Upper East Side First Responders Open New Filipino Restaurant

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — About a year ago, Jude Canela, Marie Dinpol and Joan Calanog finished their night shifts at Mount Sinai Hospital, where they work as nurses, and felt a shared hankering for authentic cuisine from their native Philippines. But there was none to be found on the Upper East Side.

"We were just craving for Filipino food and it was too far for us to go to Queens," Canela recalled.

The trio began dreaming up a restaurant that would serve the food they grew up eating — not the modern interpretations commonly served in the U.S., Canela said, but home-cooked dishes like kare-kare, stewed oxtail and tripe served in peanut sauce, or longsilog, sweet sausage served with an egg and fried rice.

Initially, the group was eyeing a location on the Lower East Side, already home to a number of Filipino eateries. Those plans were scuttled for a few months when the coronavirus swept New York in the spring.

Then, in June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that restaurants could reopen imminently for outdoor dining, and the city entered Phase 2 within weeks. The trio spotted a vacancy at 1437 First Ave. — the former site of the Gourmandises de France bakery, a few dozen blocks south of Mount Sinai — and moved quickly to grab it.

Despite being seasoned amateur chefs, Canela, Dinpol and Calanog were new to the restaurant business. They hired a chef, Boji Asuncion, who developed menus for the trio to try.

"We were the tasters," Canela said.

The restaurant, Bilao, officially opened Aug. 14 on First Avenue between 74th and 75th streets. The early weeks had their "ups and downs," Canela admitted, with lots of "trial and error" for the first-time restaurant owners, who have kept their nursing jobs as well.

With time, foot traffic increased, thanks to social media, word of mouth, and rave reviews from Eater and Gothamist.

The most reliable customers have been fellow nurses at Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill, Weill Cornell and other medical centers on the Upper East Side's hospital corridor, many of whom are Filipino, and work night shifts like the owners.

"That’s why we’re open very early," Canela said. "Whenever we get off from shifts we are really hungry, because the days are dinnertime."

For now, COVID-19 cases are mercifully low in the hospital units where Canela and his partners work. But they are as conscious as anyone of the likelihood of a second wave, and the risks it will pose for both restaurants and medical workers.

Aside from taking strict safety precautions and planning to step up online orders, Canela said, there's not much to do except hope for the best.

"We said, there’s only one way to find out," he said. "Try it."

Bilao is open from Sunday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 1437 1st Ave. For a menu and more information, visit bilaonyc.com.

This article originally appeared on the Upper East Side Patch