of food, different generation.
I love that.
- [Melissa] That's so Filipino.
(laughs) - [Chera] It has to be in the stories.
It has to be sharing who you are.
- [All] Cheers!
- [Aaron] If there's not a table packed with food, - What?!
- [Aaron] Then somethin' is not right, for sure.
- [Marcus] Yeah!
(alarm beeping) We knew it!
(everyone laughs) Knew it!
- [Marcus] I'm Chef Marcus Samuelsson, and as an immigrant born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, food to me has always told a deeper, more personal story.
It's a path to culture, identity, and history.
(hip-hop music) Join me on a new journey across the country to learn more about America's immigrant communities through culinary traditions to see how food connects us all.
(hip-hop music) (funky hip-hop music) - [Marcus] Seattle is such a special city.
It's so beautiful.
The mountains, and you see tons of water.
It reminded me a lot actually of Sweden, where I grew up.
- How are you doin' today, Chef?
- I'm good.
I see you got some Romanesco.
That's nice!
I've been to Seattle so many times.
I did not know there was a big, thriving, vibrant Filipino-American community.
Filipino-Americans is the second-largest Asian immigrant group in this country and also makes up about 3% of the population in Seattle.
But most Americans have no clue what is a Filipino dish.
- Hi, how are you?
- How are you?
What are we servin' today?
What do we got today?
- Oh my gosh.
Everything.
This is our famous salmon collar soup, sinigang.
- [Marcus] It looks good.
- [Leila] Well why don't you come over here and help me then?
- Okay.
Aunt Leila is running this one-lady cooking counter with delicious Filipino food.
Everyone knows Aunt Leila.
How long have you been at the market?
- 47 years.
- 40, and the market is 47 years, maybe.
(laughs) - [Leila] Add the jalapenos.
- Yup.
With seeds or without seeds?
- Oh no, we don't chop them.
Put the whole thing in there.
- Just, the whole thing, yeah?
- Yes.
Chop the onion, then I'm gonna have you do tomatoes.
Hey, you're pretty good at that.
- You know what?
I cook in the kitchen every now and then, but not in a kitchen like this.
These signs.
- What's wrong with my kitchen?
- [Marcus] No, I love this kitchen.
I love it.
You have signs for everything.
How did you end up in the market?
How did this happen?
- Well my mom started this in 1971.
This was all groceries and baskets.
Back then, Filipino food was not known, and she said, "Do you wanna open a new eatery back there "where you could demonstrate some of our ingredients?"
But my mom doesn't cook, so everybody thinks my mom taught me how to cook.
(Marcus laughs) It was self-taught.
I taught myself.
- Self-taught, wow.
- Since you're standing on that side, can you mix my -- - Sausage?
- Yes.
- Sure!
I have to call the fish market.
rings) Hey, Ian, can you send my fish please?
- [Ian] Yes ma'am.
- [Leila] Right now, bye bye.
- Oh he heard that.
He's like, "Send her the fish, please."
(laughs) - [Leila] Yes, they don't sell that to anybody else but me.
- [Marcus] Oh.
Is the market open every day?
- I work every day except December.
Oh wow, okay.
- Hey, how are you?
(speaks in foreign language).
- [Marcus] (speaks in foreign language), I love that.
Thank you, Joseph.
You cook from the market.
Truly, you like the market.
- I do.
I'm everybody's auntie.
Everybody comes over here and say, "Hey, what special stuff do you have back there?"
Sometimes I have the special in the back.
- Aunt Leila.
She's such a good cook because her setup is real simple, but her flavors are not.
Imagine a ramen soup, but it's much lighter and brighter, and that lightness comes from tamarind.
And it's a very specific sour.
It's not lemon-sour.
It has this tangy flavor like rhubarb.
This sourness, that's, for me, it's always when you think about Filipino food, that's what makes it stand out.
This could only be Filipino, you know?
- It could only be Filipino.
- How do I say it in Tagalog?
The whole thing?
- Salmon (laughs) sinigang.
- Sinigang.
- Sinigang.
Exactly.
- Salmon sinigang.
Salmon collar are fatty rich.
This broth has umami flavor, and then on top of that, bitter, beautiful mustard greens, that is still chewy in texture.
That's a really good dish!
Okay I can do that.
I can help you.
- [Leila] Oh you can?
(speaks in foreign language) Okay.
- How many should I give out?
- [Leila] Sorry, I talked in Tagalog.
- That's okay.
- [Leila] Sige, that means okay.
(speaks in foreign language) Okay, give her another one.
- [Marcus] Yeah, okay, four, four.
- [Leila] Okay?
Don't be stingy though.
- But.
- He's gonna give you another one.
- Got it.
- Okay, and then one of those.
You gotta plate it, so you gotta turn it this way.
- Whoa.
- [Leila] And then put the fish on that side.
Ooh, you need a little practice on that.
- Yes, yes, absolutely.
- Okay, that's good, that's good.
We could just put it on the side.
- [Marcus] On the side.
- [Leila] There you go.
- [Marcus] Nice.
- [Leila] I'm sorry, he's new.
- [Melissa] Tita Leila.
- I'm real excited to meet Melissa Miranda.
She is the young Filipino-American chef that runs the popup called Musang to make sure that Filipino-American food becomes more on the map, more recognizable, so more people knows about it.
Chef, Melissa is here.
Could I have a break?
- Oh yes, of course, (laughs) of course.
- Okay, good.
- You earned it.
- I'll see you later.
- You earned it.
(Melissa laughs) - [Marcus] All right.
- Thanks, Tita.
(laughs) - She cooked all over the world.
She cooked in New York, she cooked in Italy, but Melissa's so respectful for the queen of Filipino cuisine.
- Tita Leila.
- [Leila] Yes?
- Do you think we can get a plate of chicken adobo?
- [Leila] Sure!
- [Melissa] This is kinda the national plate.
- [Leila] This is your barbecue, right?
All over.
- [Melissa] Exactly.
- I never mastered a good adobo.
I'm never happy with mine.
What am I doin' wrong?
- When you talk about everyone's personal version of it, it comes down to the balance of sour, salty, and a little bit of heat from the black peppercorns.
