Sbrocco: Creative smash burgers in Sebastopol... Griffin: My taste buds were just exploding.

Sbrocco: ...creek-side dining in Glen Ellen... Cruz: I was ready to stay a few days.

Sbrocco: ...and contemporary Filipino fare in Napa... Scharff: Best lumpia I've ever had.

Sbrocco: ...just ahead on "Check, Please!

Bay Area's" wine country road trip.

Phillips: Dip, dip.

Diaz: Dip, dip.

Mmm!

Phillips: That is so good.

♪ Sbrocco: Hi.

I'm Leslie Sbrocco.

Welcome to a special edition of "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

Today, we're exploring hidden gems in Sonoma and Napa wine country.

We have three guests, and each one recommends one of their favorite spots, and the other two go check them out to see what they think.

Joining me at the "Check, Please!"

table today are chef and culinary consultant Reino Cruz, investment manager Devin Scharff, and growth and wellness coach Jennifer Griffin.

Welcome, everyone.

How you doing?

Are you ready?

Griffin: Yes.

Cruz: Absolutely.

Sbrocco: Are you ready?

Scharff: Yes, we're ready.

Sbrocco: Devin gets things off to a smashing start with his hip little spot.

Featuring creative, playful takes on burgers, hoagies, and melts, it's the perfect place for a wine-tasting time-out.

Tucked away in Sebastopol, it's Lunch Box.

♪ Derek: Bacon, avocado.

[ Sizzling ] Megan: Chicken.

Lunch Box, when we started it, we wanted to be nostalgic.

Derek: And we just wanted to create, like, a really playful environment and a playful menu.

Growing up, I was, like, an '80s child, so I had a lot of, like, fun little unique, like, Ghostbusters lunch boxes and stuff like that.

I'm really big on food memories.

I feel like scent and tastes, like, can take you right back to a place.

And we thought, like, burgers and sandwiches and hoagies were the perfect way to do that.

And I really like to eat.

Eating is one of my favorite things to do.

So it kind of all fell into place.

Megan: Combines all the passions.

Derek: Yeah.

We've got a spicy burger... and a Burger Harn.

The Burger Harn is, like, our take on a West Coast drive-through burger, but we make it a little special because we grind our meat in-house.

We do, like, an onion butter where we confit onions and butter for like five or six hours, and we finish it with, like, miso and mushroom powder.

So it gives it, like, kind of like an umami oomph.

Megan: The smash burgers are typically where we get to do really fun things, and that's usually where we incorporate all the different cheeses that we make in-house.

This guy is going to be our spicy pepper cheddar.

So this one has cayenne peppers with the hot sauce base.

Derek: Right now we're doing, like, a pizza burger special that's really fun.

We're grinding pepperoni into the actual patty.

Man: Tastes like pizza.

Derek: We have, like, a little side car of marinara so you can, like, dip it in there.

One of my favorite moments is when all the food hits the table and then there's just, like, hopefully three or four minutes of silence where everyone just is, like, eating.

Megan: Sometimes people will stay a really long time, and that always makes us feel good, 'cause we're like, oh, it's really comfortable.

You'll see people reconnecting with friends.

There's a lot of wonderful food in town.

So when they choose to dine with us, it definitely makes us feel good.

Man: Mmm!

Sbrocco: Now, Devin, your pick is sort of an alternative to fine dining in wine country, right?

Scharff: Oh, it is, yes, but don't count it out, right?

Sbrocco: Right.

Scharff: 'Cause when you're on the wine road, you're definitely going to want something that's savory, greasy, juicy.

Sbrocco: Fill up your belly.

Scharff: Fill up your belly.

And that's exactly what Lunch Box will do with high-quality ingredients from local producers.

Just one of those places that you feel warm and welcome when you walk in the door.

My staple is the fried onion Oklahoma burger.

Sbrocco: Okay.

Scharff: Two smash patties charred on the grill with onions that are fried underneath the patties.

Now, what Derek does is he takes these two patties, melts cheese over the top on a soft brioche bun.

It is one of the simplest but most flavorful burgers I've ever had.

It's just an awesome experience, too.

Sbrocco: An awesome bite.

Cruz: Yeah.

Sbrocco: Reino, what did you think?

Cruz: You know, hearing that you also had the fried onion Oklahoma burger, I realize I did order correctly.

They really let the meat and the onions really develop the flavor in there, along with the bun.

First bite into it, you realize they're using a really good quality beef.

