The Brief

Construction for affordable housing has started on a city-owned lot in Fullerton — six years after a previous housing proposal on the site for people experiencing homelessness and mental illness sparked intense controversy.

The months-long battle was the subject of the first season of LAist Studios' Imperfect Paradise podcast, "Home is Life" and an accompanying LAist story.

The backstory

In 2018, the local organization Pathways of Hope proposed building 60 to 80 units of permanent supportive housing — apartments with onsite social services — for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness and mental health issues at 1600 W. Commonwealth, a few miles from downtown Fullerton.

After failing to warm neighbors to the project, Pathways decided to pull it, citing lack of support from the community and the City Council.

Several years later, in 2021, a new City Council entered into an agreement with Meta Housing Corporation to build 65 units of affordable housing for families on the lot. The company held a groundbreaking ceremony for the development this week, although construction had already started.

Why there's less opposition now

The project faced much less public opposition this time around.

Elizabeth Hansburg, who heads the Orange County YIMBY organization People for Housing, said she thinks that's largely because of the change in the target population — from single men and women experiencing chronic homelessness, to low-income families.

"That's the difference," she said.

The county's latest homeless count taken in January tallied 208 people living on the streets in Fullerton. That's 100 fewer people than were counted in 2019.

Hansburg also said the pandemic and the accompanying employment plunge made people more sympathetic to the need for housing assistance.

Allison Levy, a project manager with Meta, said the developer considered the community's concerns in the design.

"Our goal was not just, 'OK, let's figure out what we want to do and then how to sell it,' It was, 'What do we actually think will work for the community?'" she said.

'A drop in the bucket'

The state of California wants Fullerton to plan for some 13,000 new housing units over the next five years — a 600% increase over the state's previous requirement for the city.

"Our city is still behind on affordable housing," said Fullerton City Councilmember Ahmad Zahra, who was at the groundbreaking ceremony. "So I hope this is also an encouragement for us to keep moving forward in this direction."

Construction is expected to take 18 months. Levy said Meta plans to hold workshops some six months before the apartments open to inform families on how to apply.

Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery voted Thursday to approve a $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance. If federal and international regulators approve, media mogul David Ellison — son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison — will control the legendary Warner Bros. studio as well as cable channels including CNN and HBO and Warner's streaming assets.

Over the past few months, the pending consolidation sparked many fears, which David Ellison tried to quell. He made a pitch to Madison Avenue executives on Tuesday, asking for advertising support.

And last week at CinemaCon, an annual convention for movie theater owners, Ellison repeated his promise — that the combined Warner and Paramount studios would put out 30 movies a year.

That was welcome news to Adam Aron, the CEO of the theater chain AMC, who endorsed the takeover deal.

"I greatly appreciate David Ellison's track record of success and his passion to make movies that will dazzle audiences the world over," Aron said in a post on X.

Powerhouse movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who was behind such blockbuster franchises as Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean, says that final approval of the Warner-Paramount deal is inevitable.

"The train has left the station. It's going to get done," Bruckheimer told NPR. "David, I know, loves movies, and he made a commitment that he'd like to make 30 movies between the two studios. That's a lot of movies. I could be wrong, but I have faith that what they say is what's in their heart, too."

David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, speaks onstage during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon this month, in Las Vegas.

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The shareholders did not pass a compensation package for Warner's executives in a non-binding advisory vote. According to proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholders Services, the current Warner CEO David Zaslav could receive a "golden parachute" from the transaction — nearly $887 million.

More than 4,000 Hollywood directors, actors, writers and others in the industry signed an open letter opposing the merger. The signatories include A-listers Kristen Stewart, Pedro Pascal and Javier Bardem.

In an Instagram video posted by the Committee for the First Amendment, Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo and other actors made a plea to stop the merger. They were skeptical of David Ellison's promises.

Ruffalo said he thought the megadeal would mean "fewer jobs, higher costs, and less choices for our beloved audiences."

Some said they fear the deal will lead to less creative content; others said it would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape.

Critics in Hollywood also say the merger would give too much power to the Ellison family — which is friendly with President Donald Trump.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been investigating the deal for antitrust violations. The consolidation is also opposed by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker. They sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission — whose chair supports the merger – urging federal scrutiny of the deal and its foreign financing, partially sourced from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

The deal still has to pass muster with federal and international regulators. If approved, Paramount aims to close no later than Sept. 30.

