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Fil-Am owner of NY eatery Pig and Khao loses dad to COVID-19: 'There is no question about reopening in honor of him'
While Pig and Khao, established in 2012, identified with Southeast Asian food, it is among the pioneering restaurants that really introduced authentic Filipino flavors to New York, thanks to Fil-Am chef and owner Lena Cohen.
On Grub Street, Lena shared about losing her dad, Dr. William Cohen, to COVID-19 and her plans of reopening it to honor him.
"There would be no Pig & Khao without my father," Lena said in the as-told-to article. "Not only from a financial standpoint but Pig & Khao wouldn't be Pig & Khao without him."
She shares how Dr. William brought home ingredients from trips to the Philippines, where her parents have retirement house.
"He'd bring an extra suitcase to bring back vinegars you can't get here and huge 20-pound bags of the pinipig we use for our halo-halo. He figured out how to get our shrimp past from a friend in Thailand shipped to us."
Lena shared that her parents met in the Philippines back in the '70s, him as a dentist who would met his wife in dental school. "They got married there, and then they moved back here and had me and my brother," Lena continued.
According to the accomplished chef, her father loved the Philippines. "It became a part of him. He would go there more than my mom would."
Lena said that her dad "got sick right in the beginning." Pig & Khao temporarily ceased operations on March 15.
"When he got tested on March 21, it came back positive." His symptoms weren't bad, "just felt kind of weak." He self-isolated in their house, away from his Filipino wife.
Her father's COVID-19 experience seemed like a rollercoaster. He was getting better before he was hospitalised.
At the hospital, he was joking about how bad the food there was, "then the next day he crashed, and they put him on a ventilator."
Two days before he father's birthday on April 7, his doctors told the family that William was actively dying. "Then he completely changed and the doctor said he was cautiously optimistic. I thought, this is like a birthday miracle."
A week later, Dr. Williama Cohen succumbed to COVID-19."I never thought it would end like this," Lena wrote.
They held a funeral over Zoom, and went to the cemetery. Just a group of 10, they were all wearing masks and observed physical distancing. "I couldn't even hug my mom," Lena said.
Apart from the amount of time she's poured into the restaurant, one of her bigger reasons for wanting to reopen Pig & Khao is because "I know that my dad would want me to. If he were here, it wouldn't even be a question."
"I think he loved coming to the restaurant and bringing his friends and family and being able to just get people together. It was his way of showing off," Lena added.
"It was something that he was really proud of, that i did, that he was a part of. For me, there is no question about reopening the restaurant in honor of him."
Sharing the story on her Instagram account, Lena said Pig & Khao will reopen on July 8 in honor of her father.
Leah and her husband and partner Ben Byruch opened Pig & Khao in 2012 and almost immediately received a nice 2-star rating from the New York Times. In January 2020, the duo opened another restaurant, Piggyback. — LA, GMA News
