Going for the ‘wow’ vibe: A new eatery offers a modern Filipino brunch in Anaheim
When Henry Pineda was growing up, his birthdays weren’t celebrated with a birthday dinner but a birthday breakfast.
“My dad worked the graveyard shift, and my mom worked during the day. So when my dad would be coming home, my mom would have some time before she had to go to work. So that was kind of like our dinner, where we all got to be together for that one meal,” said Pineda. “Every year on my birthday we don’t go to dinner, we go to breakfast.”
Pineda‘s latest restaurant endeavor, Lola’s by MFK in Anaheim, will pay homage to the most important meal of the day and a family linage that has included restaurateurs for generations.
“I feel like that is the focal point of why we are doing brunch. Families come together for brunch,” Pineda said.
Lola’s, which means “grandmother” in Tagalog, soft opens on Sunday, March 27. The full-service restaurant will offer a breakfast kamayan feast and brunch dishes like ube pancakes and chicken adobo fried rice omelets, with plans to add dinner service next month.
“Having a full-service Filipino restaurant has kind of been on our agenda for a really long time,” said Pineda. “We hadn’t had the chance to do it yet, until Lola’s.”
Pineda, who honed his cooking craft in other Orange County establishments like Orange Hill, Anaheim’s ADYA and Starfish in Laguna Beach, first brought his take on modern Filipino cuisine to Anaheim in 2016 when he opened MFK by Aysee’s.
MFK (Modern Filipino Kitchen) by Aysee is an homage to his grandmother and aunt’s restaurant Aysee in Manila, which is known for its crispy pork sisig, traditionally made with pork, chicken liver, onions, chilies and calamansi.
“When we opened up our first restaurant, it was initially supposed to be full service, but the city guys didn’t allow us to do that,” Pineda said.
The occupancy was limited to eight, and the eatery had to pivot to a more casual rice-bowl service. When the pandemic began, Pineda and his wife, Amanda Pineda, pivoted again, remaining open for to-go orders only.
“We had to let go of a lot of our staff,” Amanda Pineda said. “We brought a couch into the restaurant and would just chill there, waiting for our next customer.”
Then an unexpected fire burned down the restaurant in September 2020.
“When that happened, we really had to break it down and see what we wanted to do,” Pineda said. “The restaurant took so much of our time, and we had so many struggles. We had to ask, ‘Is this the kind of environment we want to move forward in?’”
An opportunity from SteelCraft in Bellflower, with a fully equipped kitchen, came along, and the Pinedas’ luck turned.
“We felt that was the sign we were kind of looking for,” said Pineda.
In 2021, the husband and wife team reopened MFK by Aysee at SteelCraft with carryout service.
With their Bellflower location going strong, the couple felt encouraged to expand to Anaheim again with the full-service restaurant they had always dreamed of. Lola’s by MFK is on East Katella Avenue, near Angel Stadium, taking over the former CaliVino Wine Pub space.
At Sunday’s soft opening, the team is looking forward to sharing new menu offerings.
“I am really excited about the sweet avocado pancakes,” said Pineda. It’s a dish inspired by the application of avocado in Filipino desserts.
Pineda said he is proud to present a kamayan breakfast feast, modeled after the popular communal Filipino feast, with food served on banana leaves and eaten without utensils.
“Kamayan is normally for dinner time, and I think that is something that is going attract Filipinos and non-Filipinos as well, because kamayan brunch is to new to both.”
If guests get one thing from their experience at Lola’s by MFK, Pineda said he hopes it isn’t just good food but a good experience overall.
“I want people to feel that vibe of being at home, even if they aren’t Filipino, that homey feeling of ‘Wow, that food was good, and it felt good to be in there.’ ”
Beginning Sunday, Lola’s by MFK will be open seven days a week with breakfast served from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner service is expected to be offered soon.
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