Meanwhile, David Ellison plans to host an invitation-only dinner party tonight in Washington, D.C., to honor Trump.
Copyright 2026 NPR

After a marathon vote-a-rama that dragged from Wednesday night into the early hours Thursday, the Senate adopted a GOP budget blueprint to provide roughly $70 billion to fund immigration enforcement agencies through President Donald Trump's term.

This comes as the Department of Homeland Security has faced a record-breaking partial shutdown, after Senate Democrats refused to fund the department unless major policy changes to immigration enforcement were made, following the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents earlier this year.

Because compromise between the two parties is off the table, Senate Republicans are turning to a budget tool called reconciliation, which would enable them to fund immigration enforcement agencies without the need for Democratic support. It's a lengthy and arduous process. It's been used by both parties to implement major priorities along party lines, including President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Ultimately, Senate Republicans ultimately adopted the plan with a 50-48 vote. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined Democrats in voting against the measure. Two senators were absent for personal reasons

The resolution would authorize the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees to draft legislation that would increase the deficit by up to $70 billion each. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the final price tag is expected to be $70 billion total. That figure is expected to fund the agencies for 3.5 years.

The budget measure now heads to the House of Representatives, which must also adopt the resolution before committees can draft the actual legislation. There's already been a push from some House Republicans to expand the scope of the effort, something that could complicate leadership's plans. Any changes the House makes would then have to go back to the Senate, where the chamber would have to undertake another vote-a-rama.

President Trump has given a deadline of June 1 for the bill's passage.

Reconciliation can be a complicated and lengthy process. Here's a look at what's involved.

What exactly is reconciliation?

Let's start at the beginning. Bills need to pass both chambers of Congress to become laws.

In the House, a bill passes when at least 218 members (half of the 435 representatives plus one) support it. In the Senate, most bills need the support of at least 60 senators. Republicans currently have 53 seats.

"It's nice to have the Senate majority, and you get pretty titles and gavels, and you can nominally control the floor, but as Schoolhouse Rock! would tell us, unless you have 60 votes for most things, you can't move forward," Liam Donovan, a political strategist, previously told NPR.

One way to get around that 60-vote threshold and avoid the threat of a filibuster is budget reconciliation, a tool made possible because of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Reconciliation allows the party in control to pass legislation with a 51-vote simple majority in the Senate. The aim is to make it easier for Congress to make adjustments to laws that either bring in revenue or change spending levels.

It was first used in 1980 for the 1981 fiscal year and is not used every year.

"It's become the preferred tool over the past 25 years in this modern, partisan political era," said Donovan.

Republicans used reconciliation to pass tax cuts in 2017, and Democrats used it to pass elements of then-President Joe Biden's agenda, like the COVID-19 relief package and the Inflation Reduction Act. More recently, congressional Republicans used reconciliation to pass President Trump's signature legislative vehicle, the One Big Beautiful Bill.

How does it work? 

Reconciliation is a two-stage process.

It starts with a budget resolution that gives instructions to congressional committees to write legislation that achieves certain budgetary outcomes. For example, a resolution might include instructions to the Committee on Armed Services to report changes in laws within its jurisdiction that result in increasing or reducing the deficit by a certain amount.

Once the budget resolution passes out of committee, the committees that received instructions get to work.

The Budget Committee then incorporates all those bills into one big bill that's considered by the House and the Senate.

If there are disputes between the chambers, they have to resolve them.

Why do I keep hearing about vote-a-ramas?

Vote-a-ramas can be dramatic and drawn-out affairs where senators take up a marathon of amendments ahead of a final budget vote.

They begin in the Senate when debate on the bill ends. Senators essentially keep offering amendments on the bill until they run out of amendments — or steam — and decide to stop.

It is a rare chance for the party in the minority to bring legislation to the floor and is an opportunity for senators to try to undo parts of the budget resolution through objections known as budget points of order.

There are two vote-a-ramas in the course of the reconciliation process: one on the budget resolution, which is less consequential, and the second on the final proposed legislation itself.

"The amendments that happen in the final legislative package are really important — you're playing with live ammunition when you're on that final stage of reconciliation," said Donovan.

Why wouldn't reconciliation be used all the time? 

There are limits to budget reconciliation. It's used to make changes to the debt limit, changes to mandatory spending or adjustments in revenues. It cannot be used for discretionary spending.

