Longtime Fayetteville realtor Esperanza “Nanette” Thomas said she’s known for her Filipino home cooking among family, friends and clients, and soon the city will be able to get a taste of the islands at her forthcoming restaurant.
Kusinera Filipino Cuisine is slated to open Sept. 14 at 3047 Legion Road, formerly seafood restaurant Crab Du Jour, in a shopping plaza at Black and Decker and Legion roads.
Thomas, 54, named the 72-seat eatery Kusinera, the Tagalog word for a woman chef, because she leads the kitchen.
“I am really the one cooking,” she said Tuesday.
Thomas said the restaurant will serve family recipes that she ate growing up in Luzon.
“It’s very flavorful food, so you have to eat it with rice,” she explained. “In my country, we say ‘rice is life.’”
She said her signature dishes are lumpia, fried spring rolls filled with house-ground pork, celery, carrots and green onions; and pancit, a rice noodle dish with sauce, cabbage, carrots and green beans.
