January 26, 2026 by Elias Prodger (‘26)
Walking up to Manila Grille, right off Route 9 in Gansevoort, you are instantly hit with a bouquet of aromas. The frying of pancit noodles and the stewing of garlic and bay leaf in a fragrant chicken adobo create scents that, from the standpoint of someone who loves Filipino cuisine, are as potent as they are enticing. The mastermind behind these flavors is the one and only Romeo Soriano, who also works as a food service worker in Saratoga Springs High School’s cafeteria.
When I sat down with Soriano right before the busy lunch rush, and began to talk about his Lumpia recipe, his passion for food became instantly recognizable. This is hardly surprising for a man who began cooking around the house at the age of six, in a small town about an hour east of the capital of the Philippines, Manila. “My Grandpa and Grandma owned a restaurant, not a big one, but that was the situation they had. I learned to watch, with my mother who cooked on a daily basis,” Soriano recounted as his earliest food memories. “Every party, every birthday, (Pancit) is number one, they say it gives you a long life,” said Soriano. With this culinary foundation, he went on to work in a casino, working with various types of cuisines from around Asia, as well as Europe and South America.
Filipino food at its core is a combination of Filipino history and outside influences. As a collection of over 7,500 islands, the Philippines fell victim to Spanish colonization. Under Spanish control, ingredients like onions, garlic, and bay leaves were brought into the islands and became staples of their diet. Dishes like Adobo (stewed chicken in aromatics and soy sauce) and Lechon (roasted pig) were then introduced in Spanish-speaking countries. Trade with China also brought ingredients like soy sauce into the area, which were later absorbed into Filipino culture. When the U.S. occupied the islands in the 1900s, Western eating habits were introduced, with adaptations such as banana ketchup and macaroni salad becoming part of Filipino culinary culture.
Soriano immigrated to the U.S. in 2000, following his girlfriend who later became his wife. He recounted the surprise of his new surroundings, which sharply juxtaposed his expectations. “When I came to America, I knew it was going to be cold. When I thought I was coming, I thought I was going to live in a big city, like Manhattan,” Soriano says. “When my wife picked me up at the airport, it took almost four hours to get all the way up north. I woke up, and I saw the mountains. What?!”
Soriano set up a Filipino restaurant on Central Ave in Albany, running it for over three years before he welcomed his first child. Soriano has two kids, a boy and a girl, who are in college pursuing medical careers.
I was curious about Soriano’s sense of community with fellow Filipino Americans in the Albany area, which according to census data, has an Asian American population just under 8%, though there are no concrete stats on how many of those residents are of Filipino descent. He talked about the parties he attends with other community members who bring those same dishes that his family cooked for him back home. “We will have a Christmas party and they will bring all the food we are talking about. Awesome! It’s this nice sort of communal feel.” Even an entire Pacific Ocean away, the flavors and feelings of Filipino cuisine remained in the area.
Soriano is currently working on buying a new food truck and testing out other recipes to add to his menu. For now, you can find his delicious food at the DayDreamer Farm in Gansevoort every weekend, as well as a weekly stint at the T-Shirt Factory food truck corral every Thursday.