Señor Sisig Is Hosting This Filipino Rapper’s ‘Very Good Food Tour’ in Oakland

P-P-P-Lo, time to bring the taste back. 

Okay, that’s not an actual bar from a P-Lo track. But it should be after the Filipino rapper and producer announced his own “Very Good Food Tour.”

“I’m pulling up around the country as we celebrate Filipino American History Month, and supporting small businesses,” P-Lo tweeted out at the start of October. 

With eight stops around North America — including Los Angeles, New York and Toronto — the roving series will highlight Filipino eateries in each community while providing music and merch for a family-friendly affair. Each location will also include a meet-and-greet with the Fil Am artist, who recently finished touring for his fourth studio album, STUNNA, and has always shown an affinity for his favorite food destinations.

His latest culinary journey will begin in Southern California, where the rapper now resides. But his third stop will be Señor Sisig, at the regional Filipino chain’s splashy Oakland expansion that opened earlier this year. 

Señor Sisig might be the most popular Pinoy food brand in the Bay — it started out as a food truck in 2010 and was eventually featured in a Mercedes-Benz commercial starring a hungry Klay Thompson. So it makes an ideal partner for the star-powered P-Lo, who already has a history with the business: They released a limited edition P-Lo ‘Rito (a California burrito with sweet longanisa, fried egg and habanero salsa) in 2021, and he remixed his “Same Squad” song with a Señor Sisig theme this past summer.

“It’s all part of what we feel brings people together in this world — food and music,” says Evan Kidera, the CEO and co-founder of Señor Sisig. “We’re all born and raised in the Bay, we rep the Bay, it’s an alignment of what we do in building our brands that people in the Bay gravitate towards. So why not put those pillars together and shine that light for others to come and enjoy?”

The menu items featured throughout P-Lo’s tour will change depending on the venue. This Señor Sisig stop will be especially worthwhile since it’s the homegrown Pinole rapper’s only Bay Area destination. Just like any worthwhile collaboration (see: E-40 and Alex Retodo’s The Lumpia Company, which teamed up with Señor Sisig earlier this year to serve an Oakland-exclusive pork sisig lumpia), P-Lo will be adding his own sauce to Sisig’s recipe: sinigang wings with a spicy twist. 

The event will also include a special cocktail and the premiere of a pre-recorded “Tiny Desk style” video of P-Lo performing his hit songs in-store.

P-Lo’s timing couldn’t be better. His “Very Good Food Tour” is part of a larger tsunami wave of Filipino American foodmakers who have dominated the national food circuit with an array of ube-infused treats and adobo-drenched dishes lately.

“It’s pretty obvious that there’s a Filipino food influence everywhere now,” Kidera says. “When we first opened in 2010, there really wasn’t much else besides traditional, family-owned Filipino spots that were serving pinuneg [blood sausage]. I love those spots religiously, but you couldn’t just go out and get anything like Señor Sisig and other Filipino foods for younger generations and non-Filipinos. Thai, Japanese, Chinese — they’ve all had food movements and hit their popularity. But Filipino food wasn’t really one of those, and now we’re growing to get to that point.”

It seems they’ve officially made it now. To be sure, whether you’re attending this particular function for Sisig’s eats or P-Lo’s beats, the Filipino food will be smacking and the Bay Area music will be slapping.

P-Lo’s “Very Good Food Tour” will have its Bay Area stop at Señor Sisig (330 17th St., Oakland) on Sat., Oct. 21 from 4 to 7 p.m. ​​The event is free to attend with online RSVP.