Praise Kuya Lord!
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Chef Lord Maynard Llera (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Llera)
Popups are temporary eateries that are located in homes, gallery spaces or non-business hours of an existing restaurant. Family-style trays can be ordered off the latest Kuya Lord menu posted on Instagram @kuyalord_la or Facebook @kuyalord.la up to two weeks in advance of the pickup date.
Kuya Lord emphasizes Southern Tagalog cuisine from Chef Maynard’s birthplace of Lucena City in Quezon Province. He left the Philippines in 2000 to live briefly in Los Angeles before going to New York City to train at the Culinary Institute of America, then settling down near Los Angeles for good. Pancit Chami is the favorite noodle dish from his home region. “Most Filipinos are aware of Pancit Canton or Bihon. It’s mostly the people of Quezon who know the flavor of the fresh, thick noodles in Pancit Chami.”
Kuya Lord’s Pancit Chami (Source; @kuyalord_la)
Filipino Standards with Foreign Accents
Kuya Lord’s menu reminds Filipinos of home but always with a personal twist. “I can make adobo in many different ways depending on the province I visit. I’ll venture further beyond the borders and use French vinegar or Japanese soy. Sometimes, I use duck instead of pork or chicken. For my Sinigang (Filipino comfort soup), I might use Mediterranean flounder. I like to use different kinds of spices that don’t grow in the Philippines but still enhance the flavor of the dish.”
He and his friend Chef Barb Batiste of Big Boi and B Sweet are scions in the emerging family of inventive Filipino cooks in Los Angeles. Chef Maynard, along with fellow Fil-Ams Chad Valencia of LASA and Charles Olalia of Rice Bar, were part of the Unit 120 popup incubator formed by Alvin Cailan, whom we thank for Eggslut. Called “Kuya” or older brother by the culinary brotherhood, Chef Maynard named his popup Kuya Lord and his background made a popup the perfect gig.
While his trendsetting brothers were embossing Filipino cuisine onto the dining map, Chef Maynard was opening restaurants in a variety of cuisines. Between 2012 and 2014, he brought Bestia in downtown Los Angeles into the limelight. This Italian extravagance charged $150 for 32 ounces of Porcini Rubbed Wagyu Ribeye. Think of how many refugees of Super Typhoon Goni that indulgent expense could have fed. The chef went on to acquire corporate experience as the Culinary Director of The H. Wood Group, overseeing the kitchens of ritzy restaurants and caterers across the United States. Two years after leaving H. Wood and a year into the pandemic, he still receives offers to return to the kitchens of prominent restaurateurs.
A Vision of His Own
The original plan was to bring H. Wood in as a partner to open a fine dining Filipino restaurant. “The restaurant I have in mind is very personal to me. I have to open it by myself,” he states the main aim of his future restaurant.
Though eager to make his Dinuguan (pork blood stew) a delicacy, Covid made his dream of an elegant restaurant unfeasible, so he pivoted to the pop-up concept in 2020. Soon after the opening, Kuya Lord won the attention of foodie kingmaker The Infatuation, the online publication that coined this era the Golden Age of Popups after sampling his Blue Prawns, Sweet Gem Salad, and Filipino BBQ Chicken. In February of 2021, Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison was downright worshipful of the Bagoong in Chef Maynard’s Kare Kare.
Kuya Lord’s Kare-kare (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Liera)
The media lovefest intensified the pressure to launch a restaurant before the wonderful quips of praise get buried in the sound byte graveyard and imitators copy his concept. If he is to open by this summer, Chef Maynard realizes a fine dining establishment would have to be a dream deferred.
As he downsized his ambitions, he noticed that all the Kuya Lord reviews revered his Pancit Chami. “My focus now is to open a panciteria (Filipino noodle shop) with a mixture of all my pancit dishes to go with my popular entrees.” He lists his almond-wood rotisserie chicken and Lucena Lechon among his most cherished inventions. “And I’ll still make my own Porchetta.” He also makes his own vinegar and atsara (pickled papaya).
Kuya Lord’s LucenaChon/Porchetta (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Liera)
Kuya Lord Panciteria will never be a symbol of ostentatious consumption on the scale of French Laundry, but the future vanguard of noodle shops has egalitarian flare in a pandemic in which the underclass and middle class suffer job loss, inadequate health care, and food insecurity in America of all countries!
“Imagine what I can do seven days a week versus the four hours, three days a week my pop-up is operating,” he dreams aloud. “My home’s refrigeration and production areas are so limited, and I need a separation from home and work.”
While he insists, “This popup is only temporary while I look for a space,” the home kitchen kept him so busy, he couldn’t spare ten minutes to write captions for his photos or to follow in the footsteps of Chad Valencia, Charles Olalia, and Barb Batiste, who all donated a recipe to accompany their stories. He concedes that it may not make business sense to sacrifice a profitable popup to open a restaurant. His heart overrules the practical argument, starting with the costs of a building lease, payroll, and furniture.
Kuya Lord’s Almond Wood Rotisserie Chicken (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Liera)
Preserving What Makes Filipinos Filipino
The Kuya Lord buzz remains louder than tinnitus thanks to the social media genius of his wife, Regina Regudo. “She manages my Instagram for Kuya Lord. She’s the one who organized the ordering system, sends out menus and posts stories,” he speaks with adoration. Could she write a few captions?
Kuya Lord’s Kamayan Feast Trays (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Liera)
While these popupateurs keep up with the latest digital wizardry, they endeavor to pass on Filipino traditions and culture to their seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son. “We speak with them in Tagalog and of course, cook Filipino food in our house. We teach them how to respect the elders. They know the meaning of po and opo (grafted onto titles and names of older Fil-Ams to show respect). Our first-born goes to Catholic school so she can decide later whether to stay with our religion or go with something else,” says the realist.
He dusts off the Filipino adage: “If you don’t know how to lean back to where you came from, you can’t go to where you’re headed.”
Kuya Lord cooking his Filipino BBQ Chicken (Photo courtesy of Chef Lord Maynard Liera)
Chef Maynard carved out irretrievable time to connect with the Filipino community through Positively Filipino. “I will support one hundred percent anything Filipino. If I can help motivate a new generation to maintain their Filipino heritage, I’ll do it regardless of my time commitments. I have to do my part.”
Anthony Maddela
With Los Angeles as his home base, Anthony Maddela reports on chefs, entertainers and birds. He posts on Instagram @anthony_maddela.
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