10 Entrepreneurs. 10 Years. These Are Their Stories. — UNDSCVRD · Ten Years of Filipino American Culture

In 2017, UNDISCOVERED SF opened at the San Francisco Mint in SOMA with a simple belief: Filipino entrepreneurship deserves a stage. What happened next changed the neighborhood — and for the entrepreneurs who showed up in those early seasons, it became part of their story. As we celebrate Season 10, we're looking back at ten of them. Not just where they started but where they are now.

Their stories inspired what comes next. On September 29th, we're bridging the new generation & long time entrepreneurs together at the UNDSCVRD Entrepreneur Summit to help shape the next 10 years. Apply to attend →

Image credit: intentionalist.com/b/the-sarap-shop

1. Sarap Shop First featured: Season 1, 2017

Kristen Brillantes and JP Reyes were both miserable. She was at Google. He was at One Medical. Every morning they'd take BART together from Daly City to Embarcadero, and every morning they'd say the same thing: I hate my job. One day JP quit on the spot, knocked on restaurant doors in Jackson Square asking if he could work a shift for free, and ended up in a kitchen at Cotogna getting yelled at. That was the beginning.

They built The Sarap Shop around a different idea of what Filipino food could be — inclusive, communal, made for everyone at the table. Their tofu sisig, halo halo milk tea, and adobo became Bay Area staples. UNDSCVRD gave them one of their earliest public stages. They never looked back.

Image credit: Instagram.com/thesarapshop

Where are they now: Food truck to Chase Center (Golden State Warriors Taste Makers program, 2022) to The Meeting Place, a downtown SF food hall backed by IKEA's sister company (2024) to now, bringing Sarap Shop to their new residency at Kaiser Geary redefining hospital food. Featured on KQED's Check, Please! Bay Area alongside Adam Savage and Ruby Ibarra. Featured on NBC California Live. One of the defining Filipino food success stories of the decade.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Sarap Shop's Filipino-American Dream 📰 KQED Check, Please! Bay Area — The Sarap Shop 📰 NBC California Live: Sarap & Soul 📰 ABC7: Bay Area Life — Learn to Make Lumpia with The Sarap Shop

2. Chef Reina / Nick's Kitchen First featured: Season 2, 2018

"My main worry in the beginning was: vegan and Filipino food, is this an abomination to my culture?" Reina Montenegro said it herself. Then her restaurant nearly went under, and she made the call: go fully vegan or close. She went vegan. Lines went out the door. Colin Kaepernick showed up. She cried in the corner — the good kind.

Reina started as a personal chef after leaving a decade in corporate work, opened Nick's Kitchen in Daly City in 2016, became the first Filipino vegan restaurant on the Peninsula, expanded to three Bay Area locations, lost them all to COVID, and rebuilt as Chef Reina — her name, her face, her story front and center.

Image credit: facebook.com/chefreinamontenegro

Where are they now: Featured on Netflix's You Are What You Eat (2024). Food Network. CNN. New York Times. PETA Cultural Trailblazer (2019). Hosting kamayan Airbnb Original experiences in SF with five-star reviews as recently as July 2026. She has never stopped moving. She is now housed at the Laughing Monk serving vegan Filipino Food in San Francisco and her Brisbane storefront.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Nick's Kitchen On Going Vegan and Never Turning Back 📰 VegNews: SF Filipinx Chain Nick's Closes, Transforms into Vegan Brand 📰 Inquirer USA: Popular Fil-Am Vegan Restaurant Relaunches 🎬 Airbnb Original Experience: Kamayan with Chef Reina

3. Tilted Brim First featured: Season 1, 2017

Justin Bautista and his business partner Nate Torres opened Tilted Brim in the Tenderloin because it was one of the only neighborhoods in San Francisco where they could do it independently, without significant outside money. That was a choice, and it was also a statement. The store quickly became a community anchor — a curated mix of streetwear, headwear, and accessories rooted in the intersection of sports, art, and the city itself. At UNDSCVRD, Tilted Brim found its Filipino community, a natural home for a brand whose DNA is about representing your neighborhood with pride.

