- Today, I'm gonna be heading off to the market
to pick up some goods
because this guy here is such a process to make.
I'd like to get it on the stove first.
So this is called Lechon Kawali.
This takes about
probably an hour to boil
and then I dry it in the oven,
and then I finish it off in the fryer.
While this thing is boiling,
we really got to go to the f****** market.
The beef has to be on there like now.
This is Pauly.
Pauly is, I guess he's like my sous chef.
I guess you're a sous chef, right?
- I guess so.
- I've known this guy for,
I don't know, maybe.
- Over 25 years.
- Yeah, well, you're 42, so at least 20 years.
While I'm out, he's gonna go
and start putting stuff together.
I think even work on the Mani.
High five, man.
We're always high-fiving, by the way.
It's like, what? High five.
All right, guys,
I'll do the autographs later.
Just sit still, all right?
Look out for these guys.
This guy right here, this guy, he's the loudest one.
He's got the biggest bark.
They like harassing me.
So we're at the market
and meeting my guy here, Bobby.
Bobby's my guy, man. He's my meat guy.
He's been here 30 years.
Awesome dude.
- [Bobby] 37.
- [Wes] 37. There you go.
Bob, I'm gonna pick up some shanks.
- [Bobby] This is the tastiest thing ever.
The only thing is you have to cook it for a long time.
- [Wes] Can I get you to cut it cross cut by the bone?
- [Bobby] Okay, my friend. Take care.
- Okay, I'll see you.
Right when it starts to creep into like 11,
that's when the panic sort of starts to creep in,
but get the beef on there and we should be on time.
Should be.
- Crush a few of these guys.
So what I'm gonna be making right now is Mani.
For me, I just like being with my friend.
He's one of my best friends
and it's fun just working with him.
We get each other's jokes
and get paid. (chuckles)
Not enough, though. Not enough.
You hear that, Wes? Not enough. (chuckles)
- So this is what keeps
my lovely locks locked down.
Okay. This looks good, man.
- Yep.
- You didn't f*** it up, right?
Did you season it yet?
- No.
- Make it super, super salty, man.
- Okay.
- So it's 11:15. We really gotta hustle.
We really gotta get this stuff going,
otherwise we'll be f****** scrambling again, brother.
- [Paul] Yeah. How's that?
- [Wes] Put more, man.
- [Paul] Put more? - [Wes] Yeah.
If you're not seeing the salt, then you put more.
- All right.
- So get this guy in there.
The oven's already preheated,
and all we're really doing is just drying it.
So popping this guy in the oven,
and I'm gonna start doing the beef.
So we just came back from the market.
Went to go see our friend Bobby
and hooked us up with some nice beautiful shank.
There you go.
Kind of do a little turn.
Is that good right there?
Bam.
To put this together is gonna take about three hours,
so we have to just start f****** rolling now.
The beef that I'm offering this week
is called Beef Mechadong.
Our dish are mainly made with a lot of,
I guess you would say cheap cuts,
but we make such beautiful dishes out of it.
Beef Mechadong is made with this hearty tomato sauce.
It takes about anywhere
between three and four hours to make.
The goal is to have
all the heavy meat dishes on the go.
By 10, 11 o'clock, it should already be moving.
First thing I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna start frying these guys.
We're a little bit behind today
because we were in the market,
but it doesn't mean we're late.
It just means we're not on schedule.
I love Filipino food. I love it.
I don't know if I'm allowed to say this,
but the one thing that really bugs me about Filipino food
and just in our culture in general
is that our food is looked at as something cheap,
and it's far from cheap.
A few cloves of garlic in there.
So all that flavor in there, I just want to lift it.
That's what I want.
Some tomato, onions.
The things that go into it, the love that goes into it,
the flavors that come out of the kitchen
that translate into these beautiful, beautiful dishes
is nothing less than spectacular.
I love how the bone marrow is still in there
so by the time this is done,
all that stuff is just all mixed in.
And the sauce there, three different kinds of soy sauce.
And just let it do its thing.
So I'm gonna start f****** up the pork.
Pork Adobo is another dish that's like,
if you're a Filipino, you know Adobo.
It's your f****** DNA.
So we've pre-cut these guys already as part of our prep.
The first step is to cook this guy down
and then get all the oils out of the pork.
And then you sort of just fry it in its own fat.
There's a lot of stuff that goes into it.
The most basic ingredients for Adobo
is really soy, garlic, onions, and vinegar.
Once everything's done,
there's about 7 to 11 ingredients in there.
If you're gonna cook based on measurement,
you're cooking based on someone else's technique.
The way I cook, it's all by feel, right?
And there's a sense of honesty that comes out of that
because you're really just cooking from the heart.
That sounds kind of corny,
but that's sort of how it is, you know?
Yeah, so the final step of this dish is the vinegar.
Again, I don't measure.
I would say that's what? A quarter cup?
The rule is that you don't stir it once you put it on.
Just let it simmer for a little bit.
Why do we do it?
I don't really know.
I was just told not to f****** touch it
once you put the vinegar.
So I do it like that and it comes out magic.
Now I can start stirring this bad boy.
Everybody knows Adobo in our culture.
Everybody has their own version.
