Fernando Dizon has been selling Filipino food in Charlottesville since 2012, when he first set up a stand at City Market and called it Little Manila. Two years later, it was clear that people here loved their lumpia—so he and his wife Jessie expanded to a food truck. They knew one day they wanted to open their own restaurant, and they finally saw their chance at Dairy Market. We caught up with Fernando to talk about the challenges of opening Manila Street (especially in the middle of a pandemic) and his favorite places to eat.
Knife & Fork: Start by telling us about you. Where’d you grow up? How long have you been in Charlottesville?
Fernando Dizon: I was born in the Philippines and I moved here when I was 12 years old—from the Philippines straight to Charlottesville. That was back in ’96.
The story is actually from my grandfather. My grandfather was in World War II. After the war, they offered him a lump sum of money, but he requested instead to be a U.S. citizen. He got that granted, and then he petitioned for all of his children—he had 10 children, including my mom—to come to the U.S. We were the last family to come, and we’ve been living here ever since.
How’d you get into making food?
I’ve always liked cooking. Sometimes I would cook at home—I’d take over the kitchen and cook meals for my parents, things like that.
But it was back in 2012 that I actually started selling at the farmer’s market. I was just selling lumpia, which is ground pork egg rolls, and pancit, which is rice noodles with vegetables. I started with those, every Saturday morning.
Every Saturday it just got busier and busier and busier. So after about two years at the farmer’s market, I started the food truck. I quit my full-time job as a banker—which I’d been doing for seven years—and bought a trailer. I started going to wineries, breweries, any events that I could get to, just to market myself.
I was still setting up at City Market every Saturday—actually, I still do now—but would go different places with the truck during the week.
What has the transition been like from running the food truck to your new location in Dairy Market?
It’s been exciting. After a few years with the food truck, I thought, you know, I think we have something. I want to open a restaurant. So I’ve been looking around for a couple of years, but I was still scared. It’s completely different from a food truck, where I can control pretty much everything.
But what got me about Dairy Market was the diversity that they’re trying to have in their food. You have Japanese food, you have Thai food, you have soul food. If you want a pizza, you have pizza. You have us, with Filipino food. And you have just your burgers and fries. That’s what attracted us to the Dairy Market.
What’s been the biggest challenge in moving to the new restaurant?
Not knowing what the outcome would be. That’s the scariest part. When we opened, we still had the mask mandate, so it was hard to predict how much business we’d have.
But it’s been exciting to see our restaurant built and opened. And it’s been successful, so we’re happy.
What’s your favorite dish on the menu?
My favorite dish is definitely the pork belly. Marinated in pineapple juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar. When you’re working the truck, you don’t always want to eat your own food again, but that pork belly is always my go-to.
Do you have a favorite dish to make that is not on your menu?
It’s called tortang talong. It’s such a simple dish, really easy to make. I can eat a lot of it. It’s Japanese eggplant, this long eggplant. What you do is grill it until it gets really soft and dark and you can just peel the skin off. After you’ve peeled it, you whisk some eggs and dip the eggplant into the eggs and fry it, with salt, pepper, and paprika. That’s it. It looks like a pancake. It’s my wife’s favorite, too. Every time I make them, I make a lot.
Just one last question: Where do you like to eat in town when you’re not working?
Man, lately I haven’t really been out! Since we opened the restaurant, we can’t leave. But one of our favorite places it go, if we want chicken, is Al Carbon. Their rotisserie chicken is always good. And Kabob Palace is one of our favorite places, too. We get something to go from them all the time—in fact, just two days ago that was our dinner. But there are so many good local places here. Charlottesville is such a foodie city.