- Yeah, but it's subtle, right?
- It is subtle.
- Yeah, it's coming from the back.
- It is subtle.
I am more on the balance where I have a one-to-one ratio of soy and vinegar, and then I add a little bit of water, so it's more, not heavily acidic but not heavily salty.
- Most cuisines just use their vinegar for pickle and preserve.
The Filipino, it's almost the opposite.
It starts with cooking the protein long and heavy in their vinegars.
The sourness is just not a light note that goes away.
It's deep tissue, in the dishes.
- There are certain regions in the Philippines where they add coconut milk.
Some people add potatoes.
Some people add boiled eggs.
It's always an amazing talking point in terms of like, "Let me try your adobo."
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
I was in the Philippines two months ago, and there's a lot of folks focusing on the original recipes, prior to colonialism.
The original adobo, in looking at it-- - So good.
- I know.
There's no soy sauce.
It's actually just vinegar, black peppercorns, and bay leaves.
- I would say there are three major forces that impacted Filipino cuisine.
First, they were a major trade partner with China.
Then they were colonized by Spain for hundreds and hundreds of years, and here's where it get complicated.
They became a U.S. territory, but during that time, they were occupied by Japan during World War II.
So it's messy, but it also sets up major points of great cuisine.
I love this place.
- I know.
- This is so cool.
- This is what it looks like in the Philippines.
And this is the place we bring everyone.
- Oh, I thought I was special.
(Melissa laughs) What are you talkin' about?
- You are special.
- Like, dude, what happened?
- That's why she's puttin' you to work.
(laughs) - You bring all the guys over here.
(Melissa laughs) Sure, Melissa.
(both laugh) - Hey, you're welcome in this kitchen any time, and I don't say that often.
- Thank you so much.
This was delicious.
I ate all of it.
- Thank you so, so much.
- I don't know what she's tryin' to do, but I ate all of it.
- I'm still hungry.
(laughs) - [Leila] You still hungry?
- Just kidding.
(laughs) (energetic jazzy music) - I'm really excited to spend the day with Chef Melissa.
Now she's gonna take me to one of her long time favorite restaurant right here in Seattle.
Right in the middle of these big-box office buildings, there is a sweet little diner called Ludi's that's been there forever.
Wow.
- I know, right?
Uncle Greg (speaking in foreign language) - [Marcus] How are you?
- Hi Marcus.
- Greg came from Manila to Seattle in the 70s, and he worked really, really hard.
And the owners liked Greg so much they eventually, they gave him the restaurant.
What is Filipino breakfast?
What is that?
- Well really what it is, is a lot of rice, eggs, longanisa, or a pork chop.
- Oh, pork chop for breakfast?
- Yeah.
- [Melissa] Yeah.
(laughs) - You're living large if you're eating pork chop for breakfast.
(everyone laughs) Yeah, no no.
But this diner has been here since the 30s.
- I only made it Filipino a little bit when I got the ownership.
- When did you start here?
- 1978, as a dish washer.
The boss lady, she treated me just like a regular dish washer.
Sometimes I like to mingle with the customers.
They'll stop me, say, "No Greg."
"You gotta be in the kitchen.
(everyone laughs) "Don't be socializing."
(everyone laughs) - Bless her, bless her.
She gave you the business.
Who cares?
- [Melissa] He remembers every person's name.
He's super, super on point.
- See, your grandma is Helga.
- Yes.
- And then you have a sister Anna and Linda.
- Yes, that's right.
(Melissa laughs) - And then your wife is Maya.
(Melissa laughing) - Stop, stop.
- And then you have a son named Zion Mandela.
- That's so Filipino.
(laughs) - Well I have no more questions after that.
You shut it down!
- He just shut it down.
He's like nope, no more.
(both laugh) - That was so good.
Oh my God.
(energetic jazz music) Nice!
- [Melissa] Oh my gosh!
- Oh, these sausages, - [Melissa] Yes.
- they look great.
Nice!
(energetic jazz music) What I love about the food, it's very flavorful.
Beautiful sausage.
It's fatty, it's rich.
The vinegar with a little bit of heat.
This is comfort food to the fullest, you know?
- Yes!
- Uncle Greg, thank you so much.
- Okay, thank you, Marcus.
- And I wish you continued success.
- Thank you.
- You're a true American success story.
- Rita brought a book for you to sign, yeah?
- Okay thank you.
(Rita and Melissa laughs) Now I really congratulate you.
- But she bought the $40 one.
(loud laughter) There's one for 15.
(everyone laughs) - Don't tell Marcus this.
(everyone laughs) Make the black man blush.
I like it.
Only Greg can do that.
(everyone laughs) - [Melissa] Uncle Greg made you blush!
- [Marcus] Yes.
Not even you could do that.
I love it.
- Seattle's the closest port from Asia.
If you think about the ships coming over, it's quicker to come to Seattle than go to L.A., San Francisco.
It's a shorter trip.
My name's Dorothy Cordova.
We're here in the offices of the Filipino American National Historical Society.
I'm the executive director.
Filipinos started to come here hundreds of years ago.
And the interesting thing is a lot of people didn't even know we were a part of the United States from 1898 until 1946.
(guns banging) In 1898, the Philippines started to fight for freedom from Spain in Spanish-American War.
The Spaniards refused to admit defeat, and they agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.
By virtue of that, all Filipinos are now free to come to United States if their passage was paid.
Seattle was a major port of entry.
We had the lumber industry and the fishing industry, and there were little farms.
By the 70s, because of the changes in immigration laws, the largest group of immigrants coming to the United States were the people from the Philippines.
And yet people knew nothing about us.
(laid-back hip-hop music) - I was actually born here in Beacon Hill, historically a Filipino neighborhood.
And there's still a lot of Filipino families that live here.
Sadly, not as many as before.
My mom worked a lot.
She was a nurse.
So I have a lot of memories of being with my dad.
My dad came here in the 70s when he was in the Merchant Marine.
With a mustache and just the biggest hair.
We spent a lot of time in Chinatown.
We'd be walking in the streets, and people would be calling out, "Hey Musang!"
