Tom Douglas

Thrilla in Manila: a Filipino Popup Restaurant from My Perspective / by Herschell Taghap, Cuoco Linecook & Social Media

“Breaking down the menu, @specialdark launches tonight’s #thrillainmanila dinner. Pinoy love all around.” -Picture & Tweet via @SarahLawler

What an amazing night.  I won’t add much to what Shelley and Amy wrote, other than it was an honor and a pleasure to bring the Filipino food that I grew up with in Chicago all the way to Seattle, my new home.  It was a great experience cooking, DJ’ing and talking to everyone one on one about the food!

One of the best parts of organizing an event like this is the sheer amount of minutes emailing, texting and calling my parents and friends back in Chicago about ingredients, their recipes and overall history of the cuisine.  Many people asked why I chose which dishes to make.  It’s rather simple, but I realized how much of my familiy and friends’ favorite Filipino dishes and also my favorites as well.

That’s why I chose the menu the way I did – I wanted to show the food my mom made for breakfast after a night shift at the hospital (eggplant, ketchup and fried anchovy), what my best friend’s dad made us every Sunday (Tito June’s Ordonez family rice), food I loved to eat even though I wasn’t hungry (Isabelita’s favorite lumpia), and things that gave my parents joy (ice cold Sunkist in a glass bottle and coconut rice pudding).  It was food I was emotionally attached to, something that I hoped translated when people sat at communal tables and enjoyed the food.  It’s what I love to do.

Here are some pictures from the kitchen in no particular order:

And now, some thank yous:

To the following people who sent me messages on my Twitter account, @SpecialDark, & “live-Tweeted” the event using the #ThrillaInManila hashtag: MY LOVELY GIRLFRIEND LIANA, @Mingry77, @Cafe_Nervosa, @ChuckSeattle, @Salanth, @CookLocal, @Mctello, @SarahLawer, @Sonjagroset, @FrancisFoodie, @Proncis, @Gtello, @LawlessWaller, @TDTessaro, @Jaydeflix – if you need good people in your timeline, give ‘em a follow! Don’t forget @TomDouglasCo, @CuocoRestaurant too!

Also, huge thanks to those who were able to wake up from their food hangover and actually write a blog post about the event: Francis’ take on FrancisFoodie.com & Lilian via Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs

Much respect to Kyle from Seatown, Aaron from Bravehorse and Rhabbie from Lola for knocking out prep, being my comedic relief and tasting EVERYTHING – I am so proud that I could pick from such a talented pool of hungry talented cooks through out this awesome company.

Hopefully we can do this again soon!

xoxo,

~Herschell

October 8th, 2011