$1 USA STREET FOOD!! Eating LA’s FILIPINO TOWN!! (w/ Mark Wiens)

We've been cooking for 30 seconds. It's a complete disaster already. Sonny, what happened, Mark? It was going so well. We are headed to Filipino Town. It's legitimately called Filipino Town. This is a section of LA. They've got tons of Filipino restaurants. It's been a long time since I've been in the Philippines. Hopefully, I'll get to go soon. But you know, the COVID thing. I'd love to get back to the Philippines. But for now, I'm going to be experiencing some Filipino food here in the USA. Today, I'm on a mission to explore LA's street food scene with the one and only Mark Wiens. That means soon, we'll be headed to this city's famous Filipino Town. But first, I'm meeting Mark to do a video for his channel at San Pedro Fish Market. I have arrived. I'm looking out for one Mark Wiens. This is great. There's like a ton of huge boats here, seafood restaurants. We're definitely going to be eating fish. Oh, this one looks cool. Guys, look how cool this fish looks. And the search continues for Marcus Wiens. Where is he? Oh, no way. I found him. I found Mark in the wild. Guys, outrageous. Mark said we're doing a collab. And he's probably making a video alone. Does that sound like a collab? Bro, I thought we're doing a collab. He's doing a video alone, it looks like. How you doing? What's up, man? Wow, that's huge. Hold on. I could use this as a pillow at night. That is wild. Time to eat with Mark Wiens. And then my video after that. You're in my whole video. Oh, cool. Okay, Mark has filmed all of the cooking. We're going to eat in a second. I want to show it to you guys. So you can have some satisfaction. But it's Mark's video. It's technically his property. I shouldn't... Okay, I'm going to show you really quick. Boom. And we have finished shooting with Mark Wiens. That was awesome. And actually, I'm a little worried because I'm a little full. I ate a lot of seafood. And now we need to do another whole video. I'm meeting Mark there soon. We're going to test his stomach. How much can this man really eat? He already ate breakfast before the seafood. It's going to be a challenge for me. I'm feeling stuffed, but I think he can handle it. Let's see. Boom. Okay, we have made it to our first location here with Mark Wiens. Mark, how are you doing? Are you too full? Never too full. One of my favorite things about LA is all the different kind of cultures that you can find in these little boroughs and little pockets of the city. So there's Koreatown. There's a place with Japanese folks. Thai Town? There's Thai Town. So right now, we've come to Filipino Town. Is this the historic Filipino Town? That's right. Oh, cool. So I've been to the Philippines maybe five different times. Probably three of those were for shooting. How many times have you been to the Philippines? I want to say three. The first time that I went to the Philippines was before I started making videos back in 2008 and maybe I wasn't really making videos and I was just taking photos and blogging. I remember that because I saw your blog on the One Day Old Chick. It's one of the first things I had and you're one of the only people who documented. Oh, man. What a snack. Today is going to be kind of a greatest hits. Enough car talk. Let's head to the restaurant. Let's go. Okay, we are inside of Chibob's Restaurant. By the way, I apologize for putting you on my second channel. Oh, good. I mean you are first channel material. No doubt. I just don't have my first channel team with me here today. I have a GoPro. So that's all we're using. This is like a totally unexpected. Actually, we didn't even know each of us was in LA at the time. No. The menus right here. There's a couple things I want to point out and I want to see if you know these foods and if you tried these foods in the Philippines. Okay. First is Sisi. Oh, yeah. What is it? Describe it to me. Pig face, chopped up, comes flaming hot, sizzling on a hot tray. We're eating some face today. Besides that, right here. Crispy pata, 26 bucks. Do you know what that is? Or is it the pork leg? The pork leg. Okay. Here, it's fried for like 20 minutes. And we're talking deep-fried. Our leg is deep-fried. We're talking like a huge portion of leg. That's like a table centerpiece right there. Yeah, exactly. And then the last thing we're going to get here, dinuguan. Oh, I know that dish. I bet you experienced this when you went to the Philippines. Everyone's saying you have to try dinuguan, right? Oh, yeah. Blood. Curdled, coagulated blood into this amazingly rich, delicious sauce. And the sauce, they cook all the organs. The blood is mixed with all of that. But like the blood holds it together. Yes, exactly. So I'm going to head into the kitchen, and we're going to eat that