- [Narrator] Getting your car washed
is normally a bit of a chore,
but here in Northridge people are getting
more car washes than necessary.
And that's because of something delicious lurking inside.
- They always say, what?
Inside a car wash?
How come?
What happened?
How did you get here?
It's really funny because nobody would think
that we are here.
I'm Lilian, and I'm the owner of Lilian's Bread & Sweets.
And we're located inside a car wash.
- [Narrator] Lilian opened her restaurant in the car wash
for one simple reason.
She knew that being located in a car wash
would provide foot traffic and some new clients.
When you walk into Cruiser's,
you are confronted by the smells
of Little Tree air fresheners, steering wheel covers,
and other car cleaning paraphernalia,
but you are also confronted
with the smell of home-cooked Filipino food.
- Filipino food is simple but delicious.
We eat a lot of pork, chicken, and beef and rice of course.
We cannot eat our food without rice.
We are famous for our halo-halo.
Our halo-halo, they always say,
is the best in the west (laughs).
It is to die for.
- [Narrator] As someone who ate three halo-halos
in 24 hours, I can attest, it's really great.
Filipino food tends to be overlooked internationally,
but it's gearing up to be the next big thing
in the culinary world.
- On average in a day, we sell about 300 meals.
Cooking is really a passion for me, yeah.
Because if you are not passionate with what you're doing,
then you won't be able to succeed.
I'm really so grateful and thankful that I have my team
because without them I am nothing.
I think that's my secret.
- [Narrator] So the next time you treat yourself
to a car wash, you can splurge on more
than just a pine-scented air freshener.
You can splurge on that empanada-scented plate
of Filipino food, guaranteed to make your car smell better
than a little air freshener ever could.