October is Filipino American History Month—the perfect time to point out that the past few years have fast-forwarded a Filipino food revolution across the United States. For years, San Diego’s established Filipino restaurants have thrived as local favorites in areas like National City and Mira Mesa, but many more have since opened in places such as Point Loma (White Rice), North Park (Goal Brewing), and Spring Valley (Snoice). Filipino food is not a monolith, of course—there are regional cuisines and provincial tastes as varied as one could possibly imagine. If you’re ready to join the revolution, here’s just a sampling of the best Filipino food to try across San Diego. (Believe me, there’s more out there to enjoy.)
Kamayan
Villa Manila
For my 39th birthday, I gathered a table full of my nearest and dearest to do one thing: Stuff our faces with the most glorious Filipino feast in town. I can’t recommend the experience highly enough—Villa Manila’s kamayan experience is one-of-a-kind in San Diego. Parties can preorder various packages featuring classics like grilled pork, fried fish, steamed rice, and an assortment of other traditional dishes to eat bare-handed off banana leaves. If you’re anything like my friends and I, it can descend into chaos pretty quickly, so be sure to wear clothes you don’t mind spilling on and leave your inhibitions at home.
500 East 8th Street, National City
Caldereta
Carin de Ria
Carin de Ria’s caldereta, or braised beef stew, is the ultimate comfort food. Its rich mix of onions, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes melds together into a thick and aromatic bowl that feels like a warm hug from the inside. The restaurant feels more like a home kitchen than commercial eatery, and the menu contains all the goodies you could ever want. Save room for dessert—if you can.
124 West I Street, Encinitas
Lumpia Special
Lia’s Lumpia x Milagros Modern Filipino
There’s something about Lia’s Lumpia that just hits different. It might be the rotating specials of experimental flavors, ranging from fried pickles and s’mores to mac n’ cheese and cheeseburger and fries. Their more standard offerings, like chicken adobo and pork belly, are also fire. Everything is guaranteed to be delicious at this popular food-truck-turned-restaurant, but grab whatever is on special to get it before it’s gone.
2219 Logan Avenue, Barrio Logan
Short Rib Kare Kare
Animae
The interior of Animae isn’t quite as chill as your grandmother’s house, but I bet her home didn’t cost $5.5 million to renovate. Executive chef Tara Monsod has been at the forefront of San Diego’s culinary transformation since taking over Animae’s kitchen in 2020, and while her menu remains undoubtedly fusion, it’s filled with Pan-Asian influence drawn from her Filipino heritage as well as from Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia. The Wagyu steak program is hard to top, but don’t skip the short rib kare kare. It’s a bowl of savory sexiness with meat so tender it practically falls apart at a glance.
969 Pacific Highway, Downtown
Pork Dinuguan
Tita’s Kitchenette
The obvious answer of what to order at Tita’s Kitchenette is everything, especially after you very likely waited in line for the privilege. But on the off chance you can’t quite fit all the pancit, lumpia, sisig, adobo, and so forth into your stomach at one time, you should at least try the dinuguan. Yes, it’s a meat stew simmering in spices and pig’s blood. That’s why it tastes so good. So be bold—you will be rewarded with deliciousness, or at least an approving nod from the other patrons.
2720 East Plaza Boulevard, National City
Pork Sisig
Lutchi and Mary
If you love the theatricality of a sizzling plate turning heads as it makes its way across a dining room, get one of Lutchi and Mary’s signature sisig dishes. You can’t go wrong with any of them—tofu, bangus (milkfish), beef, chicken, or pork—but it’s the latter that stands above the rest. It’s available with both crunchy or soft pork belly—while I’m partial to crunchy, it’s a win-win.
844 West San Marcos Boulevard, Suite 114, San Marcos
Ube Pandesal
White Rice
These aren’t your average dinner rolls. White Rice’s take on pandesal, a popular soft, fluffy, and lightly sweet roll in the Philippines, gets the hype treatment from ube, the famously purple yam that adds a shock of color to anything it appears in. Slather on the accompanying whipped ube butter and you’ve got yourself a sweet lil’ treat.
2820 Historic Decatur Road, Liberty Public Market | 3586 Adams Avenue, Suite 100, Normal Heights
Original Halo-Halo
Snoice
After eating at the nearby Tambayan Filipino BBQ & Grill, head to Snoice for a refreshing cup of halo-halo, a beloved Filipino treat made with shaved ice and sweet evaporated milk, customized with toppings, and finished with a scoop of ice cream on top. Snoice’s Original includes leche flan and pinipig (toasted rice) for a little crunch, plus sweet banana, sweet potato, jello, ube, and caramel flan. Various ice creams are available, but I recommend sticking with classic ube.
8423 Paradise Valley Road, Suite B, Spring Valley
Chow Fun Pancit Palabok
Kusina
Kusina is known for melding traditional Filipino flavors with other influences from around the Pacific Rim with delightful results. See: chow fun pancit. This Cantonese-meets-Filipino noodle dish mixes two staples from each cuisine and comes in a bowl filled with gloriously fat noodles, ground pork, spring onions, eggs, and a whole lot of deliciousness.
7580 Miramar Road, Miramar
Max’s Fried Chicken
Max’s Restaurant
When you eat at “The House That Fried Chicken Built,” order the fried chicken. ’Nuff said.
8285 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Suite A, Mira Mesa
