Coming Soon: Pinoy Lumpia Cart in Disneyland California!

LOS ANGELES, California — Filipino comfort food "lumpia" is officially coming to the Disneyland Resort early next month as Los Angeles-based eatery Big Boi Lumpia Company expands with a brand new food cart at Downtown Disney Resort in Anaheim, California.

In an interview with The Filipino Correspondent Network (TFCN), Big Boi executive chef and owner Barb Batiste said they expect to have the soft opening of their Lumpia food cart, which will be located across the Lego store and near the Monorail entrance in the Downtown Disney District, by July 3 after the completion all the necessary health and sanitary inspection requirements.

"For the last couple of years, I have been working to get Big Boi to the Happiest Place on Earth so here we are two years later, we're gonna open at Downtown Disney and it's called the Big Boi Lumpia Company," she said. "We are so excited to bring the lumpia and the Filipino food to the masses and there's no better place than the Happiest Place on Earth."

Batiste, who is known for drawing inspiration from her Filipino heritage, believes that "Lumpia" is the ultimate comfort food that brings people together. "To share our heritage and flavors with millions of Disney guests is a dream come true and a massive win for the Filipino community," she added.

"I'm gonna do everything I can to get us on the map because we have so many different kinds of food and I feel like the Filipino food, not everybody knows about it, they don't know, when people ask what does it taste like it's kinda hard to describe because it's so amazing and so flavorful so I am excited to tell all the Filipinos out there that I am here and I'm gonna show everybody how amazing our food is," Batiste said, when asked to give her message to the Filipino community.

She said they would be offering six flavors of their signature spring rolls: chicken, pork, plant-based, ube, apple pie and peach mango.

Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles (PCGLA) Consul General Adelio Angelito S. Cruz, for his part, said Big Boi will definitely bring great pride to the Philippines by showcasing the iconic Filipino snack "lumpia" to Disneyland which is a massive cultural hub shared across generations, languages and geographic borders.

"Isang malaking karangalan (it is of great honor) because very soon, we will have our Filipino lumpia served in the most Beautiful and Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland," Cruz said.

Jason Lustina, founder and CEO of SoCal Filipinos, on the other hand, urged Filipinos to continue to support this kind of endeavor by small businesses.

Batiste is currently a board member at SoCal Filipinos. Founded in June 2020, SoCal Filipinos is one of the largest and fastest growing digital community for the Filipinos in Southern California with over 125,000 members.

"Please make sure to support small businesses. Go out and support these small businesses because they can't do the work that they do, they can't be in their businesses without all our support so go out and support all of them," Lustina said.

At present, Batiste operates a Big Boi Restaurant and B Sweet Dessert Shop in the Sawtelle Japantown district of West Los Angeles.

Big Boi, who's named after Chef Barb's Dad, Angel, but was fondly nicknamed Boi, is not only known for its famous lumpia but also its full savory meals like pork sisig and chicken adobo. B Sweet Dessert Bar, meanwhile, is famous for its Filipino-inspired desserts such as Halo Halo and Ube Cheesecake, among others.

Photos: Doeleth Gatdula, Nemen Cabatuando, Adrian Lecaros