Last Palm Sunday, my family decided to go to Phoenix House, the most popular dim sum restaurant in the heart of Little Saigon in Westminster, after the 12 o’clock mass.
The way food is prepared and served varies from one culture to another. In southern California alone, there are dozens of restaurants to choose from. This region is indeed a small world after all with Afghans, Bolivians, Chinese, Danish, English, Filipinos, Greek and Dutch rubbing elbows with Indians, Japanese, Kuwaitis, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Zimbabweans. Can you imagine how it would be like if all we have are American restaurants like McDonald’s, Denny’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Black Angus? What if we didn’t have Italian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, or French cuisine? Eating out will be a very boring, bland and quite unpalatable experience!
For entrepreneurs and business people, eating out is not merely done to satisfy one’s hunger. It’s also a social event when relationships are nurtured, business deals closed, and love affairs are started. Some social scientists have even concluded that food is often the best – and shortest – way to one’s heart or pocketbook. Like a new movie, restaurants have become hot topics discussed among friends and relatives. Various kinds of restaurants are established to cater to almost all economic strata of our society – from the 79-cent tacos at Taco Bell to the 99-cent hamburger at Burger King to an expensive steak-and-lobster dinner at the Queen Mary to a very exquisite Sushi Bar in Laguna Hills. A funny joke aptly says it all. It is said that a shocked Erap Estrada complained about the bill in an expensive restaurant. The aide responded, "Sir, it’s because of the ambiance," to which the infamous former President retorted, "Who among you ordered that?" Indeed, restaurant prices largely depend upon its location, service and ambiance. Eating out is both a form of reward and an unusual form of punishment. It’s an irony of life, especially for people who have been afflicted with ailments like diabetes, gout and heart or kidney problems. People who have accumulated enough wealth just to be able to eat everything are ironically prevented from doing so because they have to follow their doctors’ orders.
Trying out these ethnic restaurants can be an exciting adventure. For instance, enjoying a sushi or sashimi dinner is a culmination of many years of going to a Japanese restaurant. Gradually, one’s palate is trained to salivate over this unique food while the eyes become mesmerized during their uniquely delicate preparation. However, the art of food preparation and presentation in Filipino restaurants in California is often missing. This is probably a major factor why these restaurants cannot (not yet anyway) penetrate or attract a much-wider non-Filipino customer base, unlike their Asian counterparts particularly Japanese, Chinese and Thai restaurants. Most Filipino restaurants from San Diego to LA to San Francisco are "turo-turo" establishments (there is even a restaurant in National City and in LA named "Point Point") and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner on a combination plate as low as $3.50. They are very popular for their generous portions but for health conscious eaters (and their numbers are growing), they are also known for their grease ("mantika") and cholesterol-laden food With the exception of a very few, like the Salo-Salo in West Covina, and Cerritos and Barrio Fiesta in Chula Vista and in Glendale respectively, a lot of Filipino restaurants are just plain eating places like the "hapag kainan" along the North Diversion Road and MacArthur Highway in Pampanga or Tarlac where the so-called ambiance is never considered.
Most businessmen avoid going to lunch or dinner in most Filipino restaurants because the atmosphere is not conducive to business discussions. We business people would rather pay more money than bus our plates because it’s one sure way to increase our business expenses and thereby pay Uncle Sam fewer taxes. The average pop and mom restaurant owner-operators often do not understand this mindset. Of course, it is also a case of serving the vast majority of their customers who are obviously from the rank and file or ordinary employees.
Having been in southern California for over 25 years now, I have seen Filipino restaurants come and go – from the Nipa Hut along Alvarado Street, to the Bayanihan on Beverly Blvd. to the Bamboo Grove on Vermont Street to the Aristocrat on Temple Street (all in Los Angeles) that were popular in the late ’70s and in the ’80s. Why? Simply because these establishments were the "personal" extension of the owners, and failed to operate as corporate entities. When the owner dies or retires, the business dies with him. Successors are neither groomed nor trained. Oftentimes, ethnic restaurants including Filipino restaurants, unlike their more expensive and sophisticated counterparts, do not send their employees (who are often family members) to a "restaurant school" where good basic restaurant service and excellent customers relation skills are taught. Cumulatively, the above factors coupled with the uniquely Filipino cultural traits of most restaurant owners contribute to the ever changing ownership or eventual demise of many Filipino restaurants in the most populous state of the USA where millions of Filipinos reside.
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