There's also what's known as the Byrd rule, named after former Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

The rule allows anything determined not to have a direct budgetary consequence to be removed from the bill. The goal behind this is to prevent reconciliation from being used for measures unrelated to the finances of the federal government.

In other words, reconciliation is about money going out from the federal government and the money it takes in.

If a senator thinks a provision in the bill doesn't pass muster with the Byrd rule, the senator can raise a "point of order." The Senate parliamentarian advises the presiding officer on whether the provision violates the rule.

This could include anything that doesn't result in changes to spending or revenues, doesn't cause changes to Social Security or doesn't raise the deficit beyond the point of the budget window, which is usually 10 years.

This story is adapted from an earlier story, which can be found here.
Copyright 2026 NPR

I love seeing all the thoughtful responses to the new LACMA Geffen Galleries that folks have shared with us — keep them coming. In the meantime, our arts team is answering your questions about the new museum addition, so if you have questions about it — anything from architectural history to how to get tickets — please send an email to bestthingstodo@laist.com.

If you’re not headed out to get your country (and more!) on at Stagecoach this weekend, Licorice Pizza has plenty of music picks this side of the desert. Friday concerts in town include Third Day at the Forum, Patrick Watson at the Belasco, the Cribs at Echoplex and Alice Phoebe Lou at the Wiltern. Saturday has Getdown Services at the Roxy, Coach Party at the Moroccan Lounge and Tom Petty cover band extraordinaire Petty Party at the James R. Armstrong Theatre in Torrance. Sunday has Traitrs at the Roxy, Gabriel Kahane at Sid The Cat and Bethel Music at the Wiltern. And finally, the West End Girl herself, Lily Allen, serves her sweet revenge at the Orpheum on Saturday and Sunday, while animated pop diva Hatsune Miku takes over the Peacock Theater.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can find out when tickets go on sale for the FIFA World Cup fan fest in L.A., give a clap for my favorite LAist headline of the week about the landslide that threatened Rancho Palos Verdes’ trails, and get tickets for Saturday’s Go Fact Yourself live with Meaghan Rath and Hrishikesh Hirway.

Events

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Saturday, April 25, 1:30 p.m.
Buena Vista Branch Library 
300 N. Buena Vista St., Burbank 
COST: FREE, REGISTRATION REQUIRED; MORE INFO 

Taylor Jenkins Reid will be in Burbank for National Library Week.

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Emma McIntyre

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Author Taylor Jenkins Reid — the prolific brain behind favorite modern novels like Daisy Jones and the Six, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and many more — joins fellow author Laura Warrell (Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm) at the Buena Vista Branch Library as part of Burbank’s celebration of National Library Week.

Permission Poetics Slam Poetry Workshop

Friday, April 24, 3 p.m.
Heavy Manners Library 
1200 N. Alvarado St., Echo Park
COST: $28; MORE INFO 

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Heavy Manners Library

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Ready to unleash the slam poet inside you? Join writer and performer Erin Taylor for this workshop to help craft and perform your first slam poem, using the given theme of “Reunion” as a guide. Snaps all around!

Muumuus and Mimosas

Sunday, April 26, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Santa Monica Blvd. between Doheny Drive and La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Pride is just around the corner, but first find your best Mrs. Roper muumuu and sashay your way down to the Rainbow District (Santa Monica Boulevard between Doheny Drive and La Cienega Boulevard) for Muumuus and Mimosas. The City of West Hollywood hosts this afternoon of festive programming across the neighborhood’s various bars and restaurants, including brunch specials (natch), local vendors and more.

CicLAvia West LA 

Sunday. April 26, 9 a.m. 
Connecting Santa Monica Blvd. and Westwood Blvd.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy CicLAvia Los Angeles

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Get on your bikes and ride — this time through Westwood and West L.A. for a CicLAvia on the West Side. Check out the map before you go to make sure you hit up all the pop-ups along the three-mile route, including LAist's.

York Boulevard Road Concert

Sunday, April 26, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. 
York Boulevard, Highland Park 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

More than 40 site-specific performances, installations, music and interactive art will be featured along four miles of York Boulevard in Highland Park, all put together by The Road Concerts, and all free. Use any mode of transport that suits your fancy, see your neighbors and enjoy the art.

