Meet Ashley Lujares from Mango Tao, a Southeast Asian restaurant pop-up

Boston Globe

5 days ago

I've been cooking for 20 years. Right now, I've been doing pop-ups and cooking classes, mostly focusing on Filipino-American food. Not only do I focus on the food, but I also focus on uplifting my Filipino community here in Boston and in Massachusetts, and Filipino culture in general.
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Initially, Mango Tao started when my brother and I were thinking about our childhood. We were thinking about Filipino parties, and we missed that. It disappeared for a while. Life happened, and we were like: 'What happened to these people? We used to see them all the time!' And then I said: 'We should create an experience. I'll cook the food.'
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How did you do that?
I had just stepped off of being executive chef of Myers + Chang. I was kind of in a weird space where I was trying to think of what I wanted to do next. And then I was like: You know what? I should just continue this.
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I started reaching out to local Filipino communities: What can I do to help? I started meeting and networking with chefs here, like Tracy Chang from
kamayan
, which is a Filipino dining experience where you eat with your hands. It involves just sitting there for hours, gossiping and eating.
I met Peter Nguyen of
Do you eventually want to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant?
I want to eventually have a brick and mortar, a very small operation, more a takeout thing. I think I want to start small and gradually expand. But right now, I just want to work on the pop-up. I also want to write a cookbook — and also go to the Philippines for a few months and really go to all the culinary meccas and submerge myself in the culture and the food.
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Is it hard to sustain a career like yours in a city that's as expensive as Boston?
It's really hard. I kind of went into it thinking that I'm not going to be making money. I just have a positive attitude: I'll just figure it out. I try to be optimistic. And I actually have a part-time job on the side. I work at Trader Joe's in the morning.
Trader Joe's has a really good work environment. I feel like it's the social aspect of my life, interacting with people. I love talking to people. People at Trader Joe's have been very supportive of what I'm doing. I do that part time, just to pay my bills.
Tell me about your childhood. How did you get involved in cooking?
I was born and bred in Massachusetts. My parents were immigrants. I was born in Malden, and I think my parents just traveled down the shore. We lived in Charlestown, Dorchester, Milton. My family settled in Rockland, on the South Shore, and then I went to school at Suffolk and UMass Boston. And then I was like, I don't like doing this.
My parents were very strict: You need to be a nurse or a doctor or a lawyer to be successful in life. Cooking was kind of like a hobby to them. There was no money there. I dropped out of school and behind their back enrolled in culinary school in New York City. My parents were so mad — but now it's so funny. My dad said: 'Ashley, you've got to promise me that you're not going to quit this one.' That was the motivation for me not to give up. And I'm still here, and now they're so proud. They're always at all my events. They're a very big support system.
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For me, my core memory is just a sense of togetherness, and food is involved. It's always a happy memory. I lived in the Philippines for three years as a child, going to the open market and seeing all the food out there. My grandmother had a noodle factory. She made pancit bato, which are basically short yellow noodles that are kind of toasted, served in a broth. You could smell the smoky noodles from down the street.
My grandfather would let us ride in his motorcycle in the countryside to look at ducks. He had a business making balut, fermented duck embryo. People are grossed out by it, but it's a delicacy in our country. I've been involved with food, or surrounded by food, my whole life.
What's your take on the Boston food scene?
I think, right now, everybody's a little bit more adventurous. Everybody wants to try new things. I think the Asian scene is kind of popping off right now. There are [fewer] fine-dining-type restaurants. I think there's an appreciation of fine dining, but for me, I think that everybody should have access to food. What's happening right now is that there's an accessibility, trying different ethnic foods. It's an exciting time for everybody right now.
Where do you love to eat when you're not working? What are your favorite hangouts?
There's a Korean place in Medford, Sura, a barbecue place. I like going there. In my neighborhood, I like MIDA. I worked with Doug [Douglass Williams] when he was a line cook at Radius. He used to call me Miss Frisee, because that's all I did — clean fresh lettuce.
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And I love Coppa's Italian sandwich. I also love the Franklin, and Toro is really good, too.
What's your go-to snack?
A bowl of fries or chips. I'm a salty snack person, for sure.
On that note, what's your favorite Trader Joe's product? You must have one.
I honestly really like the rolled taquitos with mashed avocados! Those are usually my dinner or my lunch.
Interview was edited and condensed.
Kara Baskin can be reached at