This Filipino Hawaiian bodega is one of Chicago’s hottest food spots
Photo from kanin.chi/Instagram
A new bodega-style restaurant in Chicago has been drawing long lines and attracting attention for their unique blend of Filipino flair and Hawaiian island vibes.
When Kanin opened last month, long lines stretched along Damen Avenue in Ravenswood.
“We opened at 11 on that day, at 10:30 we walked out to take a picture and there was a line,” Kanin partner Noah Rabaya told Eater Chicago. “We were like — are you guys here for us? And they’re like, ‘yeah.’ And we were shook like you could not believe.”
Diners are willing to wait for over an hour during peak hours to get a taste of Hawaiian snack musubi – grilled spam over rice, wrapped in nori – freshly crafted by Filipino American chef Julius Tacadena.
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The Filipino Hawaiian restaurant, occupying a small space with just three tables, has been drawing huge crowds. They sell out by midday.
Kanin —a Tagalog word for rice, the heart of Filipino meals— serves up a fusion of Filipino comfort food and Hawaiian flair.
Their best sellers? Spam musubi, longganisa and egg, tomato jam and tamarind shrimp musubi. For dessert, their ube banana pudding has been a crowd favorite.
Kanin’s popularity exploded, thanks to rave reviews by content creators.
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Chris Dolo Eats, who has over 290,000 Instagram followers, praised the shrimp musubi’s freshness.
“It is really good and really fresh,” he said, calling the smoky longganisa musubi the “best one.”
Food blogger Fox Peña, with 100,000 Instagram followers, sampled their ube banana pudding. He wrote, “Ube Banana Pudding? Straight-up dangerous.”
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To keep up with increased demand, the restaurant will be closed on Sundays to train new staff, Tacadena has announced.
“Because of the fact that we continue to sell out, we made the tough decision to close on Sundays to allow us to train new staff as well as figure out some of our processes,” Tacadena shared on Kanin’s Instagram page.
Chef Julius Tacadena co-founded Kanin with Francis Alameda, owner of Novel Pizza Cafe, where Tacadena started a series of pop-ups.
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Tacadena, who was born in the Philippines and raised in Hawai’i, draws from the richness of both cultures when creating dishes.
Inside Kanin, an artsy vibe greets guests. The walls are adorned with artworks by Filipino American artists. The bodega-style setup includes shelves of Filipino snacks.
According to Eater Chicago, Tacadena “has dreams of hosting pop-up dinners in the future,” and eyeing additional locations and a commissary kitchen to streamline production and expand offerings.
Kanin is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with inari bombs and skewers served at 11 a.m.
