Oktubefest celebration in Oakland to mark Filipino American History Month

The month of October is Filipino American History Month, and today one of the Bay Area's favorite flavors is taking center stage at Ube Fest in the Oakland Basin. Can't see it spelled out, but Ube is at the center of that. Well done. I was wondering where you were going with that. Let's welcome in Brianna Eiler, the owner of Ube Bay. Henry Awanya, I got it. The owner of Whiskey Cake Creations and Alex Rototo. The owner of Lumpia Company. Welcome. Thank you. The Valkyries, they must call you because Ube should be served there all the time. It should be their official mascot. Henry, let's start with you because it's purple. Yes. What is Ube? So Ube is a purple yam from the Philippines. It's native to the Philippines. It's naturally purple. It has kind of like a nutty, vanilla-sweet flavor, so it's naturally sweet. Is it like a potato or is it more like a radish? It's definitely a root vegetable. um so it potato in terms of like texture but it definitely it's a purple yam yeah okay well love the purple not only is it naturally sweet but the color it just lends it yeah i think that's what makes it so intriguing yeah yeah so what do you brought in today and how how did you come up with some of these recipes so uh for October Fest we're also offering these we're doing the ube chiffon which is a chiffon cake um ube oreo cheesecake everyone loves cheesecake and everyone loves Oreo, so we decided to pair it with ube and we also have our ube macapuno cupcake, macapuno is a young sweet coconut also from the Philippines and the coconut and ube kind of play well against each other and it looks like your restaurant is hosting the the Ube Fest or what is the name of it, how do you say it? Octube, Octube, so we're celebrating ube which is the new red velvet to the whole world and we're celebrating it in Octoberfest fashion and like I'm making a ube stout today. You are. You need to come over. I would enjoy that. So is it kind of tinged purple? Does it have a purple hue? Oh, yeah. Oh, it's got it. It's beautiful. It's got it. Tell us about your restaurant. Yeah, it's just in Oakland, at Brooklyn Basin. It's my dream restaurant. It's an activity space, karaoke, dancing, and unlimited lumpias that you've never seen. But today, it's all about the ube. Yeah, I'm loving your glasses, by the way. Yeah. Those are spectacular. You brought in some to kind of demo some of the desserts that you've come up with, tell us about them. Yeah, so this is the ube cookie creme brulee, it's a brown butter ube cookie cup with a creamy center and then I torch it to brulee on top yeah and you have the little torch here yeah i'm gonna do a little demo for you guys all right so what's the proper way to do this so first are you ready yeah yeah okay Okay, so what you got to do is just pour a little sugar on top. It's like maybe a couple teaspoons? Yeah, I guess. More or less? You'd say so, yeah. Maybe a lot of sugar on top. A lot, a little for me. I can't have enough. And then torch that, baby. And you just got to keep moving in circles. And as you can see, the sugar is bubbling up a little bit. Yeah, it's caramelizing. Did you all grow up with ube recipes at home, or it was just a mainstay? Oh, yeah. So, I mean, it definitely is a Filipino staple. So, growing up, it's always been in our lives. So, to have the recognition that it's getting now, it's great. How surprised were you when it really started to catch on, and now we see ube in everything? Everywhere. Yeah, it's ube in everything. So, when the publisher approached me to do the cookbook, it was about three years ago, and I felt like it was already at its peak, but I feel like every year, it's just getting stronger and stronger. Okay, yeah, yeah, she she's got the the ube layer or how do what do you call those ube cookie creme brulee? And there we go You've got some fun stuff yeah, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna top it off with some our ube chiffon We're gonna top it with the ube whipped cream. How did you make that? So it's heavy cream We source ube powder from the Philippines and then we add sugar and gives it a nice creamy texture also with the color if you want to try piping do you sure sure and then just there you go perfect and then a lot of garnishes so the ube oreo cheesecake gets a little bit of Oreo on top and it gets a mini Oreo and some white chocolate pearls with the ube chiffon we top it with toasted coconut you really can't go wrong you You can't, no, you cannot. And then a little piece de resistance is the white chocolate pearls. It gives it a little texture. I like texture in food, and ube kind of plays off with white chocolate and coconut as well. Can you make smoothies out of ube? Oh, yeah. It's a great coffee flavor as well. There's ice cream, too, right? Oh, yeah, that's a popular one, too. So growing up as a kid, this was big in your family? Oh, yeah, in every dessert. Ube ice cream, we had ube desserts. There's a hot, what is it called? The bola bola. It's like a hot soup, but it's a dessert. It has different, like jackfruit, ube, different other root vegetables that go into it. And Alex, are you seeing everyone's coming in and giving it a try? Yeah, definitely. And I just wanted to say that, you know, there's Filipino Heritage Month and there's Filipino History Month. Right now we're doing History Month. So heritage, ube, we inherited that. history is what these guys are making you know new stuff and turning on we didn't grow up seeing this stuff this is like this is new this is the next generation of ube recipes for people who want to try and maybe experiment baking with ube at home what are the do's and don'ts what's the biggest mistake um it's a lot of people are using artificial colors we try to promote ube powder which we source from Philippines there's a couple asian stores for island pacific it's got to be It is purple, yeah. So this is the ube powder. Oh, wow, look at that. Yeah, so it is naturally purple. This is from the Philippines. They dehydrate it and then turn it into a powder. Yeah. You can also do that instead of, like, artificial color. I mean, depending on where you're located, sometimes all you have is the extract, which is great. We're trying to create an extract that's more natural. And what do we have here? This is ube halaya, which has also been growing up. It's an ube jam. A jam. Yeah. Oh, boy. And we actually top it with that here. I was going to say the same thing, too, ube halaya. Halaya, yeah. Yeah. It's so good on toast. And it's ube-delicious. Ube-licious. That is good. Yeah, and these are for you guys to try as well. Oh, my goodness. Thank you. I do have samples. So this is the ube chow cheesecake, which I also sell at the Lumpia Company with my big brother here. Ube cheesecake. Like, there's limitless possibilities of all the desserts. Here, turn around, Alex. Give yourself a plug there. There you go. I thought you had a 49er jacket on. That's what I thought, too. Yeah, you are. You are representing. That is awesome. Yeah. Tell us more about the event before we tie it up. Yeah, it's great. So this event was coordinated by me, Ube Bay, MC Scooter and Alex, Total Lumpia Chef. We really just want to highlight a lot of local businesses that specialize in Ube Bay products and also celebrate Filipino History Month, Filipino American History Month, which is all of October. We have performances, too. We have four live performances. We have DJs. And it's just going to be a good time. It's a huge party. Everyone's invited. What time and when and where? Yeah, so it's today from 2 to 9, and it's going to be at the Lumpia Company. Do you have to wear lavender or purple to get in? If you want. I got my lavender shoes on. Maybe a Valkyrie jersey, right? You ever been to a Filipino house party? This is what it's going to be. It'll be a lot of everything. Lots of food. Where food's the center, right? Yes. Great job. Well, Brianna, Alex, and Henry, we want to thank you for coming into the studio. Great stuff. Thanks for bringing in these delicious desserts. Can't wait to try them. And have a great time out there at Ube Bay Fest at the Lumpia Company happening today in Oakland. We're going to take a short break, and we will be right back.