Filipino Food Truck Señor Sisig Sets Opening Date for Permanent Outpost

Long-running San Francisco food truck Señor Sisig will permanently park on Valencia Street next month. The opening day for Filipino fusion fare at the brand’s first brick-and-mortar location is November 7.

In 2010, Evan Kidera and Gil Payumo founded their food truck business, known for its popular sisig burritos and ube alfajores, with an image of the Filipino flag. The duo now operates five trucks at a time, but they’ve never made the leap to a permanent space — until now. “We’d never found the location that we thought felt right, and we continued to just grow our business as a food truck,” Kidera told Eater SF this spring.

Then came 990 Valencia, formerly the cafe Blue Fig, complete with a sunny patio for 40 and a parklet in front. TECTA Associates led the remodel of the 800-square-foot space, and artist Aaron Kai spruced up the patio with a giant mural depicting Kidera and Payumo amid an SF tableau.

With their accessible Filipino food trucks, Kidera and Payumo have served as emissaries for Filipino food in San Francisco, spreading love for items like sisig by adding them to nachos and tacos. “It might be different from what you grew up on,” says Kidera, “but whoever you are, you’re not intimidated by it.... [It’s] familiar and welcoming.”

On Valencia Street, the Señor Sisig team will add new specials to their existing hits: Concoctions like “nacho-rrones” (chicharrones-based nachos) and a “Sisig crunchwrap” (pork, chicken, or tofu on a crisp tostada with Monterey jack cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole, then wrapped in a griddled tortilla and served with a side of spicy nacho cheese).

To drink, customers will find fresh calamansi (Philippine lime) juice, green tea, or an “Arnold Palmer” mix of the two. They’ll also have beers from Fort Point Beer Co. and Woods Beer Co. (with whom Señor Sisig will work on collaboration brews). And for dessert, there’s a soft-serve machine dispensing flavors like ube horchata, a joint effort with Annabelle Topacio of Dogpatch creamery Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous.

Of course, customers can still get those ube alfajores, too, and Señor Sisigs food trucks will keep rolling as well. “Señor Sisig will always be a food truck,” said Kidera. “That’s who we are. That’s where our roots are.”