Musang translated means wild cat.
My dad was such a huge inspiration for how I have memories of Filipino food.
So we started doing monthly brunch pop-ups called Musang.
And the idea and intent was to just get people to familiarize themselves with Filipino food.
People fail to realize that the Philippines is comprised of islands, and there's so many different versions of dishes that people haven't been able to experience or taste.
I just wanted it to be something that was an honoring of myself to my family, which I hope we're doing justice.
(doorbell rings) - Hey!
- Hi!
Welcome.
(chuckles) - Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
- Come on in.
Come on in.
My parents are actually here too.
- What's up, boss, how are you?
- Rey.
- Good.
- Good, good.
(everyone laughs) - [Melissa] We've got golden pompano.
- Golden pompano, nice.
- That's nice.
- That's the good fish.
(oysters clanking against bowl) - So we got some great West Coast oysters.
- Yes.
We'll be using this for the kinilaw, actually, - Oh.
which is our version of ceviche.
So the basic version of this is always some ginger, red onion, and vinegar.
I'm adding some kumquats, a little bit of chilies, and then we're using a coconut vinegar as a souring agent.
- Mm, it's beautiful.
- [Melissa] Right?
- [Marcus] It's almost like the oyster water itself.
- [Melissa] Yeah.
- [Marcus] That's a good addition.
- [Melissa] In our family, I would always kind of be cooking in the kitchen with them.
- [Rey] You always bugged me.
- Yeah.
I would always be like, "Dad, let me help.
"I wanna help."
So he'd give me the mean jobs.
I would have to clean squid.
- Ooh!
- At a really young age.
- That is harsh!
- I know!
So Dad does kind of by eye.
There's no recipe.
And so he's adding in the red onions right now.
He'll add the ginger, and then we'll add the vinegar.
- Love what's happening here.
You got bitter, sour, some sweet.
Mm.
It's awesome.
- How is it?
Spicy, hot.
- Spicy.
- [Rey] I only put one pepper.
- Yeah, but it's a hot one.
(liquid sizzling) - [Melissa] Sarciado is the fried fish.
Then it's topped with tomato, garlic, onion, the sauce that's coming to a boil, and then we'll thicken that with a egg.
- [Rey] Mel?
(speaking in foreign language) - I need cover.
- [Melissa] Oh you do?
Okay.
- [Marcus] I like it.
He cooks like a real chef.
He just calls it out.
- He is the master of this sauce.
Whenever my mom and I would try and cook it, we'd always curdle the eggs.
(slurps) - [Rey] Mm!
- [Julie] All right.
I think we're done.
- [Marcus] I love this idea of thickening with the egg.
It's very nice.
- Lord, bless this food and give nourishment to our body.
In Jesus' name.
- Amen.
- Okay.
(laughs) - We just did a huge kamayan pop-up dinner called "No Cookbooks Allowed".
So the concept is to pay homage to an elder that has cooked for us.
- No cookbooks, meaning two pinches of salt, or one cup of vinegar, so everything by memory.
- It's always a question of what is passed on to one generation, and what do you hold onto, especially.
- [Julie] That's exactly what -- - When you come to the new country.
- Growing up, I tried to reject, not reject being Filipino, but it's hard when you get bullied or your clothes smell weird or whatever.
But our language is also not getting passed down.
What is the first thing that we can do to pass down?
It's the food.
- I've never had this dish, and I love the finish of this.
- [Julie] Did you like it?
- I love it.
I think it's fantastic.
- You do it with love, always.
You don't do it with love, (laughs).
- Yeah.
What is the popup in three years from now, do you think?
- Hopefully sooner we'll be a brick and mortar.
There is a definite ask from the community where, "Where can we find dishes like this?"
- [Marcus] Oh, cool.
- [Rey] Yeah, I've been asking you, but you don't wanna hire me.
- (laughs) Wait til the brick and mortar, Dad.
You'll get there.
- [Rey] I need some money.
(Melissa laughs) (ambient music) - I'm in Beacon Hill in South Seattle, and I'm gonna meet my boy Geo.
So Geo got many, many talents.
He's a cook.
He's a business owner.
Most important, a rapper.
Geo's takin' me to this hub of the Filipino community.
It's been in the neighborhood for over 25 years, and it's called Fou Lee.
So this is all things Filipino over here?
- If not strictly Filipino, things that Filipinos would need in their kitchen.
My parents, they live an hour away, but they'll come out here just to shop here.
Oh, that's good stuff too.
Watermelon seeds.
This purple yam, ube, boil this, cut it up, turns purple.
- Mung beans, of course.
Beautiful.
So it's local produced?
- Yeah, yeah, this is Filipino farmers supplying the Filipino grocery stores.
- That's beautiful.
This is not hipster beet juice.
This is pork blood.
(Geo laughs) This is the real deal.
Filipino food has a lot of sour, a lot of fermentation.
This is nothing but beautiful fermented fish sauce, right?
- [Geo] And this is just one side.
The whole other side is fermented shrimp.
- Now you're speaking my language.
This is what I grew up on.
Smoked herring, dried fish here.
For flavoring broths and soups, right?
- Or just -- - Straight.
- A beer and this, boom.
- As a teenager coming up, there were no Filipino rapper role models.
How was that, when you set your mom and dad down and said, "Guess what?
"I'm gonna be a rapper."
- It went like, (Marcus chuckles) "That's a cool hobby.
"We support that as long as, "you're goin' back to school, right?"
When we opened up for Kanye in front of 20,000 people, I think at that point they were like, "All right, listen.
"We're not gonna ask you "if you're gonna go finish your degree."
I haven't actively toured in a minute.
Just kinda got sucked into the food industry.
- Sure.
We all do, right?
(Geo laughs) That's our fort.
We come back to it, right?
- Look at these off cuts.
What was hip-hop?
It was using the scraps that other people didn't want, putting it together and makin' somethin' fresh out of it.
- I love that.
- [Geo] Innards are hip-hop.
If you've never been here before, you definitely gotta get the crispy pork belly.
- Is this lechon?
The crispiness?
Mm, it's like candy.
- That right there, dinuguan, that's the crown jewel right there.