real soon. Awesome. Right now, I'm in the kitchen with Jojo. You are the owner. Yes. How long have you had this place? Four years. What do you want to make first? The pata? Pata first. I already cook oily for four hours. Oh. Wait, so how long has it been fried? Oh, it's going to be 20 minutes? It's already 20 minutes. That looks awesome. It's going to get all hacked up into pieces. I can't believe it's been frying for 20 minutes. We have our first course right here. Crispy pata. Very crispy. And then here, this is actually called crispy dinuguan. They've got some pork belly that they fried up, and then they put the dinuguan on top of that. I think we should start with the dinuguan. You can see those organs making up the sauce, but just giant nuggets of crispy pig. Huge pieces. Cheers. Cheers, man. So good. Wow. It's so heavy. Yeah, rich. Right? It's interesting. It's like these two elements really need each other. The pork belly is so fried up, almost like a little dry. Dinuguan is almost like, it just adds so much like moisture and lubrication to the dish. I'm really impressed with these organs. Like, super clean. And a little bit of vinegar in there too. Yep, I noticed that as well. I love the vinegar. They use it in so many different dishes. Let's jump over to here. All right. So this is awesome. This is the one I said is $26. It's been boiled for four hours. Wow. All the fat. Before frying. Yeah, before frying. Wow. It really like breaks down the inside, and then the outside is super crispy. Cheers. Crispy. Mm-hmm. Fatty on the inside, crispy on the outside. Got that gooey like fat mixture. I think we should dip it. This is a soy sauce, but of course, this is Philippines, so they mix it with some vinegar too, I believe. Cheers. This is one of my absolute favorite Filipino foods. When I discovered this, I was like, no way, this is awesome. Every part of it is glorified. The skin, fat, meat. Even there's no hard spices or something to cover up the flavor of the pig. It's just that dipping sauce that just kind of compliments it again. It just balances it out. All right, from here, we have a second appetizer. I thought we're just gonna have sisig, but they prepared something gigantic for us. I'm gonna go get it now. It's gigantic. Back in the kitchen right now, we are about to make some sisig. Now, is this the pig face? No, it's a pork butt. Where's the pig face? Right here? Right here. You can't even tell when it's cut up, little pieces of pig face. Sisig is almost ready. Last step coming up. First, a little bit of butter. Oh, here we go. Oh, an egg on top. And what does that feature on? This is the sisig. In case you were worried, there's plenty of pig face inside of here. Oh, we gotta mix it in now. The egg. It might be piggier in there too. Like this, to me, that's piggy. With the cartilage on the inside, it should be piggier, yeah. This is so much. Talk about portions. Squeeze on that calamansi for that finishing touch. So much juice. We're gonna need that. The smells coming off here are awesome. It's a little bit sour. Smoky. Smoky, yeah. And there's a little bit of that guac flavor because he hits it in the guac first. Do they call it guac in the Philippines? They probably call it something else. Like, uh... I can't think of a good joke. That's not offensive. Alright. Mmm. It's super hot still. It wouldn't be hot. That's nice, huh? So many different textures. That great mix of the heavy and sour. I think for so long in my life, I didn't understand citrus and its purpose. Uh-huh. And I just always thought like, oh, I don't want my food to be lemony. But when you mix it appropriately, it just enhances the food. It makes it more dynamic. And that's what it's doing here. The best part of sisig has to be, well, first, when it comes to your table and it's sizzling, it's always very exciting. But second, it's the mix of random textures. From here... Oh, this could be a mess. Mark, we have so much food to try. Okay, let me just tell you what's going on. Come here. I came in here the other day to ask permission to shoot here. I asked for these three foods. We came here. He's made like six foods. And one of them is the size of my thigh. It's huge. Ready? Ready. Chef. Okay. You've made the sisig. There's one more big surprise. I was not expecting this today. There's a giant log of meat behind us. What is this? They call it chibok jeong. Is this something invented in Cebu? Oh, yeah. So it's like a lechon, but no bones. No bones. It's boneless. They cook for an hour in the oven to crisp the skin. Also, they put garlic, lemongrass, and green onions inside of the pork belly. What an amazing treat. Amazing gift. Thank you so much, Chef. I can't wait to try this out. This is going to blow Mark's mind. You're going to have little pieces of