Randy and Sally Arcega’s Kain Tayo (“let’s eat” in Tagalog) is the latest local eatery winning St. Louisans’ hearts and stomachs over to the cuisine of the Philippines. The Midtown restaurant offers a menu of traditional, comforting favorites like lumpia (egg rolls filled with pork, onions, carrots and celery with sweet chile sauce on the side), pancit (stir-fried rice noodles with pork and various veggies) and the unofficial national dish of the Philippines: chicken adobo (tangy chicken marinated in soy sauce and vinegar and served over rice). For those who want to dive a bit deeper into the cuisine, the restaurant also has dishes like sinigang, a sour pork soup, and pinakbet, a pork and shrimp stew chock full of squash, okra, eggplant, tomato and more.
All of this deliciousness comes courtesy of chef-owner Sally Arcega. Though new to the Lou, the Arcega family had been cooking up faithful Filipino flavors under the Kain Tayo name since 2019 in Trenton, Illinois. They moved to St. Louis earlier this year to bring their food to a bigger audience, and we’re so glad they did.
This article appears in December 2023.