The story about that is I didn't know that was pork blood growing up.
I always thought it was chocolate meat.
- Thank you very much.
Nice to meet you.
- Very nice to meet you.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- [Cashier] See you.
Enjoy the food!
(hiphop beats) - [Geo] We really doin' this out here.
- Yeah!
I'm really impressed with this.
- [Geo] Dinuguan.
- Dinuguan.
So it looks like a Mexican mole, right?
But then the sourness that come through makes it actually light.
It's not as heavy and dense as I thought.
But when you taste Filipino food, you taste the history, you taste Spain, you taste Mexico, you taste America, you taste China.
Such an arrange of humble ingredients, but it tastes so good.
It's so delicious.
- I do think the essence of what was there before all the waves of contact with other cuisines is still present, though.
If you ask me, the star is always gonna be the vinegar, which is indigenous Filipino right there.
- The acid you get in Filipino food is very different, and it's always the vinegar that stands out.
- There's beauty in what's blended with other cultures to become Filipino cuisine, but there's just some things that I think is the soul and the essence of what it's been the longest.
We took it upon ourselves to educate folks about the food and then to educate them about what's going on in the Philippines.
The reasons we even migrate and end up in places like Seattle.
- I really love how Geo thinks about food and culture and dialogue all as one.
For people like me that don't know that much about Filipino culture, there is a window in for us here.
We can learn so much more.
So I'm gonna meet back up with Geo and his wife Chera in the Chinatown-International District.
(energetic hip-hop music) And they're in the middle of opening their new store called Hood Famous.
- [Chera] Welcome to Hood Famous Cafe and Bar.
- This is Hood Famous?
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- [Marcus] I love the name Hood Famous.
That's pretty good.
(both laughing) That is pretty good.
I love this location.
It's in the middle of part of Chinatown, or.
- [Geo] Yeah, it was the Chinese-Americans who anchored the community, and then subsequent waves of Asian migrants came.
So you got Japantown Proper, and then another wave of Filipinos who came here, they call it the Manong Generation, mostly men, migrant workers who were scattered throughout Chinatown, Japantown.
- This is a historical building.
There was a long history of manongs who were farm workers down in California.
When that season was done, they'd come up here and stay in hotels like this before they went up to the Alaskan canneries.
So we're almost open.
- [Marcus] Almost ready.
- [Geo] Work in progress.
- Almost ready.
Right here, we'll have coffee, and then transitioning from day to night, we'll have cocktails, and then, throughout, we'll have a lot of our desserts.
- I want a taste of your cheesecake.
- All right.
So a lot of people always ask us, "What is ube?
", "What is calamansi?"
And so we have the actual purple yam and the citrus.
- Mm.
I love calamansi.
- [Geo] Yeah.
- [Marcus] Mm.
Sour, sweet.
- [Chera] It's like that tanginess.
Here is the ube cheesecake.
We actually started off Savory, doing a Filipino pop-up dinner.
But this ube cheesecake took a life of it's own, and so from pop-up, we did a bakery called Hood Famous.
Coming from the pop-up world, we said, "Okay, let's get something really small.
"Let's see if we can do this."
And it's mainly production, then put a little retail to go.
And then we've been doing that for about two years.
It's what allowed us to get to a place where we're able to innovate and expand the line.
- [Marcus] Cool.
- All right, let's cut it up.
- [Marcus] I love that purple.
It just stands out.
Mm.
I like the ube.
I like the ube a lot.
You know, hiphop, the art form of starting with something familiar, but then adding another personal layer to it.
You're representing ube that's been around forever, but then doing your own personal spin on it, nothing could be more hiphop than that.
(Geo and Chera laughs) You have two sons?
- Mm-hm.
- [Marcus] Which one do the kids like?
- They actually love the pie.
So this is called our buko pie.
And it's a specialty that's part of the Philippines called Laguna.
Buko is a young coconut, and then inside there's shreds of young coconut.
- Mm.
The texture is amazing.
The coconut comes in the end.
And it's not super sweet.
- A lot of people who had this in the Philippines don't really see this here, so we're bringing back some memories and make people feel like they're back in the Philippines again.
Cheers.
- Mm.
(Chera laughs) I'm busy eating.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm lucky I'm here eating.
This is really good.
(ambient music) - Knee High Stocking Co. is a Filipino-owned speakeasy based in Seattle.
But we're totally hidden in plain sight.
We offer all of the standard Prohibition era cocktails, but we also make our own in-house shrubs.
(bartender shakes shaker) The shrub is a vinegar and sugar based drink.
And our food is Filipino-inspired American comfort foods.
We also have Jeepney Cap Hill, which is our takeout window, so people could try the Filipino food but not necessarily have to have the whole sit down dinner.
We felt that there was so many really great mom and pop restaurants in the city doing really really original Filipino cuisine that it was okay for us to kind of dial it back for the things that we grew up with and that we were comfortable with eating.
I grew up in the Midwest, and my mother worked third shift, which would be in the evening.
(beating on root) And she would have all of our food made before she left for work.
But we were really picky eaters, and so she actually would tweak a meal three different ways for her kids.
We had no appreciation for that at all.
We still cook together, so she sort of teaches us to think a little bit deeper about what this is suppose to taste like.
And she's really humble, so I can't decide when I don't wanna do it that way, and she'll just be like, "No problem, we'll try it your way," and then all of a sudden, the reality is either way really does work better.
Mm, nice, Mama.
- Pretty good, huh?
- Nice, very nice.
Thank you.
- I'm going to this really cool speakeasy.
I'm super excited.
Gotta ring the doorbell.
(ambient music) (bartender shakes shaker) So I'm gonna have a drink with Sarah that is a playwright, actress, and really acted in the creative community here in Seattle.
Hey, how are you?
- I'm good, how are you?
- How's it going?
- Very well.
- Good, good.
So, Sarah, acting, theater, have that always been your world?
- Pretty much.
I was the first grandchild, so first in my generation.
My grandma, she was like, "We always knew you were going to be famous, "and you can pay for my retirement."
(Marcus laughs) - You just wrote your own play, your own show, how was that?
