FOB Kitchen

"The tocino at FOB Kitchen is only available during their daily brunch, so use that as an excuse to spend a morning at this Temescal spot. The pork steak is caramelized around the edges like a sticky halo, and even better mixed around with a sunny-side-up egg, punchy garlic rice, and the house hot sauce. You’re also coming to the Filipino restaurant for golden brown lumpia, solid fried chicken, and cocktails with names like “Fresh Off The Boat” with pandan and red bean and “Feelin’ Myself” (mezcal, grapefruit, and guava). Whatever ends up on your table, prepare to spend an hour or two soaking in the tropical theme, complete with palm leaf murals and a clan of houseplants, and contemplating ordering another round of tocino." - julia chen 1, lani conway

"The tocino at FOB Kitchen is only available during their daily brunch, so use that as an excuse to spend a morning at this Temescal spot. It's the ideal time to get up close and personal with the pork steak, which is caramelized around the edges like a sticky halo, and even better mixed around with the sunny-side-up egg, punchy garlic rice, and the house hot sauce. You’re also coming to the Filipino restaurant for golden brown lumpia, solid fried chicken, and cocktails with names like “Fresh Off The Boat” with pandan and red bean and the tangy mezcal-based “Feelin’ Myself." Whatever ends up on your table, prepare to spend an hour or two soaking in the tropical theme, complete with palm leaf murals and a clan of houseplants, while contemplating ordering another round of tocino. photo credit: Krescent Carasso Food Rundown photo credit: Julia Chen Tocino The best brunch item on the menu, hands down. A pork steak the size of a keyboard is grilled until charred and caramelly, and served with garlic rice draped with an egg. If you don’t order this, you’ll spend the rest of the meal wishing you did. Longanisa Hash A solid hash with pork sausage, mini potato cubes, and a sunny-side-up egg on top. It’s got less of the “need-this-now” factor than the tocino, but still a great egg-centric option nonetheless. photo credit: Krescent Carasso Shanghai Lumpia It’s easy to finish off an entire order of these long, thin pork lumpia (six pieces per plate) in approximately 60 seconds, so do yourself a favor and start with three helpings for the table." - Julia Chen

"The restaurant’s vividly colorful, tropically inspired dining room is welcoming customers back indoors, where FOB chef Janice Dulce is still slinging some of Oakland’s best Filipino food. During the pandemic, the former pop-up leaned even more heavily into comfort foods (lumpia, pancit, pork adobo, and more) and offered its popular silog brunch plates all day — and all week — long. There are also multiple options for family-sized takeout meals." - Dianne de Guzman, Luke Tsai

"FOB Kitchen offers three-day-a-week brunch hours, which means you can snag one of their silogs (garlic rice breakfast plates). Try the one with tocino or the Filipino eggplant omelette on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings." - Dianne de Guzman, Lauren Saria

"Filipinos constitute the most populous Asian American community in California, yet many people lack the same familiarity with silog and lumpia as they do with sashimi, pad thai, or even xiaolongbao. It’s second-wave Filipino restaurants like FOB Kitchen that are doing the work to change that, as Jami and Brandi Dulce have resumed serving their incomparable crispy chicken skins and brunch items like an adobo fried rice with a sunny-side-up egg and pickled radish. The fact that there’s a full liquor license helps differentiate FOB further from old-school, turo-turo Filipino spots, and if you’re wary of the Tapatio in your cabinet, buy some bottled hot sauce and return the bottle for refills at a discount." - peter astrid kane