City of STEM 

Sunday, April 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
900 Exposition Park, South Lawn, Expo Park 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Like a science fair on steroids, the annual City of STEM and Los Angeles Maker Faire is an all-ages event that brings together young scientists and inventors from across the county. It’s free to attend, so get out there and get inspired by these young minds at work.

Benita Bike’s DanceArt

Saturday and Sunday, April 25 to 26
Lineage Performing Arts Center 
920 E. Mountain Street, Pasadena 
COST: $40; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Benita Bike DanceArt

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Los Angeles’ five-member chamber modern dance company, Benita Bike’s DanceArt, celebrates its 45th season with a weekend of shows including work created from 2017 up through this year. Benita Bike’s DanceArt is known for creating original dance works for the stage and presenting those works both in concert settings as well as in unique “Explore Dance” programs produced at neighborhood sites.

Celeste Dupuy-Spencer: Burning in the eyes of the maker

Through Saturday, May 30 
Jeffrey Deitch 
7000 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The art world sadly lost one of its young greats last week with the death of Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, whose work was provocative, detailed and incredibly timely. Her death at just 46 makes this exhibit at Jeffrey Deitch even more important to see; it’s on through May 30.

LA Yarn Crawl

Through Sunday, April 26
Various locations
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Nynne Schrøder

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Calling all fiber arts enthusiasts! Stock up on yarns of all colors of the rainbow at participating L.A. Yarn Crawl stores. With discounts, prizes, free patterns and more, all you knitters out there will be in sweater heaven.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Filipinos often show their love with the simple question: “Kumain ka na?” — Tagalog for “Have you eaten yet?” This is another way of asking, “Are you being taken care of?”

Since the days of Little Manila in the 1920s, Filipino food in Los Angeles answered that question quietly, feeding a hard-working community without much recognition. But that’s changed in the past decade, according to Eli Simon, COO of the former ghost kitchen turned lauded restaurant Manila Inasal.

The past decade has been marked by the rise of a new class of eateries led by Filipino chefs honoring the soul of traditional Filipino cuisine with modern flair.

“What’s changed in recent years is a new generation of Filipino and Filipino-American chefs who are approaching the cuisine with more intention,” Simon told The LA Local. “They’re telling clearer stories, refining how dishes are presented and helping people see the full range of what Filipino food can be.”

In 2016, the late L.A. Times food critic Jonathan Gold noticed a “Pinoy cooking boom in Los Angeles.” It seemed that Filipino cuisine was in the zeitgeist on television with Chef Sheldon Simeon wowing viewers on Top Chef and in L.A. with Chad and Chase Valencia’s pop-up in Chinatown called Lasa, which Gold praised for a menu that “vibrates with the flavors of the Philippines.” 

What followed was a pandemic-era generation of Filipino chefs noticing an opportunity to launch something new. Home kitchens became James Beard Award-recognized restaurants. And a cuisine that had long fed its own community almost exclusively began to feed everyone else too.

What once was seen as “exotic” has now broken into the mainstream. Even Trader Joe’s has embraced Filipino food with a frozen adobo dinner and ube-flavored everything — while causing online debates on the culture’s commodification. 

A vibrant spread of Filipino staples at Manila Inasal, including grilled inasal chicken, garlic rice and an array of traditional side dishes.

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“Our food is for the Filipino American longing to connect with their roots,” Manila Inasal executive chef Natalia Moran told The LA Local. “It’s for the American who has never tried Filipino [food].”

The reasons Filipino food took longer to break through are complicated, according to Moran. She pointed to colonization — the Philippines was occupied by Spain, the United States and Japan — and the way that history shaped Filipinos’ own relationship to their culture. 

“We had the mentality that anything imported was better than locally made,” she said. “We Filipinos had to see the beauty in ourselves, in our own culture, before we could showcase our culture, our identity to the world.”

Now they are. There are nearly a half-million Filipinos in Los Angeles County — the largest concentration outside the Philippines — and their chefs are cooking with a confidence and creativity that feels long overdue.

Today, there are dozens of high-quality Filipino chefs and eateries all over L.A. County. The restaurants below represent a small slice of the vanguard of that movement. 

From decades-old neighborhood anchors to the new wave of chef-driven concepts, here’s a guide to some of the best Filipino spots across L.A. 

Kuya Lord

Lord Llera opened Kuya Lord out of his home during the pandemic, feeding neighbors before the concept grew into a James Beard Award-winning brick-and-mortar on Melrose. Llera told The LA Local he wants non-Filipinos to discover Filipino food and crave it like Chinese, Thai or Japanese cuisine.

