Taste of FPAC: The Oinkster + Manila Machine

Cathy Dahn/GastronomyBlog

sisig from Manila Machine

Filipino cuisine is finally entering the mainstream, thanks to a handful of high profile chefs, the rise of food trucks, an interest in street food and ethnic home cooking, increased attention in the media, and, well, some really good food. So it's probably fitting that the food from the Philippines has now gotten its own festival. Well, not exactly a festival, but the precursor to one, in which Manila Machine, the city's first Filipino food truck, will be parked at The Oinkster, the Eagle Rock restaurant owned by Andre Guerrero, probably the city's best-known Filipino chef, for an evening of lumpia and ube shakes.

Taste of FPAC, as it's called, is the kickoff event and fundraiser for this year's 19th annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture, which runs September 11th and 12th in San Pedro. The food event will take place next Thursday, September 9th, from 6-10 p.m. Tickets are $50 (the proceeds benefit The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts and Culture) and include all food and non-alcoholic drinks. Manila Machine will be making pork belly and pineapple adobo, sisig, lumpia, carabao wings, and ube cupcakes, among other things.

Guerrero said on the phone yesterday that he's still playing with his menu but is thinking barbecue, and a lot of pork. Of course he is. "I might do an all-pork Filipino-oriented menu, maybe inihaw, maybe an adobo." Guerrero says The Oinkster is a natural location for the event, as Eagle Rock has a large Filipino community. And, well, he's got a very popular restaurant (see Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) where he's already making a high volume of the ube shakes he'll have on hand next Thursday night.

Taste of FPAC at The Oinkster: 2005 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock; (323) 255-6465. Thursday, September 9th, from 6-10 p.m.