The other thing, too, is I've had experience where some smash burgers, they really kind of short you on the meat.

So it's more about the gimmicky aspect of the smash burger.

Next thing you know, you have this burger and you don't actually feel like you're having a burger.

Not the case at Lunch Box.

Scharff: Nice.

Griffin: Well, I have driven by this restaurant so many times, and I've always looked over that way and said, "I'm going to stop.

I'm going to stop one of these days."

And this was a perfect opportunity.

So, I went the traditional route.

I had the Rachel, which was a thinly sliced turkey breast, and it had this amazing coleslaw which was nice and creamy, with the Havarti cheese, on a toasted Red Bird sourdough bread.

It was amazing.

I mean, this thing was huge.

It came out, and it was like a double-decker, maybe four to five inches tall, with a little tiny pickle.

Sbrocco: How did you get it in your mouth?

Griffin: Yeah.

Really strategic.

Sbrocco: Compressing it.

Griffin: Yeah.

I just fell in love with this place.

Cruz: My brother actually lives close by, and he drives by it every single day.

And he never had a chance to go.

And this was his excuse to come with me.

He veered from the smash burger, and he actually gave the Reuben a try.

And, you know, the minute they put his Reuben down, I knew I needed at least a bite of it, if not more.

The ratio to meat to bread was wonderful.

It was double-stacked.

So when they bring it over, it does have a look where it gets put in front of you and you kind of wonder, like, "Okay, I'm gonna have to conquer this thing."

But when him and I get together, there's really nothing left over.

Sbrocco: That's right, that's right.

Scharff: One of the things I love is the griddled mortadella sandwich.

They roll up the mortadella and they fry it on the grill and put Havarti cheese on it with kind of a hoagie style.

It's incredible and something that I think is just something super special there.

You can obviously order the fries when you get a side, but you can also upgrade to dirty fries, just as a pro tip.

They cover in their ranch.

The ranch is so good.

It's homemade there.

I wish they would bottle it so I could buy some.

They put roasted garlic on it and bacon bits.

But the special secret ingredient, I think, is the peperoncini.

And every bite adds that kind of spice and tang to it.

We've never left any dirty fries just sitting in the bowl.

Sbrocco: You left it clean, baby, clean.

Scharff: Clean, clean, yeah.

Sbrocco: Clean plate, dirty fries.

Scharff: Absolutely.

Griffin: So, I had the radicchio salad.

It was nice and tart.

And then you mix that with the Caesar dressing, and, oh, my God, my taste buds were just exploding.

I loved every single thing about that salad.

Cruz: It's this delicious little accompaniment that really kind of breaks through all the greasier food that you're having and really balances it out, especially when you're, you know, washing everything down with some dirty fries.

Scharff: Yeah.

We had a local beer on tap.

I had the IPA, which was a fantastic beer.

So usually just get whatever local rotating beer they have on tap.

Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

Griffin: I had a cider.

It was amazing.

It was from a company out of Sebastopol, and it was Satsuma plum and Gravenstein apple.

It was just out of this world.

It was perfectly dry, very refreshing.

Sbrocco: Did you feel like it was good value?

Cruz: I did feel like it was good value.

From the minute that we walked in, we were greeted with a smile.

The smells were great.

I was already planning on going back, and the mortadella sandwich is already on my radar.

So now I guess I'm going back quicker than I thought.

Sbrocco: That's right.

Well, if you would like to try Lunch Box, it's located on North Main Street in Sebastopol, and the average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $40.

Jennifer's uncovered another hidden treasure in Sonoma.

With rustic farm-to-table cuisine and a serene garden setting, this spot is made for slowing down and savoring the moment.

Tucked inside historic Jack London Village, it's The Mill at Glen Ellen.

♪ ♪ Jaffe: The Mill at Glen Ellen is just like my home.

I am connected to every part of it.

The Mill was built by General Vallejo.

It was the very first building in Glen Ellen.

He built this spur of the railroad to take his lumber to San Francisco.

Singh: We like old rustic buildings, and we are old school, as well, so it fits perfectly with that.

And the best part about this -- the nature around it.

♪ Jaffe: I tend to look at my food as being eclectic.

I put whatever I want to eat on the menu.

Singh: Our food is very unique and different -- the flavor, the presentation, We wanted to create a menu where everybody in a family can come and eat and enjoy: vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free.

Woman: Thank you.

Singh: Some of my favorites are the crispy fried tofu.