But what Justin has built in the Tenderloin goes well beyond retail. "The TL is just so associated with bad headlines, and most of them are true," he said last year. "We organized the TL 5K to bring attention to an overlooked part of the neighborhood, which is the positive cultural energy." In September 2025, Tilted Brim hosted the Tenderloin's first-ever 5K run — 75 runners, District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, a banh mi at the finish line, and a crowd of neighbors who just showed up. That's what a clothing store becomes when it decides to be more than a clothing store.

Image credit: instagram.com/tiltedbrimsf

Where are they now: Still at 706 Larkin St in the Tenderloin, still independently owned, still showing up. A fixture of the First Thursday art walk and an active force in Tenderloin street activation and community events.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Angle Is Attitude with Tilted Brim
📰 Mission Local: When the Run Club Comes to the Tenderloin (Sept 2025)
🛍️ Tilted Brim — 706 Larkin St, San Francisco

4. Ox + Tiger First featured: Season 5, 2021

EJ Macayan and Hitomi Wada were dancers before they were chefs. They named their concept after their zodiac animals — EJ the ox, Hitomi the tiger — and started cooking dinner for friends in Chicago when they first moved in together. "Our love language is food," Hitomi said. When they moved back to San Francisco, they turned that love into a pop-up. On the first anniversary of that pop-up, EJ quit her day job to do it full time. "It was a nerve-wracking decision."

Their menu bridges Filipino and Japanese flavors in ways that shouldn't work and absolutely do — pork marinated in patis for tonkatsu, calamansi in places you'd expect yuzu, Filipino warmth in a Japanese framework. UNDSCVRD was one of their earliest public audiences; the Undiscovered Sundays markets in 2020 and 2021 kept them connected to the community through the pandemic.

Where are they now: An 8-seat restaurant in SF, fully booked at $108 a ticket through August 2026. Running "Squad Dinners" — collab events with other SF chefs including Rich Table alumni. One of the most sought-after intimate dining experiences in the city.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Building Bridges Between Cultures with Ox & Tiger 📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Ox and Tiger — Rooted in History, Cooking for the Community 📰 Redwood City Pulse: Meet the Daly City Culinary Couple Behind Ox & Tiger 🍽️ Book a seat at Ox + Tiger on Tock

5. Bayani Art First featured: Season 1, 2017

"We don't do interviews." That's how Joe Aquilizan and Aaron Jurell Sarmiento of Bayani Art opened their conversation with us. They agreed to this one because UNDSCVRD is community — not press. Their work is different. Every design is a months-long academic exercise, reviewed by historians, grounded in the real history of Filipino resistance and pre-colonial identity. The Katipunan hat took half a year. That's the standard.

"Before we started Bayani Art, someone asked me about Filipino history, and I couldn't answer," Joe said. "I was so embarrassed that I could recite the history of another country, but I didn't know my own country's history." Bayani Art is the answer to that embarrassment — turned outward, made wearable, shared.

Where are they now: Featured at KQED Live's Kapwa event for Filipino American History Month (October 2025). Stocked at the SF Asian Art Museum gift shop. Expanded into children's books — the Bayani Book Set, featured at Oakland Fairyland's Children's Book Fair (2024). Still Oakland-rooted, still community-first, still deeply intentional about every piece they release.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: The Art of Warriors 🎟️ KQED Live: Kapwa — Stories and Food That Connect Us, featuring Bayani Art (Oct 2025) 🛍️ Bayani Art

6. Oodaalolly First featured: Season 1, 2018

Hernan Lauber is an engineer who grew up bouncing between the Philippines, Switzerland, and the US. His father is a chocolatier. His grandfather owns land in Calinog, Iloilo where, a few years ago, they planted cacao — and the trees bore fruit ahead of schedule. Hernan saw something in that: a chance to make chocolate the Swiss way, from Filipino beans, sourced from his own family's land.

