Ross Pineda

For me, cooking was always a survival thing. My dad taught me how to cook basics like eggs, noodles, and rice. I never really thought much of it; the way I was raised, nothing was more successful than a nurse, doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc... Like most traditional families, my parents wanted my older brother and me to be the best we could be academically, which would eventually lead to an amazing career. My kuya was, what I call, the “golden child.” He’s super f**kin smart, did well in highschool, went away for college, graduated, went back to school for accelerated nursing, and now has three amazing kids. I, on the other hand, had a difficult time finding out what was true to me and I was struggling in college because I just wasn’t focusing. Thank the Lord that my kuya and I have an amazing relationship because he was the one that I admitted to that I didn’t want to go to school anymore. He was extremely understanding and asked if I wanted to try culinary school, because I would always be cooking and trying new things. His wife is an amazing pastry chef and graduated from International Culinary Center (formerly known as French Culinary Institute). They both convinced me to follow my gut and apply.

Telling my parents that I was essentially dropping out was probably one of the scariest moments in my life. Surprisingly, my parents took it extremely well. Something that I feel so many kids take for granted is how much your parents sacrifice for you. I think it’s justified that they just want what’s best for you and that they want to see you succeed. But, in this day and age, success isn’t just measured by money, it’s also measured by happiness. My parents and my kuya finally got to see the truest form of myself. I excelled in culinary school, but got my ass kicked all over the place in every kitchen I worked in.

Experiences in the kitchen can really make or break you as a chef. I learned about both the lowest and highest parts of me. A year after graduating culinary school, I became a sous chef at this Asian fusion restaurant in the Lower East Side. Those were the wildest three/four years of my culinary career. Due to some internal problems, I left abruptly at my almost four year mark. One thing that I can take away from that experience are the ins and outs of a restaurant. Despite my arguments with the chef at that restaurant, and the fact that she’s probably still mad at me, I still respect her greatly for sharing her skill and knowledge with me. I’ve been able to open up a restaurant for a restaurateur in the East Village. At the time, they hired a controversial chef to help them develop a menu and train a team, but things went south quickly. That chef they hired ended up getting arrested and fled to a different country because he triple booked and opened another restaurant. The owner––and self proclaimed chef––of the restaurant pushed to open up and, honestly, I know he couldn’t have done it without me. With no credit to my name for helping open up shop and developing menu items for him, I left. 

Thankfully, I found myself working at the only 1-Michelin starred Mexican restaurant in Long Island City. 

Holy Shit. This place taught me how to move my ass every single second. There was never a time where it was extremely dead, and I gained my first Michelin star under them. 2020 was their sixth star and within my year of working there, I was able to put up about 5 dishes on the menu, with one of those dishes being highly requested not only from my chef, but other chefs that would come in.

 Now, we lead up to FYEH Kitchen, a concept that I came up with in 2014, even before I considered culinary school. I was browsing through some old books at my parents’ and I jokingly told my fiance that - that’s what we should name the company. A couple weeks into March of this year, FYEH Kitchen LLC was started. September 2019 I hosted a family style dinner in collaboration with Sari-Sari and Parasakaniya. This was just to bring together Filipinx creatives in a safe space where we could network and enjoy food all together at our table. This evolved into friends telling friends, eventually leading to the creation of what FYEH Kitchen is today. I do a private five course tasting menu for 14 guests, with drinks included. We have had a table with people from five different countries. We stopped seeing familiar faces, which was surprising for us. Old friends started to pop up because no one really knew what I was doing. My fiance hosts, my PR helps me serve and seat, and my homegirl helps us bartend. Our focus is mainly on the experience of dining with us. My food is centered around what my dad and my Lola cooked for my brother and I. Think of it as a modern approach to classic family style food. We’ve managed to book our dinners up until June. Due to the unforeseen circumstances of coronavirus, we have halted operations until further notice.

Cooking has been nothing but a blessing for me: it has allowed me to be the person that I am today; it has brought so much creativity in my life; and, through experiences both inside and outside of the kitchen, it is the only thing that makes sense for me to do. I have met so many amazing people, and it has brought the love of my life to me. I’ve been featured on Buzzfeed multiple times, I have been able to start my own YouTube channel, and all I want to do is to share my cooking experience with everyone, and for everyone to enjoy what I do and how I do it. I’m still only getting started on what is going to be an amazing future. 

I just want to make sure that everyone knows to follow their dream. Follow whatever passion you have in your life. Don’t worry about making your parents, your partner, or whoever upset. Be selfish. If you’re worried about how you’re going to survive and make money, stop. Money will come. If you need to work two jobs to pursue your dreams, do it. Don’t ever stop doing what you love because you’re scared.

FYEH kitchen has always been about bringing people together at the table. nothing fake, no bullshit-good food, good people, good times. I am changing the perception of what defines simplicity. the food provided by FYEH kitchen isn’t solely familiarity. fyeh kitchen draws inspiration from its peers, its past experiences in different kitchen enviornments, family secrets, local ingredients, and most importantly, our diners. We combine all things to bring our diners and itself a new experience each and every dinner. good times don’t always exist outside, but we can guarantee everyone that a good time exists at our table. 

Ingredients

- 2 tbsp Oil for frying

- 4 Chicken Thighs (Bone In & Skin On)

- 1/4 cup White Vinegar

- Water (Enough to cover chicken halfway)

- 1 Small yellow onion (small dice)

- 5 cloves of garlic (minced)

- 4 bay leaves

- Salt and pepper to taste

- MSG (if you want)

- 2 cups Rice

- 2 1/2 cups WATER & More for rinsinG

Method:

FOR CHICKEN ADOBO:

‹ In a large nonstick pan, heat up oil & cook chicken thighs skin side down for 5-7 minutes on medium high heat.

‹ Once chicken is nice and evenly browned, flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

‹ Remove chicken and set aside for the time being.

‹ In the same pan with chicken fond and all, throw in diced onion and cook on medium to medium low heat until translucent.

‹ Once onions are translucent, add chicken again, and fill the pan with water until it reaches halfway up the chicken. Throw in minced garlic, bay leaves, and vinegar, salt (to taste), and pepper (to taste).

***SIDE NOTE*** This is a vinegar based adobo, depending on how vinegar-y you like your food, you can add more vinegar. The most important thing to remember is to constantly taste your food.

‹ Cover your pan for about 10 minutes and boil the chicken. Once the 10 minutes are up, remove the lid and reduce the liquid to make a beautiful sauce.

‹ As mentioned earlier, continually taste and adjust the seasoning of your food to your liking.

‹ Once the liquid has reduced a little more than half, turn off the fire and serve over rice.

FOR THE RICE:
(WORKS BEST IF YOU HAVE A RICE COOKER)

‹ Thoroughly wash 2 cups of rice in COLD water.

‹ You know the rice is ready when the water runs clear, I cannot stress this enough.

‹ In the rice cooker, add the 2 cups of DRAINED rice and 2 1/2 cups of water.

‹ Cook for however long the rice cooker is set to.

‹ I know people be doing the finger method, but this is how my dad taught me to make the best rice. Honestly, you can have this rice by itself. And you can't f**k this up cause you're using a rice cooker.