Filipino restaurant opens with ube French toast, adobo fried rice, more
A new Filipino restaurant in Tacoma’s McKinley neighborhood starts serving all-day breakfast, pancit and adobo fried rice Friday.
Lechon Loco opens at 11 a.m. at 3511 McKinley Ave. It replaces Ruca Latin Asian Fusion, which longtime Tacoma restaurateur Willy Ceria operated until earlier this year.
Gerold and Rhymalynne Castro have honed their Filipino American breakfast chops at their West Hill Deli in Auburn. The menu there features modern favorites like toasted coconut waffles, ube pancakes and pandan chicken alongside fried eggs with longanisa, tocino and smoked bangus, a prevalent milkfish species in the Philippines.
Some of those dishes will carry into Lechon Loco, but the Tacoma concept intends to offer a fuller experience encompassing breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Signatures include a house adobo with pork belly or chicken and java rice; Palabok-style pasta with shrimp, lechon and hardboiled eggs; and the lechon belly, marinated overnight in lemongrass, garlic and spices before slow-roasting as a roll, Cebu-style, in the oven. It’s served with pork adobo rice and a sunny egg.
Chef Gerold Castro has been cooking since he was 19, not long after his family emigrated to the Seattle area. He led the kitchens at several hotels in King County, including Hilton and Marriott properties and the Arctic Club. In the late 2000s, he simultaneously ran his own place, Kawali Grill, in Hillman City. West Hill Deli opened in 2021.
“I wasn’t looking — it happened,” said Castro of his accidental search for a second restaurant.
Ceria, who has served Tacoma a blend of Mexican, Filipino and Hawaiian fare since 1991 — first at La Fondita in Freighthouse Square and then Proctor — had used the McKinley space for his Ruca food truck. In 2023, he sold the truck but kept the kitchen and quietly opened a sit-down restaurant. His wife’s health led him to list it for sale last year, he said.
He appreciated Castro’s vision of a restaurant that honors his Filipino heritage as well as the blending of cultures in Mexican American cooking.
“Willy and I talked. I shared my plans, and he said, ‘Why don’t you buy the place?’” recalled Castro this week, adding that he saw an opportunity in the area for Filipino food with Latin influence. “This is an homage to all of the people that I’ve worked with.”
Levi Mott, whom he met more than 15 years ago, will join him in the kitchen and in the front-of-house.
Some of Ruca’s memory will live on in the form of chicken mole enchiladas, a carne asada platter and mahi mahi tacos. Lechon Loco will also offer pollo ala parilla (Inasal-style chicken enhanced by calamansi, lemongrass, vinegar, garlic and annatto), seared salmon ginataan with braised taro leaves and amarillo rice, and lumpia.
To drink, there’s a full bar, including a couple of draft beers and bottled options; cocktails are on the way. Of course there will be coffee as well as refreshers like calamansi or mango iced tea and ube horchata — an ideal pairing with the croissant-loaf ube French toast.
LECHON LOCO
▪ 3511 McKinley Ave. (enter on Harrison), Tacoma, 253-327-1797, lechonlocorestaurant.com
▪ Starting hours: Wednesday-Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
▪ Details: new Filipino restaurant with all-day breakfast, plus Filipino and Mexican-inspired lunch and dinner; full bar, all-ages — opening April 18
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 5:30 AM.