"Chocolate is really one of those products that you give away and everyone is psyched about it," he told us back in 2018. "It really brings joy to people." He wanted to make something that represented both of his cultures — and something that could help Filipino cacao farmers access better markets in the process.

Image source: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572182745047

Where are they now: Award-winning. Stocked at SFO Airport (Pronto/Elevate Gourmet Brands), on Good Eggs, and at the SF Asian Art Museum gift shop. Co-hosted a chocolate-cocktail pairing event with Pernod Ricard's VC arm at their SF offices (April 2025). Published a coffee table book, Palette of Flavor (2024). Production facility in Richmond, CA. One of the most quietly impressive glow-ups in this group.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Oodaalolly — A Journey into Filipino Chocolate 📰 New Hope Network: Oodaalolly's Chocolate Fills Aisles with Unfiltered Joy 📰 Elevate Gourmet Brands: Oodaalolly Now at SFO 📰 Asian Journal: From Bean to Bar — Fil-Am Chocolatier Finds Joy in Native Philippine Cacao 📚 Oodaalolly: Palette of Flavor — Coffee Table Book (2024)

7. Uncle Tito First featured: Season 5, 2021

Joseph Alcasabas, Paolo Dayao, and Vincent Dayao — two brothers and a childhood friend from Concord and Pittsburg — grew up listening to underground Bay Area rap and eating Filipino food at home. They opened Uncle Tito in SoMa's Filipino cultural district with a straightforward mission: embrace heritage while pushing the needle forward. Laing wontons. Garlic adobo butter wings. Lechon kawali. Bay Area flavor, Filipino soul.

"We really just took the Filipino-American concept and ran with it," Alcasabas said. "It was seamless and easy because we were being authentic."

Image source: instagram.com/uncletito.bar

Where are they now: Named one of the Bay Area's leading pop-ups by Gazetteer SF in June 2026, alongside Provecho and Ovinloven — featured at their Chat Room: Food event at Swedish American Hall. And now: Tito Cafe, launching at Saint Mary's College High School in the East Bay — a new kitchen, a new community, the same purpose. As Vincent put it: "Building the plane while still riding it."

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Pivoting During COVID-19 with Uncle Tito 📰 KQED: Uncle Tito Is a Remix of Filipino Comfort Food with Hella Bay Area Flavor 📰 Gazetteer SF: Sample Culinary Excellence from Leading Local Pop-Ups at Chat Room: Food (June 2026)

8. Asmbly Hall First featured: Season 1, 2017

"When we first opened up the shop, it was just a business to us. But we think it's evolved into something much greater than that." Ron and Tricia Benitez opened Asmbly Hall in 2011 in SF's NoPa corridor — accessible price points, local brands, art on the walls. Tricia's grandmother ran one of the first Asian-American grocery stores in the Bay Area in the '70s. Her father took it over in the '80s. Ron and Tricia grew up understanding that small business ownership is a form of community care.

They showed up to UNDSCVRD Season 1 in 2017, and they've been part of the family ever since — as vendors, mentors, and advocates for the Filipino Cultural District's future.

Where are they now: Now at 624 Divisadero Street. 15 years and counting. In March 2026, Ron was reappointed to SF's Small Business Commission under Mayor Daniel Lurie, continuing his role as an advocate for the small businesses and people that keep the city going. Tricia has been invited to events at the White House and the Vice President's residence. Featured in a 2024 ABS-CBN profile for their work mentoring Fil-Am entrepreneurs and building toward a permanent Filipino-owned commercial space in SOMA. Still fighting that good fight.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Asmbly Hall — Deep Roots, Strong Branches 📰 ABS-CBN: Entrepreneur Couple Empowers Fil-Am Businesses in SF (2024) 📰 SF.gov: Ron Benitez — SF Small Business Commission 🛍️ Asmbly Hall

9. JT Restaurant / Ate Tess First featured: Season 2, 2018

The restaurant was called New Pilipinas when it opened in 1994. Tess took ownership in 2010, renamed it JT — J for Juan, her husband, T for Tess — and has been feeding the SOMA community from the same spot in the Mint Mall ever since. The Arkipelago Bookstore used to be here. The Pistahan office. A barong shop. They're gone now. Ate Tess is still here.