I love our clam chowder, as well.

As far as a burger, burger is the most popular on the whole menu.

Whenever they make it, my mouth actually waters.

And we have a special that we change every day.

That is our house pizza.

Jaffe: Our pizza is garnished, and it's beautiful.

And everybody is really surprised 'cause it doesn't look like just a pizza.

Man: It's nice and jammy.

Singh: When we were thinking about choosing the wine, we wanted to make sure that they are local.

We have to love them before we put it out to the guest.

And when the guests taste them, they will love it more.

Man: Wow.

Woman: Whoo!

Oh!

Jaffe: This staff has been with me, some of them, as many as 35 years.

We are all about service and connection.

Singh: Taking care of people, I've always loved doing that, and that just came naturally to me.

Jaffe: People feel welcome, and that is our goal.

Singh: Grilled cheese sandwich.

Woman: Yum.

Boy: Amazing.

Man: Alright.

Sbrocco: Now, Jennifer, what's so special to you about this place?

Griffin: Oh, the first thing that comes to mind is my nervous system.

When I drive up and park and I start to walk across the bridge, they have this amazing waterfall, and I hear the creek.

I just look forward to coming to this restaurant.

You feel like you're on vacation.

Sbrocco: Did you feel, you know, the sense of serenity when you walked into the place?

Cruz: I was ready to stay a few days.

Started off with this delicious appetizer of these grilled prawns with chimichurri, and by putting the prawns on the skewer, they were able to really cook them evenly, with this freshly made chimichurri right on top.

Devoured each one after squeezing a little extra lemon on top.

These things were absolutely perfect.

Griffin: So, what I ordered the first time, we got a pizza to share.

It was a spinach, mushroom, and a roasted garlic.

And it had some thyme.

And I think instead of, like, a traditional pizza sauce, they use a crushed tomato, which is light and delicate.

Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

Griffin: It's simple, but then they top it with some mixed greens, some bitters, which is neat.

Scharff: I want to talk about the airline chicken.

I never heard of an airline cut before, which is essentially just the leg and the breast.

And so what was really interesting about it, when it came out, it was tandoori, almost, style, and it had this really crisp skin, but the chicken was so tender.

And then you had this layer of potato gratin underneath that was just super cheesy and creamy.

It was just an amazing dish.

And actually a customer came up and said he loves this meal so much that if he had a last meal, this would be it.

Sbrocco: Oh, that's high praise, isn't it?

Scharff: So, it's kind of a cool story.

Sbrocco: Yeah.

Did you have a bite of the chicken?

Cruz: I did not have a bite of that chicken.

But I will tell you how impressed I was with their chicken salad.

This thing came out, and it felt like it was literally, like, handpicked mixed greens.

It was just so beautifully put together.

It had tomatoes on it.

They had these little spheres of avocado, which really played into it, and it had some tortilla strips for this accompaniment, but it had this shredded chicken in it.

And it was so well done.

It was so moist.

They sous vide the chicken and they do it at the perfect temperature.

So when they put together the salad, next thing you know, salad's gone.

Griffin: It's magic.

We also got the edamame hummus that comes with a grilled portobello mushroom.

It's really fun to eat 'cause you can kind of pick at everything and build your own bite.

Sbrocco: Did you have anything to drink with your meal?

Griffin: Every single time I go, I get the Pomegranate Spritz, which is like a play on Aperol Spritz.

Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

With a prosecco, right?

Griffin: With a prosecco, yeah.

It's so refreshing.

I'm always trying to, like, pace myself, because I can go through them pretty quickly.

Cruz: When I started talking to my waiter, he mentioned they have Shrubs, and I'm actually a huge fan of Shrubs.

I like the acidity.

I like the vinegar.

I like that sort of thing.

But the Shrub with the strawberry that they put into this beautiful cocktail glass, along with some strawberry pulp at the bottom, and it just looks beautiful.

Scharff: I had the Malaysian laska, which was a coconut-based soup, sort of like a curry, with udon noodles.

So every bite you're getting chicken, you're getting udon.

Just an amazing dish, as well.

Sbrocco: Alright, now dessert.

Cruz: Burnt Basque cheesecake.

Griffin: Ooh, yum.

Cruz: It was this beautiful wedge, dark on the outside, garnished with a handful of beautifully picked berries.

I mean, everything just seemed super fresh, which offset the creaminess of the Basque cheesecake.

And the little bit of the burnt component almost gave it sort of a crème brûlée sort of offset, amazing.

