In the sweltering heat of a Filipino summer, Rafael Vencio would race with his cousins through his grandparents’ backyard, pausing to watch his grandmother reach up to the tamarind tree, plucking its tender leaves for her signature roast chicken. Decades later, long after leaving the Philippines for the U.S., the taste of that dish still lingers in his memory. “No matter where I go, those flavors take me back,” he says.For Vencio, food has always been a bridge between his past and present. He grew up in Quezon City on the outskirts of the Philippine capital of Manila — and his culinary roots were in the countryside, in the hilly, rural province of Nueva Ecija. “My grandparents had a farm in the province, and every summer we would visit. It was like stepping into a different world,” he says. The farm wasn’t just a pastoral escape; it was an immersion into a world of fresh produce and traditional practices. “It was a rice paddy operation, livestock — nothing like the mechanized farms you see here. It was unadulterated rural life,” he says. His fondest memories are of climbing mango trees and savoring the fresh, tropical fruit. While Vencio’s culinary education began in his grandmother’s kitchen, where he learned to cook with love and precision, today the Pittsburgh-based chef is set to open a restaurant on East Ohio Street. featuring the Filipino food he knows and loves. Its name, Amboy, stems from Amboy Urban Farm, which he created to introduce Filipino produce to the local market while exploring the environmental benefits of urban farming.Until the restaurant opens, he plans on more pop-ups such as the two at EYV (Eat Your Vegetables) on Dec. 8 and 15 on the North Side. They will feature an eight-course prix fixe dinner consisting of a mix of traditional and contemporary Filipino dishes. Check them out here. Rafael Vencio with his cousins and grandparents in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of Vencio.The move to AmericaRafael’s family initially became permanent residents of the U.S. while he was still in the Philippines and petitioned by his grandmother’s sister in Illinois. They moved to Illinois “for a bit” when he was 8 but ended up going back to the Philippines, where he finished his schooling.“The U.S. represented a land of promise,” says Vencio. “A lot of people don’t realize this, but even beyond the colonial history, pop culture in the Philippines is heavily influenced by the U.S. We always saw America as the land of opportunity. This idea was engrained in us from a young age—we learned about American history alongside our own.”In 2004, at the age of 21, Vencio dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles where he had family friends. “This choice was driven by my readiness to seize the opportunities in the U.S. I just knew I had to do it,” he says.The immigrant experienceHis first job in America was at Burger King, flipping burgers and working the fryers, he says. “Fast food is often seen as the entry point for many immigrants. It was a job I could get quickly, and it taught me a lot about the basics of the American food industry.”  His culinary journey continued with stints in Louisiana and Montana, where he absorbed influences from Creole cuisine and the simplicity of rural American fare. But it was Pittsburgh that became home when his parents finally immigrated, and his father found work at Geneva College in Beaver Falls. Vencio’s relocation was partly influenced by his father’s employment, which offered educational benefits that he thought applied to him. Only after moving did he realize he was past the age to qualify. Vencio’s first job in America was at Burger King. “Fast food is often seen as the entry point for many immigrants,” he says. Photo by John Beale.Undeterred, Vencio pursued a degree in business management at the Community College of Beaver County. This education, combined with his extensive experience in the restaurant industry, turned out to provide a solid foundation for his future ventures.Making a mark in PittsburghDegree in hand, Vencio witnessed the burgeoning food scene in Pittsburgh that was ripe for exploration. It wasn’t the culinary powerhouse of New York or LA, but what intrigued him was the room to make a mark. “When I first came to Pittsburgh, I was struck by how different it was from the other cities I’d lived in,” he says. “In Pittsburgh, I felt a sense of authenticity that I wanted to be a part of.”His early work in the area included stints at Legume Bistro (now Butterjoint) and a restaurant incubator concept called Aubergine Bistro in the Smallman Galley. “Legume Bistro was pivotal in shaping my style,” he says. “It focused on farm-to-table dining and local ingredients, which influenced my approach to cooking and sourcing. Smallman Galley, where I was part of the inaugural class, was a great platform to experiment with French cuisine, even though it wasn’t Filipino food yet.”When the pandemic hit the restaurant industry hard, Vencio found solace and renewed purpose in farming. He started with a small urban farm in his backyard in Greenfield, growing ingredients that resonated with his Filipino heritage—like tamarind, Egyptian spinach, bitter melons and long beans.“Farming was a means to explore my identity and the flavors I grew up with. Most immigrants will identify with this – growing things from their homelands in little pots in their backyards. Produce that you don’t find in most generic grocery stores,” he says.In 2020, Vencio joined Hilltop Urban Farm, a farm-incubator in Mount Oliver. While the experience was fraught with challenges, it was instrumental in shaping his vision for a farm-to-table restaurant in the future, and it’s where he started Amboy Urban Farm. Besides farmer’s markets in Lawrenceville and other spots, Vencio also created Filipino-inspired pop-ups at Soju in Garfield, where he showcased his produce and dishes. They frequently sold out. Rafael Vencio in his new restaurant space, Amboy, opening in the spring. Photo by John Beale.Amboy restaurant: vision and identityVencio is now gearing up for his most ambitious project yet: Amboy, a highly anticipated Filipino restaurant set to open in Pittsburgh’s North Side in spring 2025. The mission? To introduce the city to authentic yet accessible Filipino cuisine. “People don’t really know what Filipino food is, so education is a big part of this,” he says. Amboy Farm laid the groundwork for the restaurant. “People already knew me as a farmer, and I didn’t want to confuse them about who I was and what I offered. The end goal was always the restaurant, so I kept that name—Amboy—to make sure there was a continuity in my identity.”As for the name? Amboy is a slang, he says, “but in a way that reflects my own journey. Growing up, that’s how we described Filipino immigrants like me, caught between two cultures. It’s part of my identity—a mix of my Filipino roots and my American upbringing. This is me — a queer, Asian American immigrant, blending the flavors of my past with the future I’m building. “At Amboy, you’ll find dishes like adobo—what he calls “nonnegotiable”—and sinigang, a tamarind-based soup that’s the perfect balance of sour and savory. And there will “always be rice. Filipino food is all about layered flavors and lots of rice,” he explains. “We like our meals shared, so expect small plates, communal dining and big, memorable bites.”This story is part of The New Americans, a project of Pittsburgh Tomorrow, which seeks to reverse population loss through revitalization. See more stories here. The post Filipino flavors to bloom in Pittsburgh at Amboy appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.