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Hood Famous Cafe and Bar, the Chinatown-International District cafe serving Hood Famous Bakeshop’s popular ube cheesecake, is expanding its hours into the evening starting tomorrow, October 22. The new hours come with the launch of the cafe’s long-promised bar menu, which includes cocktails, dessert pairings, savory snacks, and beer and wine.
Hood Famous Cafe and Bar opened in March, focusing first on its daytime menu of ube lattes, mochi waffles, longanisa sausage quiches, and calamansi espresso tonics. The plan all along was to remain open into the evening, and now that’s coming to fruition.
The evening menu will include cocktails made with flavors from the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, like the pandan Oaxaca old fashioned (mezcal, tequila, house pandan syrup, mole, and orange bitters) and the Fernet negroni, made with Philippine gin. There will also be a few mocktails, like a calamansi and dragonfruit shrub soda.
All told, more than 90 bottles will comprise the booze menu, with Asian spirits, beer from the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan making up a large portion. Once the extended hours go into effect, the current “meryenda” daytime menu will end at 3 p.m. The “pulutan” evening menu of bar food like adobo-glazed cashews will be offered starting at 6 p.m. The cafe is also planning to roll out heartier dishes like coffee-rubbed pork ribs as specials. Any byproducts or lefftovers from the daytime prep may make appearances in rubs, syrups, and shrubs in an attempt to cut down on food waste.
During the day, the cafe is counter service only, but when the evening hours start, the cafe will add barside and tableside service, alongside ongoing counter service. Starting tomorrow, the new hours will be Monday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. There will not be evening service on Sundays and Mondays.
