Emmett T.
Yelp
Lia's Lumpia has moved into a brick and mortar location after being a mobile food truck for so long. The setup is at a house in Barrio Logan where the short-lived Cafe Califas did business for maybe half a year. The front patio still has outdoor seating, but you no longer enter the premises to place an order. A service window on the house porch is where you select and pay for your food. The current operating hours are Thursday, Friday, and Sunday from 1 to 8 pm. On other days of the week, the truck may be slinging grub elsewhere in town.
Besides several varieties of lumpia, the menu offered three styles of chicken wings, sweets (turon, malasadas), street tacos, a smash burger, and two sides. Each lumpia order contained eight pieces. Although it's not written on the menu, you can get a half-and-half order which was what I did. My split was four pieces of Lola's (traditional) and four pieces of Pork Belly Sisig. I also selected the Chicken Adobo Street Tacos to complete my meal.
The first set of lumpia contained beef, pork, celery, carrots, red onion, garlic, water chestnut, and Asian marinade. A dip of sweet chili sauce was provided on the side. The second set featured seared pork belly, red & green onion, rice, kalamansi mayo, crispy garlic, and micro chives. The crispy rolls were fresh out of the fryer when the takeout box was handed to me. The taste of the pork belly was unctuous. The only issue I had with the lumpia was the price. I'm used to paying $1 or less per piece from the local mom-and-pop Filipino spots. While this place has some creative versions (e.g. mac 'n cheese), the cost of $12+ for most of the orders was steep.
As for the street tacos which came in a quantity of three, shredded chicken meat was marinated in sweet soy sauce. Rice, adobo mayo, cucumber, pico de gallo, crispy garlic, green onion, and micro cilantro were the other components. I was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the chicken. It balanced the savoriness of the garlic and vinegar. The property will be transformed into a modern restaurant (Milagros) next year so be on the lookout for the expansion and more Filipino cuisine to come.