Scharff: I actually grew up 15 minutes down the road, and I had never been to The Mill, and what a special treat this place was.

Sbrocco: Well, and there's such history in the property itself.

Scharff: Such history.

I mean, it was an incredible hospitality.

I was just super happy that you recommended it because I would have never stumbled upon it.

I definitely will be going back.

Griffin: Yeah.

Sbrocco: Alright, if you would like to try The Mill at Glen Ellen, it's located in Jack London Village in Glen Ellen.

The average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $55.

Our next wine country stop takes us to Napa, home to Reino's favorite new find.

It's led by a trailblazing chef who's redefining the local food scene at Carabao Filipino Eatery.

♪ Cunningham: This is the sisig taco with three kinds of pork.

Squeeze some lemon, too.

This is a deviled egg marinated in vinegar and soy sauce.

Carabao is the first Filipino eatery here in Napa.

I've got the sizzling sisig.

The chicharrón.

Filipino cuisine is a mix of different cuisines that kind of like colonized the Philippines before.

So there is like a Spanish, Chinese, and Western cuisine mixed into it.

So this is the pork inihaw topped with atchara and some spiced vinegar.

The first time I move here is 2018.

I work in some hotel and restaurant, and then I'm fortunate to become a chef de partie at The French Laundry.

Here at Carabao, we use a technique that I learned at TFL but introducing the Filipino flavors presented in a more modern way and also with all the California produce that we use here.

The oxtail kare kare is a stew meat traditionally served with a coconut peanut sauce.

What we do in Carabao, instead of just straight-up stew meat, we make a croquette from it.

We still put back the bone in the middle so you still get the feeling of, like, where it's like sucking the bone with all the meat and stuff like that.

Before you eat food, your eyes see it first.

So I harvest this earlier this morning.

I love using blossom for the garnish.

Sometimes people feel bad touching it because it's so pretty.

I love seeing the people eating the food I cook, like, smiling, like, "Mmm!"

That's, like, very satisfying.

Woman: Mmm!

Cunningham: Carabao is a water buffalo that's used in the rice field.

So it's like a symbol of the hard work of me, my husband, and all the friends that helped us.

And then on the hallway, there is six birds.

It represents my six years here in America.

It's maya bird, so it's represent of freedom.

There's like a life cycle.

That's why it's going up and down.

So don't give up.

Just keep flying.

Sbrocco: Now, Reino, I would have to say this absolutely qualifies as kind of a local secret find in wine country that people, I'm sure, don't know about it unless you're local living in that area.

Cruz: Oh, Carabao.

Um, you know, and being half Filipino, I sort of recognize Filipino food as being one of the most nostalgic cuisines around, as far as I'm concerned.

Having Filipino family, I've always been around the fact that if it's not your lola's adobo, it's not done right.

Sbrocco: Right.

Cruz: So I think the nostalgia around it has really kind of kept it at a slower pace as far as advancing into our regular culinary scene.

Sbrocco: Right.

Cruz: But then came Carabao.

Scharff: The ambiance in the restaurant is beautiful.

You feel like you're in a really elegant experience.

First thing is the lumpia.

Best lumpia I've ever had, right?

So I've had a lot of lumpia.

And the way this was prepared with just the pork filling being so juicy and just a light wrapper, right?

Usually it's all wrapper and not enough filling.

This was completely the opposite where it was a massive amount of pork filling.

Cruz: I've been rolling lumpia longer than I can remember.

My mom had me in the kitchen doing it before the holidays.

But the lumpia Shanghai, the style that they have that's smaller and sort of bite size, it was amazing.

And then also the sweet chili sauce, which a lot of people resort to bottled, but Chef Jade does an amazing job making her own homemade sweet chili sauce there.

When I went back the last time, they sat us at the chef counter.

So now all of a sudden, I'm sitting there two feet away from all the wonderful stuff that's happening here.

And they were doing a tasting menu.

So the first thing that came out was the lumpia, but it came out with an adobo deviled egg.

Cunningham: This is the adobo deviled egg topped with a smoked trout roe, some crispy garlic, and some pickled onion, as well.

Cruz: And what they do is they take the hard-boiled egg and first they soak it in a, similar to adobo, soy sauce and vinegar marinade.

They take the yolk and make a mousse out of the interior, and then just a beautiful little garnish on the plate, and there we go.

Sbrocco: Yeah.

