Purple Yam

Happy birthday to Jake Blasini. Hope it was a nice surprise

It’s way past midnight and the Chef is still toiling in the kitchen to finish his chocolate sans rival order. This cashew dacquoise layered cake filled with buttercream and iced with chocolate icing is definitely one of the most punishing desserts to do (try working with buttercream during the summer in a hot basement kitchen). But it’s delicious, rich and filled with memories of decadent merienda parties in the Philippines

Thanks Nana Ozaeta for this lovely feature and conversation celebrating Romy’s and my 25 years of owning and running a restaurant in New York City. We’ve known Nana very early on through her parents, Amb Philip & Ada Mabilangan (then the Phil ambassador to the UN). I remember her mom beaming with pride about the accomplishments of her daughter who was starting out in her career as a food magazine editor (who later became EIC of Food magazine for many years). It’s always a pl...easure to talk to Nana who is one of the best journalists I’ve ever been lucky to have met. (She did a phenomenal job interviewing Alain Ducasse in French when he was visiting Enderun Colleges in 2010,) Just want to share this opportunity to savor fond memories of Cendrillon which we opened in SoHo on Aug 15, 1995 and then our transition to Purple Yam in Ditmas Park in Brooklyn in 2009. Restaurants are now facing an existential question in the time of COVID 19. Right now, Purple Yam in Brooklyn exists primarily because of all the support we have and continue to get from all the relationships we have built throughout these 25 years. Loving friends who care are the best thing one can hope to have in this life. Nothing can ever compare to this blessing which we are lucky to have and eternally grateful for

Chef @purpleyamnyc @romydorotan wants to inform you all that we have #crispypata and #pancitluglug today. Thanks again to @catherine.colton for that gorgeous photo of the Pancit Luglug. Are you salivating now? @ Purple Yam - Brooklyn

Our backyard’s new look without the bamboo roof. A blessing in disguise indeed! Now we can fully appreciate Perry Martin Mamaril’s beautiful bamboo fence which he built for us in 2009 when we opened Purple Yam.

Thanks to Catherine Colton for this beautiful shot of our Pancit Luglug. According to Catherine, this is her first meal out since March! Thanks for your support always

25 years ago on August 15, 1995, two clueless but passionate food lovers opened up Cendrillon in SoHo, Manhattan in NYC. Romy and I felt the dream of cooking the food that we love & sharing it with others who understand our palate and values was like reaching for the sky and grabbing stardust. And somehow it happened. Along the way we faced challenges like Sept 11, 2 city wide blackouts, blizzards and economic slowdowns. But we also made lifelong friends, some of whom are eve...n stronger lifelines for us today. We closed Cendrillon on March 2, 2009 and the photos from the 5th to the end were taken on that day. It was a Sunday and we were packed from noon to late evening. It was a celebration of a time and place that had its share of magic and losses. Not many people know about this early part of our restaurant adventure, but I highlight it today because I now appreciate those 13 and a half years more than ever. These were probably the happiest years of my life and also the saddest as we had to make that painful decision to cut the strings and relocate to Ditmas Park in Brooklyn. I still remember vividly many dinner services when I would look at a crowded dining room filled with people we loved from the neighborhood and from different boroughs and neighboring states enjoying themselves and saying to myself: yes, I live for this. Nothing can make me happier than being here at this moment. It’s that simple. It was also a different New York City then, a different country. Today we are navigating our way around different challenges that have serious implications on our health and well-being. We’re still cooking and serving many of the dishes we started with: lumpia, pancit, adobo, lechon kawali, kare kare, halo halo, homemade ice creams. People find comfort in these dishes because the familiarity tells us that there are things you can always count on no matter what. And of course, the most valuable lesson we have learned this year is not to take anything for granted. So we are grateful for every good thing we have had and still have. I will never forget one conversation I had with a close friend while we still had Cendrillon. We were commiserating about the ugliness of politics (yes it’s always been around) and we both felt that if everyone can really experience a good meal, there wouldn’t be much hatred around. I still believe in this and that hope exists as long as we can still light a stove and cook a good meal for everyone who comes through our doorstep.

When nature decides she can share her bounty with you, be very, very grateful. I know the feeling of biting into the most wondrous peaches (once a white peach from Georgia and this donut peach from upstate Hyde Park, NY). Sometimes they never come again as sweet as they can be. Savor everything in the moment. It’s good to be alive

When our dearest friend @phinix490 messages us in the am craving for PANCIT LUGLUG for takeout, @purpleyamnyc goes straight to Brooklyn Chinatown to get fresh shrimps (with heads) and ground pork. Luglug needs to be topped with ground chicharon along with toasted garlic chips and chopped scallions. Sawsawan: kalamansi juice and patis First shot was taken by Neal Oshima of our Pancit Luglug which came out in our 2006 (rev 2012) cookbook, #memoriesofphilippinekitchens #memor...iesofphilippinekitchenscookbook Pancit Luglug is a classic example of what Doreen Fernandez identified as indigenized food. We borrowed the noodles from China but we made it our own when we added the ground pork sauce simmered in juice from mashed shrimp heads. Chicharon came from Mexico, but the allium flavors of toasted garlic & scallions along with kalamansi juice & patis are primarily from Filipino flavor preferences. When we eat, we celebrate a roadmap of ingredients and preferences that makes a particular culinary heritage unique and distinctive. #pancit #pancitluglug #filipinoflavorprofile @ Purple Yam - Brooklyn

Romy’s photographic world: About 5 years ago, Neal Oshima, one of the most respected photographers in the Philippines casually (in typical Neal fashion, those who know him know of what I speak about), said to me, actually, Romy’s a better photographer than you. I never doubted that because I know that Romy is really an artist masquerading as a chef (well, he’s quite a good chef, but you know what I mean), but what took me by surprise was how Neal knew that. Romy didn’t own ...a camera and was not in possession of an iPhone with a decent camera at the time. So he wasn’t going around taking photos and displaying them the way he does now on IG and FB. So I take my hat off to the master (Neal) for being so prescient with what I’m seeing now. Around mid June of this year, Romy’s IPhone 7 began acting up, so I bought him an SE 2020 with a large storage capacity & a better camera. Within a few weeks, he was producing photos with greater clarity of detail, warmer and brighter colors, and an eye that’s become more pronounced in expressing his point of view. So I just wanted to share glimpses of his fig jam & ice cream; cold drinks he experiments with while toiling away in a warm resto, flowers and plants in our backyard and along his walk from our home to PY (a 20 min trek) and photos of our windows at Purple Yam reflecting those bamboo lights by Perry Martin Mamaril. Enjoy these photos. I look at them as documents of such a specific time in our lives. I think back at the last time I felt this way: September 11. 2001. At that time we did not have iPhones with advanced lenses to capture the images of that time. But what I do remember is that after 9/11, I made the decision that the next chapter of our lives would mean a transition from Manhattan back to Brooklyn. I felt safer reestablishing our resto much closer to home in walking distance. And somehow these photos made me see all these connections from decisions we make even almost two decades ago @ Purple Yam - Brooklyn