Mark's mind all over your restaurant walls. Is that okay? Okay. Second time today you've pulled a muscle. Yeah, that is a lot of food. Oh, this is beautiful. That's awesome, right? Yeah. They've outdone themselves. An entire belly of a pig wrapped around delicious spices. It's so rich and delicious. That is so built in your mouth. I gotta say, this is some of the best Filipino food I've ever had. Yeah. Seriously. This guy took Filipino food I already liked and just elevated it. Chef Jojo, man. Remarkable. Skin. It feels like you're crunching on glass. This sounds unpleasant, actually, Mark. The skin is the best part of any lechon. Everyone knows that. And here it is. Wow. It is very satisfying. It is so unbelievably rich so far. Oh, yeah. So they have some vinegar here to the rescue. Vinaigrette? Mm-hmm. I'm really impressed. And not just because Jojo is standing right behind the camera watching every word we say. I'm impressed because the food is absolutely stunning. Truly, really without a doubt, some of the best Filipino food I've had. Mark, I'm not gonna fill you up too much more, but there's another spot here in LA that you just wouldn't believe this was LA. You ready? Ready. Let's go. We are at our second and final location behind us. Can I tell you a secret? Please. When I'm not sure if I can get permission, especially when shooting with you, I come to the restaurant, I say, Hi, I'm the manager for Mark Wiens and he would love to shoot here. He's very famous and they said yes. If I said my name, probably wouldn't work, but it worked. I dropped your name and here we are. Dollar Hits. Do you know the concept? So you get your skewers and then you actually grill them yourself? That's right. And there's a ton to choose from and every skewer is $1. Let's go inside right now and see what they have. Absolutely awesome. Boom. We are headed in and that, oh, that says pull. That's actually my bad. Oh, wow. Let's just do a quick tour. First of all, pork blood. Oh, man. That's something you can get at Nobu. Yeah, I don't think it's that widely available in the United States. Have you had the pork blood there? In Philippines? Yeah. Oh, this is a nice one right here. Chicken butt. What? Do you know how to say this word? Patnong Manok. Ah, I know Manok means chicken. So I guess Patnong means, well, chicken feet, chicken barbecue, pork ears, pork barbecue, and then right here, pork intestine. One of the really popular famous foods in the Philippines for street food especially is isaw. Oh, yeah, man. One of the best. And so isaw can be anything intestinal, I believe. I think from here, we just load up, get a bunch of different stuff and start grilling. Let's do it. Getting some pork blood skewers, pork liver, chicken hearts. Oh, we have to try chicken butt. What a dream to eat chicken butt with marguerines. I'm gonna choose you the biggest butt. I got you, Sonny. Thank you. I like big chicken butt. Let's get pork ears. Yeah, we gotta have ears. Ears are one of the great pieces of the pig. Let's get pork intestine. It looks like if you move over to this section of the buffet line, it gets to kind of like the hot doggy things. There's quail eggs, which are awesome. Quite quick, one of the great street foods of the Philippines right there. Quite quick. So let's get three of those. Sir, do you have isaw manok? Yeah. Oh, yes. Thank you. Barbecue sauce? Oh, yeah, sure. Oh, so you put barbecue sauce. Okay. Put barbecue all over the whole thing. We have our skewers here. Time to go grill. This is gonna be our private grill. I mean, all the grills are kind of shared with your neighbors and whoever's around you. Right now, it's getting doused with kerosene or something. We're about to start eating because we have all of our skewers. The owner is here. She is wild, and she's absolutely stoked that we're here. There she is. She's coming. Today is doctor's day. Welcome to Dollar Heats. Hello, everybody over there. Our famous Sonny and our fans. Did she call you Food Ranger? Hello, Ranger. Sonny. And he's a ranger. He said Mike Chen. What's his name? Mike Chen. Mike Chan. Oh, Mike Chan. Mike Chen. I'm Chan. McQueen. Oh, this is McQueen. I know. I tricked you. That's my favorite. Thank you so much. We can't wait to eat. Thank you so much, Sonny. Thank you, Mike Chan. Mike Chen. And we have our food right here. The thing is, I think everything's basically cooked already. So you can't really go wrong. We put it on the fire. We're just trying to heat it up and maybe add a little char. Oh. Oh, no. Man down. We've been cooking for 30 seconds. It's a complete disaster already. Sonny. What happened, Mark? It was going so well. Your cinematic footage caused us to burn some skewers. I know. We were trying to get nice shots. We got to put some of these down. All