“Because I am doing Southern Filipino cuisine, it’s also a way of educating fellow Filipinos about other Filipino regional dishes,” he said.

Representing the Quezon province in the Philippines, Chef Llera offers distinct flavors from the region that can even be new to Filipinos in Los Angeles, serving super-savory proteins like the popular fatty and rich lucenachon — a hybrid of lechon and porchetta — alongside pancit and garlic rice.

Manila Inasal

A signature dish, the crab tortang talong reimagines the classic Filipino eggplant omelet by topping it with succulent crab meat and bright roe.

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Manila Inasal began in the Philippines in 2020, when Chef Moran and her siblings cooked for first responders during the pandemic. It quickly grew into a restaurant in its namesake city before moving to Los Angeles in 2023.

“I love how vibrant and diverse the culinary scene is here in L.A.,” Moran said. “There are authentic spots that are amazing, but there are also places that offer a hip and new take on dishes.”

Being exposed to the diverse culinary landscape of Los Angeles has enabled Chef Moran to reimagine traditional Filipino dishes. 

“It has broadened my understanding of which flavors can and cannot go together [and] which Filipino flavors go with other items that can be found here,” Moran explained. “The Los Angeles culture has exposed me to a whole color palette I can now use to create something delicious and interesting.”

Manila Inasal, which loosely translates to “Manila Grill,” roots itself in the savory, salty and tangy flavor profiles of the Philippines. In addition to their take on laing focaccia, joy can be found in the crispy and fatty lechon sisig, while beef short rib adobo represents the homeland proudly. Veggie versions of both dishes are just as satisfying.

Chef Moran also ups the ante with the traditional tortang talong by topping a thick eggplant omelet with dollops of calamansi aioli, crab meat and tobiko.

Sampa

Blending Filipino and Mexican influences, the kare-kare tamales feature peanut-based flavors wrapped in traditional corn husks.

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Filipino food has not traditionally been presented as “haute cuisine,” but restaurants like Sampa have subverted expectations, offering refined twists on tradition with a dash of swagger. 

Sampa — short for sampaguita, the national flower of the Philippines — took the long road to a permanent home. Chef Josh Espinosa and co-owner Jenny Valles launched as a delivery concept during the pandemic, staged pop-ups at the Pali Hotel in West Hollywood and Cafe Caravan in Los Feliz, and held a lunch residency at Kaviar before landing in downtown L.A.’s Arts District at the end of 2024.

Espinosa and Valles are constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to being bold and inventive with Filipino cuisine. The ever-changing Sampa brunch menu items include a chicken and pandan waffle, bangus benedict, and biscuits and longanisa gravy. Dinner brings octopus adobo, lamb kaldereta tortellini, crab fat fried rice and a plate of pancit topped with crispy duck. The kare kare tamales have become a standout.

A modern classic: Sampa’s longganisa spaghetti pairs the sweetness of Filipino sausage with a rich, savory sauce and floral garnishes.

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“I think what makes the Los Angeles Filipino food scene different is that this city is a hub for creatives — people constantly pushing ideas forward,” Espinosa told The LA Local. “Being surrounded by that energy naturally influences how we cook and create.”

Espinosa said he grew up embarrassed to bring Filipino food in Tupperware to school. Today he’s working to make the unfamiliar — including dishes like isaw, or chicken intestines — approachable without losing their soul. “My goal is to present these dishes in a way that feels familiar and accessible,” he said.

“Food is a love language in Filipino culture because, historically, many families in the Philippines do not have much, so cooking became a meaningful way to show love and appreciation with what you have,” Espinosa said. “At the end of the day, my goal is to tell my story as a Filipino American and to share that with the world.”

Valles said that Filipinos take great pride in family and tradition. “Food is a vessel that keeps memories alive.”

Mekeni Pinoy’s Pride

The draw at Mekeni Pinoy’s Pride is the buffet — a weekend breakfast spread and a Wednesday dinner service, both featuring around two dozen dishes and massive lines around the block. So reservations are highly recommended. 

The food is rooted in Pampanga, billed as the culinary capital of the Philippines. Show up on a weekday for à la carte service and order the oxtail kare-kare, pork belly adobo and the seafood sinigang. 

