Veronica and David introduce to us a pop-up kitchen and a rising chef in San Francisco. Meet Chef Janice Dulce and her F.O.B. Kitchen.
San Francisco is known for their ever-growing diverse food scene and if you step into the streets of San Francisco’s Mission District, you’ll discover the eclectic selections of restaurants, food trucks, taqueria’s and of course “pop-ups”.
What’s a pop-up? Well, a new way of introducing aspiring chef’s talent with cooking at an established venue.
At a pop-up restaurant, it’s usually a limited time frame on select days through out the week that a chef can come in and temporarily take over the kitchen. The chef is given space to try on their “cooking gloves” and prepare unique, one-of-a-kind dishes and share them with the local community. It’s sort of the “back-door” into getting a taste at becoming a chef.
Enter Janice Dulce — a local native of San Francisco and aspiring creative — has been on the path of cooking up dishes inspired by her own Filipino cultural upbringing by way of pop-ups. Dulce is truly a passionate chef and is super excited to have the opportunity to showcase her special cooking talent at an established venue in San Francisco’s Gas Head Tavern. She thoughtfully creates her savory, authentic, Filipino dishes with an organic twist.
Sidewalks Hosts Veronica Castro and David Lew got a chance to meet up with Janice to share in some of her cuisine and learn more about this motivated chef.
She’s spent some time working at front-of-the-house restaurants, absorbing skills from other chefs and devoted a lot of time cooking familiar Filipino dishes for her friends and family. Having strong ties to her family, Dulce found ways to connect with her Grandma and family learning how to cook. She embarked on a trip to the Philippines to immerse herself in the food culture to learn the ways of cooking up the Filipino dishes she grew up eating.
Upon her return, she was encouraged by her wife and family to start her pop-up idea, F.O.B. Kitchen. Her wife Brandy and brother Lionel are full supporters of Dulce’s passion for cooking and even help out in the kitchen. Her focus is on creating some of her favorite Filipino dishes but with the use of fresh, organic and sustainable ingredients. She introduced me and special correspondent David Lew to homemade Longanisa, had her own version of spam, and also showed us other things on the brunch menu such as egg with her Tapsilog dish. I savored the flavor and felt the comfort in her dishes. She shared with me that she loves the Farmers Market and enjoys selecting fresh produce and other ingredients to compliment her authentic Filipino cuisine.
Although F.O.B. Kitchen has started-up in an unconventional way via the “pop-up route,” it has been a sure fire way to light up her dreams of becoming a chef. F.O.B. Kitchen has garnered a lot of attention from various food critics with a write-up from SF Chronicle, and SF Eater and a mention from Mission & Mission as Best restaurant, a moment that Chef Janice Dulce is truly proud of.
Interview Credits:
Host / Producer: Veronica Castro
Co-Host: David Lew
Videographer and Editor: Hadrian Santos
Special Thanks To: Janice Dulce, Lionel Dulce, Brandi Dulce