- So, three plays, one for each generation of my family.
And the whole thing is called the Dragon Cycle.
- I like it.
- I'm writing a new play, and it's a play with music inspired by Seattle history paired with four courses of fine dining.
It starts in 1940s.
It focuses specifically on three little girls, and they all love jazz.
And they sneak in the alleyways of 7th and Jackson, 7th and King, and listen to the basement window of this speakeasy to all of these jazz musicians down there.
- 7th and Jackson, so that's Chinatown-International District, right?
- Mm-hm.
A lot of people don't know that the different ethnic enclaves moving in and out of that neighborhood are so varied.
Prohibition started 1916.
In that time period, there was a huge wave of Filipino immigration.
And so where would these ethnic enclaves really gather?
Dance halls, clubs, speakeasies.
Everybody wanna have a good time.
Throw in some music, throw in some alcohol, you got some cultural mixing.
Then Washington Legislature was like, "Wait a minute, we can't have this.
"We don't want you colored people "marrying these white people."
- What's going on?
- Miscegenation laws!
You can't marry these people.
And the Filipinos were like, "You can't tell us what to do."
And the black people were like, "Racism!"
So there was a banting of a black community groups and Filipino community groups.
Probably the first example in Seattle's history of cultural mixing resulting in coalition activism.
- Yeah.
It gets interesting when the deeper you dive into something, right?
So here you are, talking about something that happens in the 30s, that's amazing.
- Yeah, and I'm also like, "Why didn't I learn about this in history?"
- Yeah.
- Growing up, I heard mostly about Japanese history and Chinese history, and for a long time, I was like, "Where the Filipinos at?"
(jazz music) - So we got some food?
What do we got here?
- [Server] We do.
We have arroz caldo.
- Nice.
- [Server] Share.
- Mm.
- Arroz caldo is kinda like the Filipino version of congee.
It's usually with a chicken broth, lots of ginger in there, topped with fresh garlic, and then you have a soft boiled egg.
Oh my god.
(speaking in foreign language) It's so good.
- Delicious.
- Right?
- I love that that you do something with jazz and mixing up cultures, and feels like a love letter to the city too.
- Truly.
- You know a stage is a stage.
It could be in a restaurant.
It could be off Broadway, whatever.
What type of venues do you then find that was open to that?
- You know, it was less of venues actually, and more of people.
You know, we talk about gatekeepers in any business.
- Yeah, sure.
- And those gatekeepers are the people who get to say yes or no, meaning you get to go on through and be one of us or you have to stay out.
- It's very similar in the hospitality industry, right?
What food is good?
What's accepted to whom?
I think when you're of color, there's, very often, not a lot of people that went before you, so you're just constantly have to think about, "Okay, I gotta do it," and when you come out the other side, it's pretty powerful.
The power of storytelling.
- A-men.
(laughs) (jazz music) (ambient music) - One of the things that we do here at archipelago, here in Hillman City in the south end of Seattle, is source 100% from the Pacific Northwest.
We took the last two and a half years of doing R and D to see: can I find the taste of what I grew up with, maybe in the ingredients that are not used in Filipino cuisine?
We grew up here as second generation Filipino-Americans.
We chose to identify as Pacific Northwest progressive Filipino-American cuisine.
For our guest, it's important for us to define that, and we're very specific about that.
Don't get us wrong, we love ingredients from the Philippines.
Fantastic artisanal things.
We asked ourselves, "How can we get to those kind of flavors "and those building blocks, "but still tell a very authentic story to who we are?"
- It's not really restrictions or limitations, but just finding the beauty in what we have right here.
- Hey.
- [Amber] Hello.
- How are you?
- [Amber] Welcome.
Hi.
- How are you?
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Marcus.
- Chef, how're you doing?
- Chef, how are you?
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
How are you, Mom?
(Aaron laughs) - Oh, I'm good.
- Good.
(Amber laughs) 'Kay, good.
I'm all yours, I'm ready to cook.
- Yeah, come on.
Come around.
- I'm ready.
- We're gonna do some bread.
We're gonna do pandesal.
So we have a couple of different flours.
And all the flours here are from the Pacific Northwest.
This idea - different flours - this is actually not very modern.
If you go to the Philippines, there's not one pandesal.
Every aling doesn't speak to each other right?
Like it's spread out so of course it's gonna be -- - Yeah, yeah, it's a thousand.
- It's gonna be a little bit different, yeah.
- (laughs) Imagine, 7000 islands.
This dough, we're gonna get to 200 grams.
- So we basically just one part of this, half a part, half a part, basically that's what we're doing?
- [Aaron] There it is.
There's no mistake.
It's your show.
- Yeah.
(laughs) - People think baking like precision.
There are millions of ways to make your bread work.
This is all hand mixed.
I just love it 'cause it's the feel.
- The bread is so much in the feel.
- Yeah, exactly.
And you just let time take over.
- So, archipelago is a tasting menu.
Does every course have a Filipino accent?
- Sometimes it starts with a story, right?
Sometimes it'll start with us kinda uncovering something that we found in the archives.
The Filipino-American National Historical Society is here in Seattle, and we have a couple of those dishes that will start there.
What do you think?
- [Marcus] It feels great.
- Yeah?
- [Marcus] It's a little wet inside, right?
- Yeah.
So it feels wet, but look how it holds its shape.
- Yeah.
- Right?
- [Marcus] When you and Amber started this project, did you feel like people love Filipino food, but yet, there was not a lot of fine dining Filipino restaurant out there?
- There's a lot more in the Philippines.
I find, actually, that the Philippines is far more progressive than the U.S., which is kind of an irony.
- That's how the world works.
- Yeah.
- When you go to Africa or you go to a place like Lagos, there's tons of fine dining restaurants.
- Is that right?
- And people will be like, "Oh, Africa?"
Everyone has access to America, but we might not know what's going on in other countries, right?
- Exactly.
- So we gotta make sure that we stay up and not fall behind.
So when you cooking your fine dining dish, your dish can land over here, right?
How do you know that you're stayin' on point?
- The cook is always, is this delicious first.
- Yeah, delicious first.
- Period.