the intestines. Perfect. They're foaming up. Turns out, it's because the pork intestines are so fatty. They were just dripping fat. That started on fire. But Mark took control. Mark is quite the pit master here because this looks great. You can see the intestines here. The yi sao is just starting to perfectly caramelize. That's what you want. You don't want to burn them, but you just want that beautiful caramelized smokiness. Actually, for about a year, six months, we sold satay on the street in Bangkok. Really? Yeah. How many years ago was that? 12 years ago. I would be flipping fistfuls of them on the grill exactly like this. How much money could you make in a day? I don't know. It was for Ying's mom. I see you're helping out. I was helping. I was doing the grilling, yeah. And then how much money do you make a day now? No, I'm just kidding. $45. Okay. So about the same as back then. Okay, so we have all of our grilling here, I gotta say. Well done. Apart from a few charcoal-y... Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, actually, it's very well done. Yeah, it's very cooked. Where do we start? I think we should start with blood here. We're in the USA right now. I know you've had blood in, like, every country. Have you had blood in the USA? Probably not. I think not, yeah. Come to think of it. It might be the first time. So I'm going to give it a dip in vinegar. Yeah, vinegar is... That was a big one. I could have probably taken two bites. What I didn't realize the first time is they, like, season the blood. It makes it a little bit savory. It's got, like, a crumbly texture as you bite through. As opposed to chicken or duck blood, which is more silky. Mmm. This is more crumbly. Yeah. We'll try a few more things. We're probably not going to try every single thing. What is speaking to you? That you saw. It reigns supreme of all the street food of the Philippines on skewers. Wonderful. What is inside? Every time I eat this, I love it and I'm freaked out at the same time. There's a little creaminess that squeezes out. What is that? And every time, I'm like, what does chicken eat? This is stuff you can't find in a mainstream grocery store here. And it's so interesting because I went to a really famous place that makes sausage near New Orleans. Mm-hmm. They make Andouille sausage. And they make one with blood. And it's really difficult for them to get approval for the FDA to say, like, okay, you can collect blood in this way and we'll consider it hygienic. The point is, it's really hard for them to collect these type of more odd or unusual cuts in the U.S. just because of all the laws around health and hygiene. Yeah, for sure. But ears. Ears are no problem. That's good. Ears. And they really have prepared this before it even got to the grill. I would say it's probably been boiled for an hour at least. And so there's that white piece of cartilage in the middle that's just kind of snapping. It's not really fatty. It's more of like that collagen-y kind of gelatinous-ness. Gelatinous-ness. I couldn't have said it better myself. Actually, I couldn't even repeat what you just said. Actually, you should do it. Oh, all right, fine. Oh, wait, I thought this was a carrot. Oh, yeah. That's a spicy carrot. I think we should try one more. What do you want to try next? Hearts? All right, you try heart. I'm going to try guai guai. I've never had this grilled. Oftentimes, they're deep-fried, aren't they? Yeah, it's just deep-fried. I love hearts. Chicken hearts are such a great thing. Like little bouncy balls. They're so dense, right? All right, well, I will do it, too, then. It's not a chili. That's a carrot. Oh, yeah, that's a carrot. Thumbs up or thumbs down? Yeah, big thumbs up for me. I think if I lived in L.A. and I had people come visit me, I would absolutely bring them here. It's a great taste of the Philippines and street food style right here in L.A. Like I was mentioning to you, one of the great things about L.A. is just the fact that elsewhere in America, you would find an ethnic cuisine with the same 15 dishes over and over again. You come to L.A., you find specific dishes. Regional food. Regional food, exactly, and that's what's amazing. She's crushing it. Yeah, so cool. I think it's mostly because of her emceeing, but the food's good, too. Boom, guys, that is the end of the video. You can go to Mark's channel, Mark Wiens on YouTube. We also did a video together there where we ate a bunch of seafood. I hope you enjoyed this video. A big thank you to Mark for joining me. Until next time. For sure. Take care. That is it for this one, guys. I will see you next time. Mark, together, let's do it. A peace. Oh, you forgot, right? Okay, let's go again. No re-dos, no re-dos. Thanks, Sonny. That was a fun day. Yeah, take care, bud.