Portrait by Jessica Turner.
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Jessica Turner.
Photography by Jessica Turner.
053123_MariesKitchen_KathyTran_IMG_0997
Photography by Kathy Tran.
Tucked into a cozy, supply-packed 1,050 square-foot corner suite of a Greenville Avenue office tower, Marie’s Kitchen wasn’t exactly the talk of the town, although office workers in the building certainly knew about the hidden gem. Even then, Marie and Jay said they saw their mom-and-pop operation as a platform to elevate their native cuisine into the mainstream and introduce unfamiliar palates to Filipino food.
These days, things look a little different in suite #103 of Forest Green Office Park. Several tables have been added to account for increased foot traffic, and seats have been placed near the entrance to accommodate overflow customers waiting to try silog or one of Marie’s daily specials. Some afternoons, there’s even a line out the door.
“We’ve been open for six years, and me and my husband were talking that we’re blessed that we got to six years, and then people are starting to recognize us,” Marie says. “So our hard work is paying off.”
She and Jay also have plenty of social media savvy, which likely contributed as much as anything to the spike in popularity. Marie’s Kitchen’s Instagram account, which boasts over 3,000 followers, announces daily specials weekly and advertises the eatery’s now well-known selection of Filipino breakfast meals.
Since March, Marie’s Kitchen has been tagged in quite a few food influencer Instagram reels advertising “authentic Filipino food” in a “hole-in-the-wall” setting. One reel, shared by local influencer Anisha Holla, amassed over 150,000 views and more than 100 comments. Past the exposure gained from their visits, Ramos says the influencers provide another vital service: guiding prospective customers through the kitchen’s hard-to-locate door.
“A lot of the influencers have been showing where to go,” she says. “This is not a regular place. It’s an office building, but they’re showing them exactly how to go through that door on the side.”
Marie’s Kitchen is also now open on Sundays. While café sandwiches are only available during the week, silog, Filipino lunch specials and breakfast options like ube pancakes drizzled with purple sauce are all available during the weekend.
Ramos says it’s become one of their busiest days.
“There’s a lot of people that want to try us because our hours are odd,” Ramos says. “They’re banking hours, so the people that can’t come during that time, they come on Sunday. And then we opened up on the holiday, Memorial Day, and then a lot of people came then, too, because they’re not working that day. People have a chance, because they’re curious.”
Most of the new customers are also Filipino cuisine first-timers, she says.
“We have to explain to them how to eat the food, and at first, they’re like, ‘Oh, rice for breakfast. Kind of odd.’ But it’s normal for us,” she says. “For some reason, a lot of people, mostly non-Filipino, eat silog now, and that’s what we want. We talked last time how we wanted it to become mainstream. So for some reason the Texan palette is accepting the silog.”
Silog, a typical Filipino breakfast plate of a protein like lechon kawali (fried pork belly) or tapa (steak), garlic fried rice and a fried egg, is still the café’s No. 1 seller. Daily specials have become increasingly popular, however.
For the specials, Marie prepares dishes representing various regional cuisines from the Philippines, a highly diverse archipelago of over 7,000 islands. Some, like humbà, a spiced dish of slow-braised pork, hail from her native Visaya, while others invite those from Manilla and other regions to taste a bite of home.
“We do our island version and then some other islands, too, so at least people can see and if they’re from the island, they can come in and support us and try it because they miss it,” Ramos says.
One of the most popular returning specials is kare kare, a rich curry of oxtails, peanut sauce and grilled vegetables. Marie and Jay have also begun making siopao, a steamed barbecue pork bun derived from baozi, to accompany the specials.
Sandwiches are available Monday-Friday, with the most popular being the turkey club, served with house-made chipotle mayo. The “American” food is mostly for workers in the office building, who have since rearranged their schedules as the café becomes more popular, Marie says.
The café is still a true mom-and-pop, with Jay and Marie as the only full-time employees.
Ramos says seeing her business grow has been extremely rewarding and that it could potentially expand in a significant way in the future.
“Me and my husband are really happy that we’re at least getting traction and things. Our brand is building up,” she says. “Since our brand is solid now, maybe eventually, when things get better, we can come out here and do an actual brick and mortar.”
Marie’s Kitchen, 11910 Greenville Ave. #103, 972.234.8383
