Midtown’s range of food options continues to expand, with Filipino restaurant Kain Tayo (pronounced Kah-Een Tah-Yoh) opening at 2700 Locust, in the burgeoning JC Midtown project, to be joined soon by a handful of other independently owned restaurants. Owners Randy and Sally Arcega relocated the restaurant from Trenton, Illinois, to the heart of St. Louis, a move eight months in the making. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Menu
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With chef Sally Arcega at the helm, the menu is designed to emulate a casual Filipino dining experience. “What we’re trying to do is introduce authenticity of our food that comes from the Philippines,” says Randy Arcega. “When you go to the Philippines, you’ll see the same food and the same ingredients.”
There are nine entrées on the menu, including such options as Lechon Kawali (a crispy deep-fried pork belly served with white rice and a fresh salsa) and Chicken Adobo (the national dish of the Philippines). Another top seller is the Caldereta, a Filipino beef stew. The signature dish is Chef Sally’s Sisig, a classic Filipino entrée that’s traditionally made with pork rind or chitlins, though Arcega makes her rendition with chopped chicken thigh meat, pork, bird’s eye chilis, Serrano peppers, mayo, soy sauce, and Filipino lemonade.
The menu also features a single appetizer: Lumpia Shanghai, which resembles a fried spring roll, though the primary ingredient is meat. At Kain Tayo, the dish is made with ground pork, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.
The Atmosphere
Kain Tayo’s new location is housed in a spacious brick building on Locust just a block west of Jefferson. The interior is brightly lit, with plenty of natural light shining through the storefront side, which is primarily windows. The spacious interior is full of wooden tables, each with a small flower arrangement.
In one corner of the dining room is a karaoke machine. The Arcegas haven’t scheduled any official karaoke nights yet, but that hasn’t stopped some patrons from firing it up. “When some people see it they start using it,” says Randy Arcega. “We’re going to have karaoke when we have our liquor license, so we can serve imported beer that comes from the Philippines.”
The wall next to the karaoke machine is covered in a decorative faux grassy expanse, with a yellow neon sign that reads, “Kain Tayo,” or, as the Tagalong phrase translates to English, “Let’s Eat.”
The Background
The idea for Kain Tayo began four years ago, when Sally Arcega started making food for friends and family that she and Randy grew up with in the Philippines. The overwhelmingly positive feedback convinced them to start a restaurant in Trenton, Illinois, where they’ve lived for the past 13 years. The Arcegas’ restaurant was doing well, but it was clear that much of the clientele was not composed of the town’s 2,700 residents, says Randy Arcega. “We noticed that a majority of our customers were coming from St. Louis,” he says. “That’s when we decided to look for a place here, so we could be close to the people that supported us the most.”
The new location is part of JC Midtown, a project that aims to help connect Midtown and downtown, with walkable food and beverage destinations, as well as entertainment venues. As the project looks to bring these two neighborhoods closer together, Kain Tayo is aiming to bring Filipino cuisine to a city that was willing to travel 45 minutes for its cuisine. “We’re just bringing a little of the Philippines back to St. Louis,” says Randy Arcega.