You could be having this incredible beautiful story with the most amazing ingredients.
If it's not delicious, who cares?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- You know what I mean?
But that being said, you can't just say, "Oh, anything I do, I know if I'm Filipino, "it's gonna taste Filipino,", no, because we have a long history of tradition.
And these flavors, you still need to hit.
They're anchors for us.
- Cooking with Aaron was amazing because he's super bright and technical.
And, nothing exciting more than going to a new restaurant because it's really being the labor of love for the chef for a long long long time.
- [Aaron] Welcome, welcome.
Come on in.
Have a seat.
- Thank you very much.
(speaking in foreign language) - So for your first course, we have a pandesal, which translates to salt bread, even though it's not very salty.
And then on your Oregon petrified wood, we have shallot butter with sustainable caviar from Idaho.
- Wow.
That is so good.
- [Woman Guest] Yeah.
(laughs) - What I think is incredible with Aaron and Amber is they really thought about the guest experience.
How do I plate it?
Am I using a plate?
It might be a stone.
It might be fresh herbs.
They're really carefully curated.
- [Aaron] This next dish is kinilaw.
The bottom of this entire dish is a tin for sardines and canning.
This can is to honor the cannery workers that have worked in the Pacific Northwest for over 100 years.
- This is a theatrical performance with smells, flavor, taste, aesthetic, design, and you are forced to, sort of, kinda like shut the outside out, drop your phone, and just be in the moment.
This is so delicious.
Nice.
(sizzling meat) - This is our dinuguan.
Dinuguan is a blood-based dish.
Usually it's done with pork.
This is a 29-day age rib eye.
We do it with beef mostly because if you like your steak pink or red, the idea of a blood sauce is a little bit of a nice bridge for you.
You have a monggoto underneath these greens that are braised and a little reduced in green apple juice, and then the Orosa sauce.
Maria Orosa, she's the inventor of banana ketchup.
We don't have bananas in the Northwest, but we do have pumpkins, squashes, starchy sweet things like this.
We caramelize those down with red onions, some hot sweet chilies from down in Oregon.
We call this Orosa sauce to respect that feminine energy that is super super important in our culture and our cuisine.
Dig in, dig in, dig in.
Last fun fact about Maria Orosa.
She actually went to the University of Washington, and so she's absolutely a Philippine national hero, but she's also a Pacific Northwest Filipina-American one too.
(relaxing guitar music) - Thank you so much for an absolutely amazing meal.
If it takes once a year be here to be a regular, I can become a regular too.
Congratulations.
This is absolutely amazing.
Congrats.
- [Aaron] Thank you.
(guests applaud) (horns blaring) - I'm going 30-minute north South Seattle to Edmonds.
It's a stunning place.
You're right on the water.
The mountains are right in front of you.
It's kinda magical in a way.
Yes, Seattle's a big city, but you can't always around nature.
(camera shutter sound) I'm gonna meet my friend Brian.
Brian comes kinda from a fine dining culture.
He used to work for Mr.
Restaurant in Seattle, Tom Douglas.
But now he's doing his own thing and got his own restaurant, right here, in Edmonds.
Brian grew up fishing, so he's gonna teach me how to do squid jigging.
I grew up in a fishing village.
I have no clue what squid jigging is, but I'm always ready to learn.
Hey.
- Hey, Marcus.
Thanks for comin' out here.
- Thank you so much.
- I've been fishing since I was little during the summer time.
- Cool.
- So I had the salmon runs through here.
- What about squid, is that all year or?
- Squid is open all year round, so you can do it.
But it only gets really busy during the colder months, so we're waiting for it to get colder, then maybe the season will peak through.
- What?
Colder than this?
(Brian laughs) I got three layers on, man.
How do you prepare them?
Do you put them on the grill?
Do you poach them?
What's the process afterwards?
- After they're all cleaned up, take really really salty water, and just lightly blanch them.
- And then they go straight to the restaurant?
- (laughs) Yeah, right.
Well, maybe, we can catch some tonight.
We could try it tonight.
- Right?
Don't jinx it.
(Brian laughs) Don't jinx it.
- I'm not trying to jinx it.
- Let's see if we can get one.
(Brian laughs) Is anybody catching anything?
- Going squid jigging with Brian, you realize quickly, there's gonna be more people to this party.
- The other pole, I left it over there.
- I'm surrounded with Brian's uncles and cousins.
- [Bernard] I'm the only professional fisherman here.
- Okay.
(laughs) - Brian, I taught you everything I know.
(Brian and Marcus laughs) By the way.
- Hold your string.
Flip the rod there.
And then, we're just gonna swing it out, and then release.
These squid, they come in giant schools, so you could be out here, having nothing, just like we are now, and when that school comes in, in 15 minutes, you can catch your limit.
- Hey!
What do we got coming in?
- [Bernard] Oh they're coming in!
They're comin' in!
- [Marcus] They're comin' in, yeah.
- [Bernard] Look it.
That's not squid.
- [Brian] No, I think those are herring.
- [Marcus] Herring, those are herring.
- Herring, that's a squid food though, so when the herring comes, squid comes.
- [Brian] Squid's next.
- [Man] Hello.
- If you wanna explain Filipino culture to someone that don't know anything about it, how would you go guys define, you know?
- We're very family-oriented.
Everybody's our uncle, cousin.
When new people come in, we adopt them as a family right away.
- I think what people don't see sometimes is the toughness in Filipinos.
We are very kind, very family-oriented, but there's this grit that people don't always see.
- Why do you think Seattle became such a hub?
- 'Cause of the fishing.
(everyone laughs) - Clearly not.
You guys are representing (mumbles).
- [Brian] These are our giant shrimp chips.
- Perfect.
Nice.
- We make this in my restaurant, and you know it's on every single table.
This is apple cider vinegar, but it's got chili, garlic, and ginger.
- (mumbles) It's good.
- [Bernard] The master squidder strikes again.
That's why they call it calamari 'cause they're very calm when you catch it.
- [Marcus] Yeah.
- [Bernard] Oh man.
- [Marcus] Did you put that on and throw it back in?
(loud laughter) I don't trust you.
Everyone else I woulda trust, I don't trust you.
