Art's Kitchen — Restaurant in Duarte

Why did I wait so long to try this place? I guess because I thought it was another Filipino place I tried a while back, that was good but not great, but just realized it was further west on Huntington. Anyway, stopped for lunch and they have your typical buffet table with Filipino favorites to choose from as a combo or a la carte. I tried a 3 item combo with lechon (crispy pork belly), beef Kare Kare and a chicken dish which I’m not sure what it was other than delicious. They give you a choice of rice only or half rice and half noodles (i think it’s called pancit) It also comes with free soup. All the dishes were delicious and somewhat elevated compared to your stand bys like DJ Bibingkahan or Pinoy Pinay. Even the rice was cooked well. Hard to explain the difference other than the quality of ingredients and care, probably cooked in smaller batches which makes a world of difference. There are a few other sit down restaurants that serve Filipino food but not “fast and ready” like it was here and certainly not at these prices. My whole meal was about $12 and was enough for lunch and dinner. Definitely coming back.

My only gripe was they didn’t have goat (my fave) or the traditional sour and savory tamarind soup (also a fave). The corn soup was great, but just had my taste buds set on the tamarind.

They change soups daily, so will have to come back often to try their version.

Finally my pro tip. If you want lumpia (small egg rolls), call ahead. They said it would be around 20 mins for those, so will have to call ahead for that next...

I asked my Filipino friend where to get good Filipino food. He suggested Art's Kitchen in Duarte. Therefore when I went to Irwindale, I decided to stop by at Art's Kitchen which is within a mile from Irwindale. I got fried whole fish with bones and head everything in it that I had long time ago at a Korean restaurant. They gave me some vinegar sauce and banana ketchup. That vinegar sauce was so good that it made the fish tasted better. Fish was good by itself. They have ready to go food like in Panda Express. Rice with 2...

Extremely good food! Wasn't overly salty, and it tasted like it was made the same day!

Teriyaki chicken had good sauce, and they also give you a cup of free sinigang soup.

Chicken adobo had a good balance wasn't overly seasoned with soy sauce.

Lechon was nice and crispy and not too oily.

Stir fried tofu with veggies was good! Wasn't overly cooked so it had a nice crunch and wasn't overly salty.

Reminds me of my grandpa's cooking back when...