It's a turo-turo — you point to what you want. She'll tell you what it's called if you don't know. She'll give you advice if you need it. People come in for the food and stay for Tess herself. "If they need advice, I'm here," she said. "Trust in yourself that you can do it — that's the best thing."

Where are they now: Still at 953 Mission St — 26 years and counting, still cooking up to 12 dishes a day, still running mostly on her own. When she can't get a delivery driver, she puts a sign on the door and takes a taxi. Some of the drivers know her schedule. Earlier this year, Mayor Daniel Lurie visited JT Restaurant, bringing new attention and an uptick in orders. Mission Local profiled her in June 2026, capturing what regulars have always known: "Sometimes people come in looking for the restaurant, but not really the restaurant. They are looking for me." Ate Tess calls herself the bridge — connecting newcomers to resources, housing leads, Social Security information, appointments. "I am the bridge." The neighborhood has changed around her for three decades. She is still here.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: JT Restaurant — Feeding the Community 📰 Mission Local: Ate Tess is the Bridge Connecting SoMa (June 2026) 📰 SOMA Pilipinas: JT Restaurant — Legacy Business 📰 Philippine Consulate SF: 2026 Filipino Food Month Campaign

10. Katha Collection First featured: Season 8, 2024

Kat Lopez-White was born and raised in the Philippines, moved to California in 2009 for a fashion marketing degree, and spent the next decade quietly building — researching, making connections, fostering relationships with makers and weavers and brass casters across the archipelago. When she finally launched Katha Collection, the community response was immediate.

Katha means "story" or "narrative" in Filipino. Every piece carries one: ternos from artisans in Manila, T'boli brass jewelry from Lake Sebu hand-cast by families who've carried the tradition for generations, Inabel weavings from Abra where master weaver Kimberly started learning at age 9 from her grandmother. Kat isn't just selling fashion — she's building a bridge.

"It's Kapwa," she said of her work. "The community of helping the artisans over there — but I'm here helping our people show off their pride, ancestry, heritage, and where they belong."

Where are they now: Actively vending and building community. During Filipino American History Month, Katha Collection collaborated with Pamana Plantas, director Anna Sharpe, and photographer Breana Parks on a community photoshoot and fundraiser for For the Culture — a coming-of-age documentary set in the Bay Area, inspired by Anna's lived experience as a Black and Filipino woman who isn't always seen as "Filipino presenting." Katha's pieces — a Terno Bolero, Tambourine pearl necklace, T'boli brass bangles — were the visual language for a story about identity and belonging. That's exactly what Kat set out to do. The most recent of the ten, and the most forward-looking — a living example of where UNDSCVRD's next decade can go.

📖 UNDSCVRD Stories: Katha Collection — Kat Lopez-White on Bridge-Building + Embodying Our Cultural Narrative In Style 🎬 For the Culture Documentary — @fortheculturefilm 📸 @katha_collection_ca on Instagram

The Next Chapter Starts September 29

Ten years of UNDSCVRD. Ten years of Filipino entrepreneurship taking root in SOMA Pilipinas. Ten years of stories like these.

As we enter Season 10, we're asking the entrepreneurs who built this community to help shape what comes next. That's what the UNDSCVRD Entrepreneur Summit is about — not a pitch night, not a conference. A curated evening of connection, conversation, and collective visioning at Brave New Spaces.

Apply to Attend → luma.com/hytm73p5

Spots are limited. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

UNDISCOVERED SF is produced by Kultivate Labs and Make It Mariko, with support from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Grants for the Arts, Yerba Buena CBD, Downtown Development Corporation, and the Community Challenge Grant.