(everyone laughs) - That's why they call it calamari 'cause they're calm.
When they catch it, they don't jiggle around.
(everyone laughs) - [Bernard] Should we bring out the dynamite?
- [Marcus] Yeah, let's bring out the dynamite.
(everyone laughs) (mumbles) (ambient music) - So I'm back in the city, going to meet Domingo, the chef for this restaurant called East Trading Company.
East Trading is kind of a Pan Asian restaurant.
Compasses all, but Domingo has free creative control of the menu.
I know this is gonna be delicious.
'Sup chef.
- Hey, how you doin'?
- What's goin' on?
- [Domingo] Not much.
- Excited to be here.
- Yeah.
So today we're gonna do a kare kare.
- What goes into a good kare kare?
- We got the Filipino eggplant, baby bok choy, and a really good ingredient traditionally used is banana flower.
This kinda has like a hearts of palm or that kinda artichoke heart kinda texture and flavor too.
- The beautiful thing with long beans like these, they're like a little rougher than normal sort of green beans, but they have a texture to them.
They are so thick and fulfilling.
- They go really well with stew and so.
Do you wanna go ahead and sautee some of the garlic -- - Sure - [Domingo] And onions?
- Wanna caramelize the peanuts well or?
- Absolutely.
- Okay, cool.
- Just go ahead and throw those in there.
- This dish could be from Ghana 'cause you thicken sauces in Ghana with peanuts.
It's like I've never seen a dish from Southeast Asia that reminds me so much about West Africa.
It's amazing.
- You can go ahead and drop some of that chicken stock in there, and then we're gonna add some of this peanut butter here.
- [Marcus] Wow.
It smells so good.
- [Domingo] And so, the idea with these, you don't wanna really have the stems in there 'cause that's gonna give the sauce a little bit of bitterness.
- [Marcus] So this is the piece we're getting rid of?
- [Domingo] Yeah, you're getting rid of the stem, and then you're keeping the actual flower.
- So you're half Filipino half Native American?
- Yes.
- How much Native and how much Filipino did you grow up with in terms of food?
- Food-wise, it's mostly Filipino, obviously.
The Filipino side of my family was huge.
And so, on my Mom's side, home cooking was a lot of stews, mostly stews.
- Stews, yeah.
- And, you know, goulash.
- Oh.
- Which I hated.
(both laugh) - I hated it - Sorry, Mom.
- Yeah.
- What meat goes into kare kare?
- Ox tails.
- You have to have such a perfect balance between fat and bones, so the longer you braise them, the better they taste right?
- [Domingo] Yeah.
- [Marcus] This dish takes some time right?
- [Domingo] It does - [Marcus] The slow braising.
take some time about 3 hours.
- Oh wow, nice.
- So these ox tails are lookin' real good.
- Oh they are looking nice.
They're looking great.
- [Domingo] Yeah.
So we're gonna take the vegetables, and we're gonna sautee those all up.
- [Marcus] Cool.
(sizzling sounds) - [Domingo] So we wanna keep that texture on them, and just give 'em a little bit of sautee, and we're gonna throw 'em on to the side.
(sizzling sounds) - [Marcus] I'm impressed.
I come from New York.
New York kitchen's are small.
This kitchen's real small.
- Yeah.
We're gonna take some of these ox tails here, just fallin' off the bone.
- [Marcus] Beautiful, nice.
Nice.
- Yeah.
Take some of these veggies.
- [Marcus] Yeah.
- [Domingo] And you're just gonna take that and spoon it right over the top.
Oh yeah.
- This sauce is so interesting 'cause it has so many different texture from the peanuts.
And is this shrimp paste, or what is that?
- Shrimp paste.
So that's bagoong.
- And the umami's in here, and the bung, that fermentation?
- So it's basically a fish paste.
- Nice.
- What we're goin' straight in?
- Oh we're goin' right on top.
- [Marcus] On top?
What?!
Straight on top?
- [Domingo] Straight on top.
And then we're gonna do more fresh peanuts.
- [Marcus] I love it.
- [Domingo] Yeah, there it is.
- [Marcus] I love the fact that you put the shrimp right on top.
I thought, "Is he gonna mix it in the sauce?"
No, just right on top.
- Just right on top.
- Wow, what're you gonna have?
- What am I gonna have?
(both laugh) - This is so good, man.
What was really fun about hangin' out at East Trading.
Hey, what's up guys?
- [Melissa] Yo.
- [Marcus] A couple of chef friends stopped by to eat some kare kare.
I love this smell with the shrimp paste on top.
- Gotta waft it in.
- [Domingo] Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- My boy, Edouardo, is an amazing chef.
He just won, not one, but two Beard Awards.
He got two restaurants and a bar in Seattle.
He's blowing up.
Edouardo brought Kelvyn and Elmer, two of his key people with him.
- Edouardo, being in Seattle, are you exposed to Filipino food as well or?
(Melissa laughs) - I'm very much exposed.
- Oh nice.
- [Edouardo] My main crew is mainly Filipinos.
- [Marcus] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- They're just good people.
They're like family, you know.
- Has any of the influences ended up at Junebaby then?
(both laugh) - Not just yet, maybe I still are a little bit.
(everyone laughs) - Okay, okay.
Kelvyn, did you come up front of the house, back of the house?
- Just cookin'.
- [Marcus] Cooking, nice.
- Just in the kitchen, yeah.
- There's so many of us in the industry, but it's so rare to find someone that has a voice to actually like break out and present the menu, present these things.
I grew up on Guam and it's smaller, but my Mom owned a Filipino restaurant, so it's like magical to see that we're doin' it out in a big city.
Like it's United States of America, like it's.
(loud laughter) You know this is food that I grew up eating everyday, likewise with Edouardo's food, it's on this 'nother level right now, where everybody's watching us, so it's.
- We're having conversations now.
My family, we didn't have conversations about our food.
We ate the food that everyone cooked.
And then now we're able to share our stories.
We're able to talk about the history and learn more about it and appreciate it now, and people are noticin' it.
- When do you think that change happened, and why do you think that change is happening?
- When more of use started gettin' voices in in our industry.
