Joann Tagorda and her husband, Denver Tagorda, emigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. in the early to mid-2000s. They then met and married in Illinois before settling in Phoenix in 2010. The two quickly noticed a gap in the Valley's culinary scene.
"There were only a few options here in Phoenix for authentic Filipino food," she recalls.
Determined to share their beloved cuisine from the Philippine Islands with their new community, in 2013, the couple began cooking Filipino dishes in their own kitchen, promoting the dishes and selling them to Facebook friends, catering at parties and setting up booths at street fairs across metro Phoenix.
"Pancit, lumpia and barbecue — those are our best sellers at the festivals since the beginning," she says. "The barbecue sticks and lumpia, we make thousands of those."
The couples' lumpia are bite-sized spring rolls packed with ground pork, minced carrots and a secret ingredient. They are then deep-fried into golden deliciousness and served in groups of nine. Pancit is a popular Filipino noodle dish.
"So every Christmas, birthday, or special occasion, my aunt and grandparents in the Philippines would make pancit," Tagorda says. "That's why our pancit here in Phoenix tastes like home."
Like her aunt in the Philippines, Tagorda mixes canton and bihon noodles and adds carrots, celery, red bell peppers and cabbage.
"I made it simple, like American friendly. Because I'm not just targeting Filipino customers. I want everybody to know what pancit is." Her pancit costs $12.99 per order, and she offers the Pancit Overload for $15.99. "It comes with toppings, like chopped lumpia."
Her husband Denver makes the barbecue skewers. He marinates the pork or chicken for two days before grilling them while simultaneously basting them to maintain their juiciness.
Joann Tagorda's pancit is made with canton and bihon noodles, carrots, celery, red bell peppers and cabbage.
Tambayan
The evolution of Tambayan
Tagorda is a native of North Pangasinan, a province northwest of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. "It's a rural area," she explains. "The goal of Tambayan is to introduce and share Filipino food from our home with everybody. That's why we went to First Friday and all the festivals."
But every food festival vendor knows how daunting serving at the events can be. The long days require setting up a tent and equipment, cooking all day, cleaning up and breaking down the setup afterward and packing up. With three young children to tend to, the Tagordas sometimes grew fatigued, especially on back-to-back events and gigs.
In 2019, Tambayan moved into the Highland Food Hub, a shared cloud kitchen space near the corner of Highland and Seventh avenues. Inside the warehouse-like space, multiple food businesses each have their own tiny kitchen to save on overhead. Customers order online via Uber Eats, DoorDash and other apps or on a computer in a waiting room separated from the kitchens. The food is placed in a locker for the delivery driver or customer to pick up.
"That ghost kitchen was good for us during COVID-19," Tagorda says.
There, the business gained new customers, many from the nearby hospitals. Filipino nurses and medical technicians would place orders and bring their coworkers to try the food, Tagorda says.
Popular dishes at the Food Hub included Lechon Kawali, deep-fried and crispy pork belly, and Pork Adobo, a dish cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, brown sugar and extra spices. The two dishes served with white rice are now on the menu at the new restaurant.
Taking the leap
After the pandemic lockdowns eased and events gradually returned, the couple left the ghost kitchen to hit the road again. In 2023, they bought a food truck. In late April, they set up at the Asian Chamber Night Market where they served Sizzling Sisig, a dish of minced pork belly with garlic, onion, peppers, calamansi juice and spices. They also made fishballs and kwek kwek.
Spelled as pishbol in the homeland, they are two to three-inch balls made of fish paste and spices, and kwek kwek are quail eggs.
"We deep fry them and serve them on a stick like at the wooden carts back home," Tagorda says.
They come out crispy and can be dipped in a spicy sweet and sour sauce or a vinegar and garlic dip.
The Tagordas recently took their business to the next step and opened their first brick-and-mortar spot on West Camelback Road. When entering, customers are greeted with a "kumusta po?" meaning "how are you?" in Tagalog, and often by Tambayan's next generation.
"We have three kids, 15, 13 and 11. The eldest will be helping at the new restaurant," she says.
The new restaurant takes over the former Flaming Pig and is filled with bright colors and decorations.
Tambayan
"We have live music on Fridays and Saturdays," Tagorda says.
For the final touches of the Philippine island vibe, the Tagordas serve Halo Halo, a dessert with ube ice cream, leche flan, jellies, coconut, sweetened red beans, shaved ice, fresh fruit, flattened and toasted rice and condensed milk. A colorful array of different kankanin rice cakes are tasty options to cap off the visit.
"I just love our food, and I want to share it with everybody," Tagorda concludes. "I want to make lumpia like tacos. Like, when you say lumpia, they already know what lumpia is — you know?"
The restaurant's name — Tambayan — loosely translates to "hanging out and chilling," Tagorda says.
"Before, we'd go to First Friday, to Scottsdale, to Phoenix, to Chandler, and our customers would go wherever we were. But now, I told them we have a real home for Tambayan," she says. "It's a real place where you can hang out with us and enjoy the food."
