Seattle calling
It was 1978 when Gregorio Rosas arrived in the United States, brought from the Philippines by a Jewish family to work for them as a “houseboy.” He was 22.
An undocumented worker at first, he went on to work as a dishwasher at a diner called Turf Restaurant and Lounge, somewhat of an institution in downtown Seattle in Washington state, which opened in 1936.
Rosas, who grew up in Manila, described his life in Seattle as providential—a series of fortunate events. By some luck, he said, he was granted a green card in 1983. Turf’s owner also took the hardworking Rosas under her wing, eventually making him part-owner.
Growing up poor, Rosas, sixth of 10 children, was given up for a sort of informal adoption when he was 7 years old, to his mother’s friend named Aling Ludi, who owned a karinderya. His mother, who would die of cancer, told him to be good, because if he was good, people might like him, and if they liked him, they might end up loving him. He hung on to those words.
In 2012, Rosas, the warm and welcoming “Tito Greg” to all who meet him, became full owner of Turf’s, which he eventually transformed into a Filipino restaurant, renaming it Ludi’s, after the woman who raised him and taught him the ways of the kitchen.
By then, he had brought all of his siblings to the US, and Ludi’s—located just a short walk from the Seattle landmark, Pike Place Public Market—has become a beloved meeting place for the Filipino immigrants in Washington, which has the fifth largest population of Filipinos in the US. On weekends, there would be lines of people waiting to get a table at Ludi’s.
Tito Greg’s kindness would bring him many unexpected windfalls. When a loyal customer died, he left all his money in the bank to Tito Greg; another left him a house. He paid them forward, adopting several kids from back home and sending them to school, some of whom now also live in the US.
Rosas, now 68 and a widower, looks forward to his three-week homecoming in January 2025. He was prodded by his two daughters, Rita and Ludi, who now run his restaurant, to take this much-needed vacation. He last visited the Philippines in 2005.
Unserved market
It is for the likes of Rosas that Philippine Airlines (PAL) launched its thrice weekly direct Manila-Seattle flights, which commenced Oct. 2. Seattle is a significant unserved market with 180,000 Filipinos in Washington, and 4.1 million in North America, noted Bud Britanico, PAL’s vice president for sales, during a recent media familiarization tour to the city—the largest in the Pacific Northwest.
The airline aims to not just leverage the large Filipino community in Seattle, but to make Seattle a gateway for those living in nearby Oregon, Alaska, and parts of Canada (British Columbia). Being a port city, it’s also a jump-off point for cruise ships, where many Filipino seafarers work.
PAL already serves Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Honolulu and Guam in the US, and this new route offers connectivity to other key US cities, through partnerships with other airlines.
PAL also sees potential for business traffic from multinational companies like Microsoft and Amazon, which have offices in the Philippines. Seattle is also home to Boeing and Starbucks.
“It’s not just targeting parts of the Filipino community, but it’s also introducing the Philippines to the rest of the world. There’s so much to share—our food, culture, arts and beaches,” stressed PAL president and COO Stanley Ng. Thus, they’re partnering with the Department of Tourism to push for the Philippines as a tourist destination.
“It’s really important to create that access for people to go there conveniently. We met with the Filipino community here and everyone was so happy about it. Before it would take them about 20 hours to get to the Philippines, now it’s 14 hours,” said Ng.
Food scene
The Filipino community in Seattle, Britanico said, is noted for its influence in the food scene. Apart from Ludi’s down-home, all-day breakfast fare, there are also two James Beard-nominated Filipino American chefs—Melissa Miranda of Musang and Aaron Verzosa of Archipelago.
For Filipinos hankering for other flavors of the old country, they head to Oriental Food Mart, a 55-year institution at Pike Place run by Leila Apostol Rosas, next to the mini grocery started by her mother. Ate Lei’s joint was recognized by the James Beard Foundation in 2020 with its America’s Classic Award.
Set up like a turo-turo familiar to Filipinos, with its counters adorned with colorful graffiti of sarcastic witticisms—“Maarte don’t get extra rice,” “If you’re in a hurry, I’m not, so don’t rush me,” “Bawal ang magdala ng ulam galing sa iba at kung kanin lang ang bibilhin, $5 ang isang order”—Ate Lei serves everything from longganisa to adobo.
But a surprise hit, she told us, was her sinigang na panga ng salmon—like a warm hug on the cold day of our visit. It wasn’t just the hot sour soup that was a novelty for the Americans in the beginning, but the way she used the fish collar, which is typically just discarded. Her spot is one of the stops of the Pike Place food tour, alongside the first ever Starbucks shop. (See related story.)
The food tourism begins once you take your PAL seat, with the airline extending the well-known Filipino hospitality beyond the famous arroz caldo (which they also serve, naturally, and was ordered by my balikbayan seatmate twice!) with dishes like tinola and sinigang onboard. What blew this writer’s mind was the dessert selection, which included halo-halo (with leche flan), mais con hielo, and turon a la mode—treats that would surely tickle the palate of any homecoming balikbayan.
“The Filipinos in Seattle are tightly knit,” Britanico observed. “Very industrious…Their stature here, they’re very respected.” There’s even a Jose Rizal park in the Beacon Hill area of the city.
He added, “Tourism-wise, there’s a lot of opportunity to promote Seattle as a destination. Everything is walkable downtown. They have a good public transport system. It’s a good mix of city and outdoor destinations. And you can jump off to other points. If you want to see the northern lights, you can go to Anchorage or Fairbanks (in Alaska).”