HiFi Kitchen

Pork Sisig from HiFi Kitchen features sizzling roast pork, finely chopped and tossed with onions, peppers and a house soy-vinaigrette, topped with fresh cabbage, chili oil and house crema.

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HiFi Kitchen is a nod to both high fidelity audio and Historic Filipinotown — both loves of founder Justin Foronda. Chef Foronda was born and raised in the neighborhood and is a former b-boy, registered nurse and musician.

He told The LA Local that he’d grown frustrated that HiFi felt invisible compared to Little Tokyo or Koreatown, so he opened HiFi, installing a mural that declares: “This is Historic Filipinotown.” 

The menu reads, as Foronda calls it, “proudly Filipino Angeleno.” It features rice bowls, silogs, tacos built on tocino pastor and vegan riffs on classics like veggie sisig. His more recent creation — a stuffed pastry he calls a “Filipino puffy taco,” inspired by the bright orange empanadas of Ilocos — is as Filipino-Angeleno as it gets. 

L.A. Rose Café

Established by Lemuel Balagot in 1982, L.A. Rose Café is a longtime neighborhood anchor that feels, in the best possible way, like eating at your tita’s or aunt’s house.

For the last four decades, it has served a solid, consistently good menu of Filipino dishes. Portions are generous. The lechon — Cebuano-style roasted pig — and a pork kidney and intestine soup called dinuguan rival those of restaurants in the Philippines itself. It is also one of the best places in the city for traditional halo-halo, or shaved ice dessert.

San & Wolves

A typical allergen-free dish at San & Wolves.

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Isabella Kulkarni

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The LA Local

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San & Wolves is Filipino-owned vegan bakery in Long Beach doing what most places won’t bother to attempt: recreating the childhood classics — ube halaya, pandan pudding — without any dairy. 

Founders Kym Estrada and Arvin Torres started the bakery to maintain their vegan diet without giving up the flavors they grew up with, and the results speak for themselves. Worth the drive.

Kusina Filipina

Kusina Filipina is in a banquet space in Eagle Rock that has the atmosphere of a divey comedy club — but the food, not the vibes, is the real star. From menu staples like pancit and crunchy pork sisig drizzled with calamansi juice to larger dishes like chicken adobo and a super-crispy pata that smells like pounded peppercorns, the menu is full of hits.

Neri’s

Neri’s is a prime place for takeout, but even more popular for their kamayan — the communal, hands-on smorgasbord served on banana leaves. First opened in 1984 in Historic Filipinotown, Neri’s is now a small storefront in a Koreatown retail mall on the corner of Wilshire and Alexandria. 

Aside from nutty kare kare and golden-crusted crispy pata, Neri’s kamayan dinner — which requires 48-hour advance reservations — is gigantic feasts with a never-ending bed of rice and nearly a dozen dishes eaten by hand, with set menus that range from grilled pork belly and pork skewers to garlic shrimp and boneless bangus.

The Park’s Finest

A sampling of the Filipino BBQ from The Park’s Finest in Echo Park.

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Park’s Finest started as backyard cookouts in Echo Park — the neighborhood that raised founder Johneric Concordia — before transitioning first into a catering company and now one of L.A.’s most popular BBQ joints. 

Concordia’s father, a Filipino American immigrant who served in the Navy, taught his sons the basics; the menu still honors that lineage, with the San Pablo pulled pork named for the family’s home province and Mama Leah’s coconut beef named after his grandmother.

The hot links are made with sweet Filipino sausage, the cornbread is mixed with rice flour and baked on a banana leaf, and the signature sauce is built on vinegar, garlic and chili — a direct nod to adobo. The coconut beef is the move: 16-hour smoked chuck stewed in coconut cream and fish sauce until it falls apart. 

Gerry’s Grill

Gerry’s Grill began as a single restaurant in Quezon City’s legendary culinary hub Tomas Morato. It has grown into an international franchise with multiple locations in Southern California, a spot in Qatar and one in Singapore — a city so serious about food it has hawker centers on the UNESCO heritage list.

The Artesia outpost makes a strong case for why. The menu hits all the classics — pork and bangus sisig, sinigang, lechon kawali, crispy pata — served in a room that gets loud and celebratory on weekend nights, with a live band included. 

The standout dishes are the grilled squid and the crispy kare-kare, and don’t skip the halo-halo.

Erick Galindo contributed to this report.