Often times when you have Adobo,
it's always, you'll hear
my lola, which is my grandma,
or my lolo, grandpa, makes it the best
or my dad and makes it the best,
but to be honest with you, dude,
f****** mine's the best.
Like 1000%.
- Though my mom's is the best.
- No. Mine is the best.
Even your mom said mine is the best.
- It's kind of good. That's what she said.
- It's dope, right?
When you ask me
why don't you f****** stir it when you put the vinegar,
well, this is why.
- [Producer] Why?
- This is why.
This is why.
One of my customers I'm delivering to today,
I could even show you the f****** thread,
it's hilarious.
They specifically wait for the Adobo to drop
and then they just order like three, four of them
so that they can hold it for the week until my next run.
So is my Adobo good?
(beep) Right.
Rice is cooked, right?
I think we have about three orders of wings,
so that will be,
I think we can do that together.
That'd be cool? - Yeah.
- Like I said, we're not on schedule,
but we're on (beep) track, dude.
- Awesome.
- Let's go.
Basic seasoning here. Salt, pepper.
Just massage that guy in there.
Probably just put in the first batch
and we're doing the first fry.
After this, we take it out, let it sit for a little bit,
and then put it in for the final fry,
and that's what's gonna give it the crispiness that we want.
All this is so funny, dude.
You know, how we started.
We obviously lived very different lives.
We grew up doing (beep) together.
Went to high school together.
- Yeah.
We did a whole bunch of stuff.
- So, again, he's older than I am,
but we were in the same class.
And look at us now, dude.
We're side by side building something great together.
I wouldn't do this with anybody else, man.
- Up here.
- That's the history of us, man.
So this is the second fry.
More wings ready for dressing.
This is our sweet chili sauce.
We've been working on the branding for a while
then we finally started getting
our stamps in, our stickers.
That's a pretty big deal for us,
so it feels a little bit more real.
Open it.
We've always been legit,
but seeing your project come to life
the way that it's happening now,
it's pretty special, man.
Being on the other side of that,
like as a project manager working on clients to do,
you have to work in their dreams, it's different.
Put a little bit of garlic.
You guys know Bawang means garlic, right?
So this is our annatto oil.
That's the wings right there, man.
That's the famous sweet chili wings that we offer.
By 3:30, everything should be done,
and then we start bagging 4 o'clock.
By 5, I should be out of here.
- Good. All right, man.
- And this sort of happens super fast.
So these are the side,
these that go with our dish.
Yeah, this is good to go.
It's all done, right? It's all good?
So now I'm gonna do the Beef Mechadong.
Take the potatoes that we double fry
and then start laying out the meat.
And that's our Beef Mechadong.
- That one is stuck.
- Yeah, I think the pork is done.
This is Lechon.
That's Lechon.
You could eat it like that.
But the way we do it: extra, extra love.
You ready?
See how that starts to bubble up there? You see that?
That's three hours of work right there.
That's why when you said
what makes a fried pork dish delicious,
it needs to be f****** crispy, man.
And this is it.
When I first started this, I didn't know what I was doing.
I just knew how to cook.
And I didn't know the business side of it.
I didn't know how people are gonna react to it.
And now that I've gotten so many dishes out the door
and I've met so many people,
the confidence level is definitely up there,
to a point where I'm like
I fantasize about jumping into a restaurant.
And then I thought about it. I'm like, wait a minute.
The world is upside down right now.
It doesn't make sense for me to open a restaurant right now.
Maybe not.
But I think I'm pretty worthy
of putting out something really delicious, you know?
So that's one order right there.
So I'm gonna be here at about probably 5:15.
Everything needs to be bagged by then.
- Sure. - All right?
- Cool.
Anytime, as long as you give me a little bit of time.
- So the last part of this story
is now me hopping on my bike,
getting my ass to my place, pick up the car,
and head back here, pick up the goods and deliver.
- Just waiting on him.
Always, as per usual.
At the end of it, we're still really good friends.
Don't forget about me when you're like this big.
Bro! Come on, guy!
Oh, you know. You don't know.
They both have Lechon,
but one has wings and one has Adobo.
- [Wes] Perfect.
- [Paul] Want me to just help you with the other one?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- [Wes] Everything's here?
- [Paul] Yup. Yup.
- [Wes] Okay, let's go.
- [Paul] Good luck, man!
- Bro, I'm on my way.
Be there in like 10 minutes.
I work 14 to 18 f****** hours a day, man.
A day.
That's a grind.
See you soon.
And I go home with my 10% margin
and I still feel like, I don't feel duped.
I don't feel deflated at all.
I did this out of love and passion.
And then when I see people like actually
reach out and grab it and post it and celebrate it.
People build date nights around my food, which is crazy.
And people that have never had Filipino food before
are trying it with me for the first time.
Who the f*** am I? You know what I mean?
So that's the last delivery of the day.
And that's the sh**, dude.
That's the thing that makes me feel like
yeah, I'm actually doing something
that, one, I love,
two, that makes sense,
and, three, people actually appreciate it.
Okay, peace.
These guys order from me almost every week
and that's the thing that drives it home, man.
There's this level of satisfaction that you get
when you finish your run and then you have people like that
that just appreciates everything that you put out.
Just amazing, man.
It's just an amazing feeling, you know?