A Taste of the Philippines opened Friday in Jefferson Park, and Umaga Bakehouse opened Saturday in North Mayfair across from Seafood City.
byMolly DeVore
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JEFFERSON PARK — Northwest Siders craving longaniza with a side of pandesal are in luck: Two Filipino restaurants have opened in the area.
A Taste of the Philippines opened Friday in Jefferson Park and Umaga Bakehouse opened Saturday in North Mayfair.
Jefferson Park resident Kathy Vega Hardy owns A Taste of the Philippines, 5914 W. Lawrence Ave. She started the business in 2012 as a small food truck in Denver.
Hardy moved to Chicago in 2018 and operated out of the Chicago French Market during the pandemic. She began selling food at the Jefferson Park Sunday Market and the Portage Park Farmers Market last summer.
While working at the farmers markets, Hardy heard about an available storefront on Lawrence Avenue. She signed the lease in December and held a soft opening the weekend of April 12.
“The soft opening went amazing. It was so busy, we ran out of food,” Hardy said. “Between Friday and Saturday, we sold 225 lumpias,” or Filipino egg rolls.
Married couple Rob and Kissel fa*garagan own Umaga Bakehouse, 4703 W. Foster Ave. The fa*garagans grew up helping in their parents’ bakeries, and they met working at a Filipino bakery in California.
The couple moved to Chicago to work at a bakery in Jefferson Park and decided to open their own place last year.
Umaga Bakehouse is across fromSeafood City,a pan-Asian supermarket that specializes in Filipino goods.
Umaga offers about 70 items, Kissel fa*garagan said. Its sweet bread collection includes its signature pandesal rolls; pan de coco, a sweet roll filled with coconut; ensaymada, a fluffy, moist pastry, and buttery señorita bread.
Umaga also sells desserts like sans rival, a layered meringue cake, and savory options like longaniza rolls and Ilocos-style empanadas, as well as blended drinks including ube horchata and halo-halo.
The menu at A Taste of the Philippines includes traditional favorites as well as more contemporary options. Highlights include chicken adobo, pancit, mushroom adobo made with mushrooms from locally owned Four Star Mushrooms, ube cheesecake bites, longaniza Scotch eggs, breakfast lumpia and a breakfast sandwich featuring pandesal, longaniza, a fried egg and havarti cheese.
Kissel and Rob fa*garagan stopped by A Taste of the Philippines during the restaurant’s soft opening. The businesses have talked about potentially collaborating in the future.
“I think everyone in Chicago’s going to be excited. They’re going to get Filipino bread and Filipino food all at once,” Kissel fa*garagan said. “You can stop by [A Taste of the Philippines] for lunch and then come here after.”
Umaga is open 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays.
A Taste of the Philippines is open 5-9 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30-9 p.m. Saturdays. Starting in June, A Taste of the Philippines will be open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, as well.
A look inside Umaga:
Take a look inside A Taste of the Philippines:
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