Fil-Am ‘Catering King’ cements his title with new venture in Daly City
![Fil-Am ‘Catering King’ cements his title with new venture in Daly City](https://usa.inquirer.net/files/2025/01/Willy-Carandang.png)
From busboy to caterer-restaurateur, Willy Carandang takes pride in his American journey. Photo by Cherie M. Querol Moreno
DALY CITY, Calif. – Filipino American “Catering King” Willy Carandang is cementing his unofficial but well-deserved title with his latest venture, a stand-alone catering office here that doubles as a tiny sit-down-and-big takeout restaurant.
A banner trumpeting “Willie’s Catering & Restaurant” began turning motorists’ heads last summer along busy Mission Street in Daly City. Why? Because for almost 60 years, the site housed a branch of an international fried chicken chain.
Those unfamiliar with Carandang – maybe non-Filipinos or out-of-owners – would wonder what new gustatory spot was about to enter the vibrant dining scene on the southern artery connecting San Francisco to Daly City.
Those who know the man behind the name – spelled Willy with a Y unlike his business sobriquet – are delighted to know that Carandang has returned to where he built his brand of Filipino cuisine and hospitality nearly a decade ago.
With grand opening rites set in February, Carandang is excited to introduce a new concept that will showcase his signature dish and inspire celebrations.
New concept
As expected, lechon will be the everyday centerpiece, available in its pristine beauty by the pound. Or reincarnated as intensely aromatic paksiw.
Lechon lovers will soon get their lechon fix everyday at this Daly City spot. Photo by Cherie M. Querol Moreno
And of course, as his answer to the Salmon Tartare Cornets of hallowed French Laundry’s Thomas Keller, crisp-on-one-side, tenderly juicy-on-the-other porcine morsels enrobed in a tortilla cone for a handheld hors d’oeuvres.
Along with select Filipino favorites like dinuguan and pancit. To-go or dine-in, at one of only four tables, if available.
Yes, seating is limited, and gone is the long list of starters, entrees and desserts, because the menu will be specialized.
This is definitely not another temple to beloved common Philippine greatest hits. “You’ll notice ‘catering’ comes before ‘restaurant’ in our name, and that’s intentional,” Carandang emphasized to Inquirer.net USA.
“We’re not here to compete with existing Filipino restaurants,” he qualified, “we’re here to offer something different.”
Coming to Willie’s would be akin to visiting the Carandang home to plan a party and actually sample the upcoming experience.
The idea sprang from over 20 years in the restaurant industry where the seasoned entrepreneur has been providing and presenting food for 50 or 500 people, earning him renown.
Where there’s a gathering – birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries or funerals – chances are the Batangas native will be there. His lean bespectacled visage is easily distinguishable as he directs delivery, setup, service and breakdown, all the while taking calls on his white earbuds starkly contrasting with his chef’s blacks.
He’s the face of operations, but the recipes and execution of each of Willie’s specialties are the handiwork of Chef Norie, aka Mrs. Carandang, his wife and business partner for life, going on 36 years today.
The business blares Willy’s name but it is Norie Carandang who reigns in the kitchen, says her life partner. Photo by Cherie M. Querol Moreno
Lifetime partnership
Ever-smiling Norie reigns in the kitchen, where she concocts recipes by techniques learned from her grandmother while she was a child in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
“Bling,” not food, brought them together as colleagues at a jewelry shop in Greenhills, San Juan City. Willy, the appraiser, charmed his winsome co-worker with his warm, outgoing personality.
“There’s not a day that I don’t make her laugh no matter what kind of day we’ve had,” he says.
They were parents to Jewel, their firstborn, now a nurse, when they decided to try their luck here in the United States in 1989.
Eager to plant their roots, they took jobs outside their comfort zone but which opened opportunities. Looking back at his beginnings, Willy proudly notes that he started as a busboy in Ongpin, a restaurant in South San Francisco.
He went on to waiting tables in Tastebuds in San Bruno, where his innovative suggestions got him promoted to the catering manager and partner he is to this day.
“That’s where I saw the potential for lechon that was then absent from menus in restaurants. We served it daily,” he said. “And because I was in charge of lechon orders often as the primary dish at parties, I deepened my understanding of catering. It became my passion.”
As his restaurant expertise grew, so did his family.
Meals are always a celebration for the 12-member Carandang family. CONTRIBUTED
Second child John, now sales manager for a European luxury car dealership in Walnut Creek, and Tiffany, a medical assistant, graduated from California Culinary Academy. JR, also in sales at his older brother’s firm, attended culinary school in the Philippines.
Youngest sibling Janna is in college pursuing a degree in statistics. All of them, and the elder children’s spouses, got a taste of their parents’ occupation with their Munch Box cafe in Burlingame and Hapag Pilipino, their first family restaurant in Daly City.
“Hapag fulfilled our aspiration for upscale buffet dining combining good food, good service and elegant ambiance. We served lechon everyday,” the patriarch related.
The restaurant became the “it place” for Fil-Ams and a favored venue for launching political campaigns. Its name frequently showed up among sponsors of community events, adding social service to the owners’ engagement.
For supporting grassroots endeavors, Hapag received the 2019 Daly City Mayor’s Medium Business of the Year award.
The restaurant survived the pandemic when its owners signed up with the San Mateo County Great Plates Delivered program providing three meals a day to the doors of underprivileged individuals sheltered in place. But it was forced to close down when its lease expired in 2022.
By then mandatory restrictions had eased, the economy slowly reopened and the Carandangs began getting orders for parties. Their next leap came sooner than expected.
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Answered prayer
“We knew we needed a larger commercial kitchen to fulfill our potential,” Willy Carandang shared a frequent prayer as he was encouraged by orders coming in at Chon Le, the San Bruno kitchen-catering office they set up after shuttering Hapag and where they continue to roast their famous lechon.
He was hopeful about finding an ideal location down the road but not as soon as he did.
“We were catering a poolside party when I was casually asked by the client if I would be interested in maybe taking over a place in Daly City,” he revealed the unexpected tip for his service.
That’s the kind of camaraderie he develops with people, even strangers.
The site, 7199 Mission St., was exactly what the Carandangs wanted with its expansive kitchen, a walk-in chiller and a walk-in freezer, a small lobby, disabled access ramp and plenty of parking.
The Carandangs had found their new headquarters to crown their lifetime partnership. As sole owners, they’ll make decisions between the two of them alone. Now they can be even more generous with their support for nonprofits and extra helping for regular customers, they said.
Norie chose to be unnamed in the restaurant marquee, but make no mistake, says her husband, she’s the Chef, which everyone knows is French for “Chief.” Drop the ladle.
“We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to,” Willy said as Norie smiled in approval.