There was a few chefs of similar race and culture that would run in this city for a long time, and now we have so many young guns comin' up, and we makin' some noise, you know.
- Of course, absolutely.
I'm goin' in here.
I don't know 'bout y'all.
- [Elmer] You've got use both hands.
- (laughs) Use your hands, get off the bone.
- [Edouardo] Fork not needed.
- [Melissa] Mm-hm.
(upbeat music) - So tonight is potluck at Chera and Geo's house.
It looks out over Lake Washington.
It's stunning.
(loud laughter) - Hey.
- [Chera] Hello, welcome.
- [Woman] Hi!
- 'Sup, man, how are you?
- It's all good, how you doin'?
- It's you, it's so crazy.
(Chera and Melissa laugh) - 'Sup, man, how are you?
- [Aaron] How you doing man?
- So everybody's cookin' something.
Everybody's workin' at every corner in this kitchen right?
- Sinanglaw is a beef dish.
It's a sour soup.
All the aromatics, ginger, jalapenos, some chilies, some tripe, some short rib, then we have goat, little ox tail.
Yeah.
- So you're really mixing the protein?
- Mm-hm.
- That's great.
- We've got crab cookin' up on the stove right now.
I'm doing ginataan, which is a coconut-based Filipino curry.
- Crab is so interesting.
You guys use to use to butter inside as well or?
- Oh.
(laughs) - Yeah.
- Okay, good.
Some cultures don't, and I'm like, "That's the best job."
- That's the best part.
That's the best part.
- I'm super excited about this potluck.
It's not only an opportunity to try a lot of different dishes, it's also a chance for me to taste foods and dishes that might not be on restaurant menus, really home cooked Filipino food.
You folks seem mostly on dessert right?
- I am.
This is a dessert you wanna have when it's cold, like winter time, 'cause it's a warm coconut soup dessert.
And then we've got jackfruit, Saba bananas, my favorite ube.
- Yeah.
(Chera laughs) I knew right away.
- [Chera] Yeah.
- [Marcus] Yeah.
- You just mix it all together, halo halo.
(sizzling sounds) - [Marcus] Oh nice.
- [Melissa] That's a good one.
- [Marcus] How long do you cook it?
- 10 minutes.
- [Marcus] Done?
Cool.
(sizzling sounds) So we got coconut milk.
- Coconut milk.
You got sauteed shrimp paste, fish sauce too.
- So we gon' double umami, yeah why not.
- [Melissa] We're goin' in for the pho.
- [Marcus] Yeah (alarm beeping) - Yeah, we knew it!
(everyone laughs) Knew it!
- Get the towel, man.
Get the towel.
- Shut the fire alarm off.
- What's exciting about this potluck is that almost everyone is in the hospitality industry of some sort.
And everybody is bringin' their favorite dish.
- [All] Hey!
- [Geo] Hey!
- What?!
(laughs) - Kind of like my take on the lechon.
So I'd roasted the head traditionally on a spit, and then I deep boned the body, rolled it all up with pork loin, and then stuffed it with Filipino sausage.
- Oh nice, nice!
- [Chera] Longanisa in there?
- Some longanisa in the house.
- Yes, yeah!
- [Chera] What?!
(tropical music) - Hi, how are you?
Nice to see you again.
We have everybody's aunt.
- Yeah, no, everybody, of course.
(tropical music) - Right here, I have Uncle Ernie.
He's kind of the person that has been an inspiration for all of us.
- [All] Cheers!
- [Irbille] Tito O.G.
- We're not here without you.
- Yeah, seriously.
- [Marcus] All right.
Sisig comin' through.
So you guys ready to eat or what?
- God bless the food and the hands that made these.
And for everyone comin' together, I just wanna say blessings 'cause our culture, our people have been doin' this for a long time.
So thank you.
- All right, let's eat!
(everyone cheers) - [Chera] Thank you everyone for cookin'!
- [Marcus] Woo, oh!
- Aight, fam, shells and bones!
Okay?
(upbeat music) - [Marcus] So how long have you been cooking?
- For a long time, sir.
- Yeah, because that takes some real technique to do that.
- I grew up in my grandmas kitchen, man.
That's why I'm so hungry.
Literally, every 15 minutes, like I'd finish eating, my grandma be like, "Eh, sit back down, "I got somethin' else."
- Oh, you doin' tasting menu before tasting menu?
- [Irbille] Yeah.
- That's where Aaron got the concept from your grandma, exactly.
(Aaron laughs) - That's where it's at though.
- Now we know.
(Aaron laughs) - That's where it's at.
- One of the coolest things that you notice with the Filipino community in Seattle.
This is a party crew.
They eat big, they drink big, and they love big.
It's such a tight-knit community, really proud of where they came from, how hard they have worked together to stick together and create this delicious culture.
What?
(Chera laughs) What, what?
I just wanna say thank you to all of you guys for making this so special.
You guys have an amazing history, 'mazing food, you already know that.
You don't even need me to tell you that.
It's several different generations, and you guys are gonna go on many different journeys, but you have your food and you have each other, so thank you.
Celebrate, all right?
- [All] Cheers!
- [Marcus] Yes, yes, nice.
- [Ad Voice] Next time on No Passport Required.
- One of the biggest communities in Los Angeles is the Armenian community in Glendale.
- You have the Armenians from all over the world bringing their own background with them.
- 500 years tradition in here.
- The only thing we have to preserve ourselves is our food, our culture, our moms, our fathers, our songs, our dance, our storytellers.
(screams) - Cheers.
(everyone screams and cheers) - [Ad Voice] To order No Passport Required on DVD, visit Shop PBS or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
This program is also available on Amazon Prime Video.
- [Marcus] Hey, how are you?
How are you?
What's your name?
Amado.
Nice to meet you.
We're cookin' with your mom.
You can hang with us.
Yeah.
- [Geo] That's the next generation chef.
- Yeah, I know.
Getting ready.
Official Website
Take a virtual tour of cities across the U.S. to discover the wide-ranging diversity of immigrant traditions and cuisine. Get recipes and learn more about the faces and places from Marcus' journey.
Learn More
