For Camille Poliarco, who emigrated from the Philippines to the in 2016, food is much more than just sustenance.
“All of the love we share for each other and any other Filipinos — it comes from food,” she says.
Now, Poliarco and her husband Nik — who both hail from Manila, Philippines — are sharing that love with Madison. Their pop-up Filipino restaurant, Kanto Fiesta, opened on June 7 in The Hub Marketplace (located at the Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub), where the couple continues to dish out Filipino classics like lumpia and adobo every Saturday. On Sundays, Kanto Fiesta can be found at the Northside Farmers’ Market, and will vend at Taste of Madison on August 30 and 31.
Kanto Fiesta’s booth in The Hub Marketplace, which takes place at the Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub.
The business is a family affair: Camille Poliarco’s parents, who joined her in Madison in 2020, are part of the business, too. Her mother makes pancit (rice noodles with mixed vegetables and chicken) and lumpia (Filipino egg rolls), as well as Kanto Fiesta’s weekly specials. Poliarco’s father handles dessert, preparing sweet and sticky rice treats called biko and leche flan, a Filipino crème caramel.
“The most rewarding part for me is bringing the family together,” Poliarco says. Her own contribution to the menu is the pork belly adobo, one of the pop-up’s most popular menu items.
The reception to Kanto Fiesta from Madison’s Filipino community has been particularly warm, Poliarco says. While working at the vendor, she has noticed Filipino customers finding community with one another, meeting old friends and connecting over their shared culture. To them, the food offers more than just a taste of home, but a pocket of Filipino culture that Madison — a so-called Filipino food desert — has been missing.
“If they miss Filipino food, they have to travel so far,” Poliarco says. “Now, we bring it locally and we bring it to the community.”
In the future, the Poliarcos hope to expand Kanto Fiesta to a food truck and potentially, a sit-down restaurant. For now, Kanto Fiesta will stay at The Hub Marketplace on Saturdays and the Northside Farmers’ Market on Sundays, providing Madison a a heaping plateful of the Philippines.
Elsa Englebert is an editorial intern at Madison Magazine.
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