Ma'am Sir

Press & Media

Review by Bill Addison

At Ma’am Sir, Charles Olalia delves deeper into the foods of his Filipino heritage

“You have to remove the pork taste,” Charles Olalia remembers his grandmother intoning about the crucial ingredients in the classic Filipino dish called sisig.

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Already operating in confident championship form was Ma'am Sir, the new Filipino restaurant from Charles Olalia at the nexus of Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

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Think of Ma’am Sir not so much as the latest of L.A.’s new wave of wonderful Filipino restaurants but as the triangulation of chef Charles Olalia’s career.

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Rice Bar chef Charles Olalia’s sophomore effort in Silver Lake is Ma’am Sir, and it’s a true celebration of great Filipino cooking in a modern, stylish setting.

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Olalia has a wonderful grasp of the tension at the center of Filipino cuisine, a tug-of-war between rendered fat and spiced vinegar, soothing coconut milk and the bass-note funk of shrimp paste.

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“You can’t go to the Philippines and not come to my house for dinner,” Olalia had said. At the end of the meal, he opened an ice chest filled with halo-halo in plastic takeaway cups.

Ma'am Sir

It should come as no surprise to anyone following me on social media that Charles Olalia’s new full-service take on Filipino cuisine is going to get a huge thumbs up from yours truly.