And there's the kicker. At least you have two ends of the spectrum. Here, all we have to choose from is a variety of turo-turo places. Gotta tell you, I damn near split my pants laughing when I read "Elvie's Turo-Turo". Not to say that these places are bad; however, to echo your explanation of jschyun's sentiment, they're certainly not better than what I can whip up in my own kitchen. I don't cook Filipino food at home all that often, but the only time I ever really get a craving to go out for it is when I want something that's too time consuming to do myself... or when I can't convince my Mom to make it for me! There used to be a hip eatery here that billed itself as somewhat Filipino, but that consisted all of two dishes on a "pan-Asian" tapas menu: the requisite variant of lumpia, and then some kind of adobo recipe. And even that closed down late last year. Is Cendrillon about the same? A couple of Filipino dishes in a sea of multi-ethnic Asian entrees? Given the large Filipino populations in both California and New York, not to mention Dallas and Chicago, it makes infinte sense that there are a multitude of restaurants to choose from at both ends of the spectrum. Fortunately we have no shortage of bakeries and stores here, of which the largest is, obviously, Goldilocks. Your point about increasing cross-cultural awareness of Filipino food is probably what I'm really trying to get at. It's such a diverse food with it's interplay of Spanish, Chinese, Indonesian, and native influences that I wish more people could experience it. All the friends I've introduced to Filipino food love it, no matter what their ethnic background, and they're always amazed at the amount of food that we prepare for our family get togethers. And so much for a low carb diet in a Filipino household... bread, bread and more bread baby!