“Filipino food with thoughtful ingredients” in gold lettering shines under Petite Peso’s logo. Through this mantra, the new DTLA restaurant owned by the prominent Chef Ria Dolly Barbosa offers more than a quick bite.
Chef Ria’s menu is an ode to the Filipino family gatherings of her youth - filled with love and heritage. With Petite Peso, Chef Ria strives to share this tradition from her home to yours through meticulous details.
Details like the thoughtful ingredients Chef Ria selects for her dishes. Sourcing only the best ingredients means you can taste each dish’s freshness and layers of delicious flavors. We’re honored to partner with Petite Peso for their Kare-Kare, made with Spread The Love®’s Lightly Salted Peanut Butter. Our small batch, ultra-creamy peanut butter melts perfectly into this Filipino comfort food and provides a pure, fresh peanut butter flavor to the grass-fed beef braise. Talk about a dish that feels like home! And most recently, they started using our Marionberry and Raspberry Artisan Jam to add a PB&J flavor to their decadent dessert menu (feast your eyes on the .gif below).
Home, family, and love are at the soul of Petite Peso, which operates as a takeout and delivery only restaurant. Pick up one of their family meals and bring home the love and traditions of a Filipino family gathering.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Chef Ria about her role as a leader in Filipino cuisine and Petite Peso. Check out why she’s a huge inspiration to us!
Spread The Love: Congrats on opening Petite Peso! How have your earliest memories from both the Philippines and LA inspired you and how have they found their way into Petite Peso?
Chef Ria: Thank you! It's been quite the journey so far for us. I think the very heart of Petite Peso are the meals our families fed and nourished us with growing up. A lot of the dishes Robert and I fell in love with are on the menu! As the oldest of three, it was my responsibility to help both my parents who were both good cooks. I developed an appreciation for preparing and then eventually making the dishes with them.
STL: We LOVE your Kare-Kare! For those who are less familiar with Filipino food, can you describe what makes this dish so tasty and special to Filipino culture?
CR: Besides being a household staple, kare kare is one of the most comforting braises. The low and slow braising method really draws out the flavors of the Strauss grass fed beef that we use. We mix in your Lightly Salted Peanut Butter and it becomes velvety in texture and flavor. And once the bagoong guisado is added to the mix, it becomes this really wonderful, rich, hearty, salty-umami bite that feels like a hug from your Lola (grandma) but in bowl form. I'd say kare kare is one of the most comforting dishes we have on the menu.
STL: What do you hope people take away with them after tasting one of your creations?
CR: I hope people feel the love and intention behind each and every dish. When I cook, it's an ode to all the "family eat parties" we had growing up that I often miss, not having a family of my own yet. Our number one rule in the kitchen is to prepare dishes as if we're serving them to our favorite people so I hope it carries through to each and every one of our guests.
STL: You’re at the forefront of bringing Filipino cuisine to the LA restaurant scene. What are your hopes for Filipino cuisine in America 20 years from now?
CR: I hope Filipino food becomes woven into the culinary fabric of not just Los Angeles, but throughout many cities around the globe. I hope it becomes a craveble cuisine, but more than that, I hope that future cooks continue to cook with heart and continue to push traditional and new concepts. I look forward to seeing how Filipino food will evolve over time.
Bet you're hungry now. No worries, we can help you take care of that. We're actually doing an Instagram Giveaway Collaboration with Petite Peso where delicious Filipino food is the prize! Go ahead and enter through our @spreadthelove account. Good luck!