BILLINGS, Mont. — La Cocina Filipina, Billings’ first Filipino restaurant, opened in downtown Billings in late September, giving co-owner Lani Vicente a place to share the food and culture she has spent years bringing to friends, family and the local Filipino community.
At 310 N. 29th St., the sounds of sizzling meat and the aroma of garlic fill the kitchen as Vicente prepares dishes rooted in the Philippines.
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For Vicente, cooking has always been about more than food.
“I cook a lot for everybody. I don't know, maybe it's my passion,” she said. “I want everybody to be happy, you know?”
Vicente, who works alongside her daughters Lian and Viel, said one of her most important ingredients is TLC, or “tender, love and care.” That approach helped turn years of cooking for others into a business of her own. Now, with her boyfriend and co-owner Doug Erickson, she is introducing more of Billings to Filipino cuisine.
“This is my big dream,” Vicente said.
The menu features homemade lumpia, Filipino pork egg rolls, along with pancit, a stir-fried noodle dish, and pork adobo, a popular Filipino dish typically prepared with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and seasonings.
The restaurant also serves Filipino street food, including fish and squid balls. She makes a weekly special menu item of some of her favorite dishes, including sizzling sisig, a dish of seasoned pork cooked on a hot plate until crisp, topped with an egg.
For dessert, customers can order halo-halo, a colorful combination of ingredients that can include tropical fruit, ube, jellies, sweet beans, shaved ice, milk, flan and ice cream. The name halo-halo means “mix-mix” in Filipino, reflecting the way the ingredients are combined before eating.
“When it comes to the table, they're like, ‘Oh, that thing is huge,’” Erickson said. “It's shareable.”
Vicente said she makes the food herself, drawing on recipes and cooking knowledge she learned in part from her mother in the Philippines.
“It's all homemade by me,” she said.
Vicente was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to the United States nearly 17 years ago. Before opening La Cocina Filipina, she spent nearly 11 years working in the kitchen at St. Vincent Healthcare and opened a catering business under the same name two years ago.
Much of her cooking experience came from preparing food for gatherings, including summer picnics and holiday celebrations organized by the Filipino-American community.
“I love to cook for everybody,” Vicente said. "Especially if you have a get-together.”
Those gatherings helped her share familiar dishes with other Filipinos in the area and introduced her cooking to people who encouraged her to pursue a restaurant.
“Billings has a pretty big community for Filipinos,” Erickson said. “And they like to get together and show what they can all do.”
Although the city has a Filipino community, La Cocina Filipina is the first brick-and-mortar Filipino restaurant in Billings, according to the owners. Census data also show the Philippines is one of the most common birthplaces for Billings residents born outside the United States.
Opening a restaurant, however, was not Vicente and Erickson's original plan.
The couple initially considered expanding their food business with a food truck. But an opportunity arose through friends, husband and wife Kaela Chanhthavee and Quito Keutla, owners of downtown Vietnamese restaurant Phonomenal.
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Chanthhavee and Keutla leased the building to accommodate their kitchen needs but had extra space available. Knowing Vicente wanted to open a restaurant, they offered her an opportunity to use the space without taking on the full cost of leasing an independent restaurant location.
The arrangement helped the couple move forward with their plans at a time when the cost of opening a restaurant can be a significant barrier.
“We have an amazing deal here that we couldn't turn down, with the cost of things around town, leasing places,” Erickson said. “We just got into this by sheer luck and goodwill of some friends.”
Vicente remembers receiving a call about the opportunity late one evening. When the possibility of opening a restaurant came up, she said she did not hesitate.
“As soon as she goes, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’” Vicente said.
She left her job at St. Vincent the next day to focus on the restaurant.
For Erickson, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, the transition into restaurant ownership was unexpected. He said his role grew out of a desire to support Vicente's ambition, even though he did not have a background in cooking.
“I never thought in a million years I'd have anything to do with the restaurant besides going to one and eating,” he said. “And now we have our own.”
The restaurant gives Vicente a place to share more than recipes. Filipino cuisine reflects a range of cultural influences, including Chinese and Spanish traditions, while dishes such as adobo, pancit and lumpia have become familiar staples in Filipino homes and celebrations.
For Vicente, serving those dishes in Billings is a way to share a part of her life and heritage with a broader community. She hopes customers will be willing to try foods they may not have encountered before and discover dishes they enjoy.
“I think for me is there's a lot of dishes in our country that I know that people are going to like,” she said.
After years of cooking for community gatherings and building her catering business, Vicente now has a restaurant where she can share those flavors every day.
“I think this is the right time to do my big dreams,” she said. “And now it's happened.”
To learn more about La Cocina Filipina, click here.