Scharff: We did the sisig tacos, and I couldn't even see the tortilla.

It was so packed with just this amazing, bountiful amount of meat.

And then you have a little bit of lettuce, and then there's a fresh lemon which you drizzle over the taco.

And then -- Oh, I forgot the part that's the most amazing -- the quail egg, right?

There's a quail egg that's on top.

These were insane.

Griffin: We ordered the sizzling sisig as our entrée.

Cruz: Oh, awesome.

Griffin: And it's made with this delicious pork belly.

And it's on this cast-iron skillet.

And it's just -- it's just smoking and sizzling.

Everyone's mouth just immediately starts watering.

And the garlic rice, can we talk about it?

Did you upgrade?

Scharff: I didn't get it, unfortunately.

We weren't directed.

Sbrocco: The garlic rice.

Griffin: It is amazing.

I found myself wondering how they're able to do that, 'cause it has so much flavor.

The garlic rice, like, blew my mind.

Cruz: Next on the tasting menu was kinilaw, which is basically the Filipinos' version of ceviche.

Lots of times in Filipino cuisine, they use calamansi limes.

It has the look of a regular small lime but the essence on the inside of a mixture of almost like a mandarin and a lime.

So it has a little bit more of a sweetness.

They basically cover the hamachi with that, but then they place the hamachi on this smoked coconut milk.

And the first time you put a bite in your mouth, it's -- it's just all these different things coming from different angles.

And you kind of can't wait to get back into the next bite.

This last time that I was there, I still hadn't tried their pansit, which is basically like a Filipino version of a stir-fry with noodles.

There were a couple prawns sitting on top, along with their lechon kawali.

That is their crispy pork belly.

Scharff: Yeah, we had the pansit, too.

And every single noodle, every single vegetable is just super flavorful with this awesome sauce.

Every bite was crispy, juicy.

I mean, it was just amazing.

Sbrocco: Can you go wrong with pork belly, really?

Scharff: You really can't.

Cruz: You really can't.

Sbrocco: It's hard.

Scharff: Yeah.

Sbrocco: And I have to bring up the drinks, because Chef Jade's husband... Man: This is the Priest Ranch Sauvignon Blanc.

Sbrocco: ...is a wine expert and has put together a really curated, wonderfully fun, and I think ideal for the cuisine wine list.

Scharff: My girlfriend got the Sauvignon Blanc, which she loved, and then I got the Drake's Hazy Juicy beer that they had on tap, which went really well with all the menu items we got.

Griffin: I ordered a glass of Cab.

You know, I was looking at the food, and I'm like, "This might not work," but it totally worked.

It was perfectly paired.

Cruz: They make this one drink with carbonated water, but they add the calamansi lime and they actually add Yakult, which is a probiotic.

So now all of a sudden you have this sort of citrus and creaminess along with this carbonation, and they brought it to me in a beautiful glass.

And so, you know, I didn't feel left out at all.

Scharff: Wow.

Griffin: Yeah.

Sbrocco: So that sounds like dessert, but we have to talk about desserts.

Cruz: Cassava cake.

The way they use the cassava root to get into this cake, it just had almost like a mochi texture.

But I think it's a compliment to dessert sometimes when I say, you know, it's not too sweet.

You know, it's just nice.

It's nice and sweet enough.

It completes the whole meal.

Scharff: Wow.

Griffin: That's amazing.

Sbrocco: Alright, if you would like to try Carabao Filipino Eatery, it's located on Gasser Drive in Napa.

And the average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $60.

And now reporte Cecilia Phillips has more Wine Country bites youve just gotta try.

She's tempting our tastebuds with a whirlwind tour of the Napa Valley Taco Trail.

When I think of Wine Country, I think of beautiful vineyards, sipping a little bit of rosé.

But maybe this whole time I should have been thinking of tacos.

Yeah, our locals right here love our tacos.

How did this area become known for having fantastic tacos?

It has to do with the field workers, the people that were working in the wine industry, and they come out for work and they come and try to find food that they can actually relate to.

My father had the first taco truck here in Napa Valley.

What is the taco that you do?

You just do one thing and you do it really well.

Tacos de cabeza al vapor.

Steamed beef head tacos an don't knock it ‘til you try it.

It's like a pot roast.

It cooks for 14 hours and melts in your mouth.

It's just onions, cilantro and our special salsa.

Just squir a little bit of lime in there.

Okay.

You take a bite of the taco, maybe a bite of that radish and then a bite of that chil pepper, if you're brave enough.

