If you’re ever craving for Filipino food while in Los Angeles, Darren Criss has a recommendation for you: try LA Rose Cafe in East Hollywood.
The Filipino American actor talked about his go-to Filipino restaurant in the city during an interview on the late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday.
Criss said he recently visited the restaurant again to celebrate the premiere of his upcoming show The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
“…I said to my mom, let’s go get some fatty, unhealthy Filipino food, as you do when you wanna celebrate and you’re half Filipino and there’s a restaurant that I love in LA, shout out to LA Rose cafe, I go there all the time,” he said.
And it looks like it’s actually a pretty popular spot. LA Rose Cafe has a 4-star rating on Yelp and a 4.8 rating on Facebook. According to comments, some of the best menu items are the mango and ube cheese rolls, tocilog (Tocino, rice, and egg dish), and chicken empanadas.
Here are some photos from the restaurant’s Instagram account:
Criss, whose father is American and mother is from Cebu, Philippines, also talked briefly about his ethnicity.
“My mom’s from Filipino, she’s from Cebu and my dad is just a good old-fashioned anglo mutt white guy, so I look Italian,” he joked.
Criss has opened up about his Filipino background multiple times and even held a concert for his Filipino fans in Manila in 2010.
Also, remember when this impromptu duet with Filipino Broadway star Lea Salonga?
Criss is most known for his role as Blaine Anderson on the TV show Glee. On The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, he plays Andrew Cunanan, the Filipino American serial killer who shot and killed designer Gianni Versace outside his home in Miami Beach, Florida in 1997. The show will premiere this Thursday in the U.S. cable network FX.
So the next time you’re in LA, visit LA Rose Cafe, order some empanadas and tocilog, and you might just meet a celebrity.
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