Welcome to Viva La Fork

Hello World! Welcome to Viva La Fork. This isn’t your regular kind of restaurant/food blog. This isn’t a “my passion and love for food” kind of blog. Ok, wait, who am I really kidding. It is that, but so much more. Seriously.

My name is Rhea. I am a thirty-something living/working in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an expansive and frenetic background in hospitality and food – a newbie in some ways, a seasoned vet in others. I’ve worked for some truly inspiring chefs and restaurateurs, and in some stunning hotels and resorts. I consider myself quite lucky, professionally speaking. Now, I run a cooking school in San Francisco and I couldn’t feel more like this is what all of the unglamorous work in restaurants was supposed to be for. Sixty-plus hour work weeks was for this.

But even before all of that, my love affair with food started just like everyone else's. It started at home. I grew up in a large, extended Filipino family. Everything we did revolved around food. It’s how we relate, communicate, gossip, mourn, celebrate, share, and love. It’s everything. I challenge you to find a Filipino who doesn’t have this same experience. (Hint: you won’t.)

I won’t say I clung to my mom’s apron (she doesn’t cook very much) nor will I say it was my dad that inspired me either. I can’t even say that I grew up cooking along side my grandmothers, aunts, or uncles. So, how is it that I fell into this passion? Well, despite the lack of in-kitchen training on the home front, the one thing that I deeply understood was that food brought us together and that is the luminous thing that I have hung onto all these years. Food magically had this ability to quiet family tensions and gave us something to do, together. The best memories were with the family, eating, laughing, and telling stories.

I’ve been looking for that magic my whole life. Little did I know, it was there all along. I spent some years fumbling with a “career” but let’s be really honest: I fumbled looking for ANY job that felt like me. I knew I wasn’t going to be a lawyer, doctor or engineer – the only real acceptable careers in a Filipino family. I’ve got a slew of them in my own; I figured there was no need to add another. So I landed in hotel sales – the career choice of any exuberant, sociable creature that is just a little bit more "motley crew" than your prototypical office drone in a cubicle, desk jockeying for the next promotion. Pushing paper seemed so boring. And so did hotel sales after just a couple of years in.

Fast forward a few years and a random decision to uproot my life and move to Las Vegas. Bright lights, big city, and a breakneck pace. Huzzah! I had found a home. I was lucky enough to work for a well-known chef, in their Private Events department. And that, dear readers, was the beginning of the end, or more appropriately, the beginning of the beginning.

I was hooked. The chaos, the fluidity, that fabled "dance" that happens in the kitchen, and the "theatre" of the dining room. That's all I needed and I was a junkie looking for her fix. The energy was palpable – who knew stressing over canapes, BEOs, and pre-shift line up would be such a thrill? Nothing would ever be the same after. I took it all in, lived and breathed in it, and wanted more.

Eventually, after realizing that living in Vegas wasn't so much living as it was partying, I decided it was time to go back home to the Bay. Every job after Vegas was in pursuit of lining myself up to learn from the very best in the food and beverage field. With each position, I learned more and started to understand the business as a whole, but what really started to click was the food. My vocabulary to describe a dish I enjoyed became more than just, "it tastes good." I started to pick up on subtle notes in flavor profiles, cooking preparations and methods began to make more sense. It's as though with every dish I was learning a whole new language and I finally could start using it.

My palate continues to evolve and has become more discerning. I don't consume because it is fuel for my body, I still believe that food, at it's core, is designed to be more than just that. It's a way to bring us together, create a community, a dialogue, a reason to share. Food tells a story and there have been dishes that have influenced my thoughts on food.

My aim in this website is to bring you my voice, my (at times) esoteric thoughts, and a vantage point that maybe not all heard too often. A majority of the writings will come from experiences at restaurants and general essays, though I do plan to share my own cooking (mis)adventures in savory cooking and what I affectionately call my Bootleg ice cream operation.

Happy Forking!