There you go.

Oh, no.

Why did I think it wasn't going to be that spicy?

Delicious.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

On to the next one.

Let's go.

Tacos El Muchaho Alegr just means happy full of vibes.

And you know we make sure that everyone that comes here leaves with a smile.

So you all do some amazing tacos here, but you're really known for one thing, right?

Yes.

And that is the shrimp taco.

The shrimp gets grilled.

We put a little bit of cheese on the tortilla.

Cabbage tomato, avocado, pickled veggies and our chipotle aioli, which is homemade, which you will not find anywhere, and it is amazing.

Alright here we go.

Cheers.

To this chipotle aioli.

The chipotle aioli.

I've never had anything like it.

You're right.

So good.

Ill get a napkin.

He took off to get napkins ‘cause this is messy.

I got your no onion no cilantro.

Im here at the next stop.

Super excited because I would say I'm pretty addicted to tacos.

I think that you agree?

I agree 100%.

You at Taco Addiction do one really amazing unique thing very well.

What do you do?

We do puffy tacos.

Okay, so what's a puffy taco?

It's a handmade, deep-fried taco.

So w handmake our masa daily fresh.

And we put them in a tortill press, put them on the plancha to make it nice and warm.

Pan fry them because we like it homestyle here.

And then we fill it up with our top-selling item, which is the birria, and it comes with our consomé dipping sauce.

Dip dip.

Dip dip.

I'm sorry, I just need to take a moment to cry.

That is so good.

If I'm in Wine Country, this is what I'm drinking.

I've been moving along this Taco Trail.

It took me a little bit to find you.

We're, like, almost in the forest here.

But I found you from the smell.

Alright.

I love to hear that.

So what are some of the things that you do really well here?

Everything.

Everything.

All depends what you really love.

But really, for me is the campechano.

Campechano is a mix of pastor and beef.

Okay.

But it comes with cilantro, onions and red salsa on top of it.

Okay.

Ooh.

Yes.

Alright.

Mm.

So good.

I gotta hit the trail, again.

Wish me luck, okay?

I will.

Alright, here we go.

With all my heart.

Last stop, Rutherford.

So I heard that this is the spot that I have to come to to try some amazing tacos.

So what's the story with this place?

Tell me about it.

Well we've been around for 58 years.

It's been a family-run business.

We are known for our burritos, quesadillas.

And you can't go wrong with a taco.

It's like a nice little bite.

You can have, like, a quick little... Not so little, but yeah.

Our carnitas are slow-cooked and manteca with oranges and othe little special things going on.

Okay, look at these.

These are not very small at all.

Cheers.

Oh yeah.

So good.

That's my favorite part.

I think I've had enough tacos for a lifetime.

But if I come back up you'll have more for me to try, right?

Definitely, yeah.

Alright.

Make sure you take a flan on the way out.

Ooh, okay.

Don't mind if I do.

Yeah.

I have to thank my guests on this week's show.

Devin Scharff, who swears by the smash burgers at Lunch Box in Sebastopol.

Jennifer Griffin, who settles in for creekside dining at The Mill at Glen Ellen, and Reino Cruz, who craves the kare kare at Carabao Filipino Eatery in Napa.

Join us next time when three more guests will recommend their favorite spots right here on Check, Please!

Bay Area.

I'm Leslie Sbrocco, and I'll see you then.

Cheers, everyone!

Woohoo!

I'm a huge fan of the tuna melt.

My grandma Nancy, anytime we would come into the house, she would say, like you want a tuna melt and like you always had to say yes.

If you said no, like, she thought something was like physically wrong with you.

It's a really, really delicious tuna melt and it really holds like a place in my heart.

When I was looking for work, I went to a lot of kitche and a lot of people rejected me.

Then I met Dana and she finally gave me my first break.

Basically because we were working together, I fell in love with her and we've been together for 25 years.

I don't mind working long hours because it's kind of like nourishing to me, seeing the guests.

My ears is like, turning hot when they come in here because they're like, “Oh, chef, like, we're so proud of you.” Im like, thank you so much.

Sometimes I feel like want to cry when they're telling me that.

But like, just keep smiling.

Your dad made a huge impact on this community and he changed the culture of eating from food trucks.

What does that mean to you?

I'm just trying to live up to his legacy.

I mean, its just the reason why we're still here and the reason why we're still producing the same thing and the reason why we don't change.

You know what I mean?

Set the price.