Groundbreaking Filipino American restaurant Bad Saint closes its doors

Customers line up in the rain for a meal at Bad Saint.

Bad Saint ,the Washington DC restaurant that opened eyes to Filipino cuisine, closed its doors permanently, a victim of the pandemic economy. 

The Filipino American restaurant that drew national attention in 2019 served its last meal July 9.

“The attitude that I think we and a lot of people had in the beginning (of the pandemic) was ‘We’ve just got to make it to the other side of this,'” co-owner Genevieve Villamora told Eater. “At some point, probably in the last nine months, I was like, there’s no getting on the other side of this. This is it. This is the new reality.” 

At it's height, people would line up and wait up to three hours to get one of the 24 seats in the tiny restaurant.

The restaurant was an instant hit when it opened in 2015 under the direction of chef Tom Cunanan, who left the restaurant in 2020. 

Serving the cuisine of the Philippines, the Bad Saint (named after Saint Malo, the first Asian American community in the US) gained national attention by ranking No. 2 best new restaurant in America by Bon Appetit in 2016 and earning Cunanan a James Beard award for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic in 2019. Despite Cunanan's departure,  the restaurant was able to maintain it's high standards.

Bad Saint's culinary success lent a new air of credibility to the long-neglected food from the Philippines. While adventurous diners flocked to restaurants of numerically smaller Asian American communities like the Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese and Malaysian, Filipino restaurants failed to depend on the loyalty of Filipino clientele.

Since Bad Saint's breakthrough, other restaurants have opened up offering high-end versions of Filipino dishes. The Chicago restaurant, Kasama, became the first Filipino American restaurant to earn the coveted Michelin star this year. Chicago Tribune critic Louisa Chu proclaimed Kasama, owned by Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, one of the best restaurants in the world.

On the other end of the dining spectrum, food trucks offering Filipino fare, offering meats in familiar taco and burrito forms have helped introduce the cuisine to more casual foodie fans.

The tight quarters of Bad Saint worked against the restaurant during the pandemic which required social-distance dining. Other business strategies: patio dining and takeout, didn't produce enough profit to save the restaurant.

The pandemic hurt Villamora physically, as well. She came down with COVID-19 during this critical time.

“All of the pressure and anxiety of the restaurant trying to survive in this environment really ratcheted everything up a few notches for me,” Villamora told Eater “It was only a few months ago that I was honest with myself about how much I was struggling and how much I really needed help and finally got that for myself… It’s challenging but we have to find ways to take care of ourselves and take care of other people.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Asian Americans most accepting of the COVID19 vaccination

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Vice President Kamala Harris receives the second COVID-19 vaccine.

Asian Americans are the most likely group to seek a vaccination against COVID-19. 

The US Census Bureau released data Wednesday that showed that almost 91% of the Asian Americans surveyed were likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when the shots become available. The data showed that 66% of Asan Americans wold "definitely" get the vaccine and 25.4% would "probably" get the shot in the arm.

Whites were. the next group most likely to receive a vaccine with 55.5% would definitely get the shot and 22.9% would probably get the jab when they become available.

Only 47.3% of Hispanics or Latinos would definitely get the vaccine and almost 33% would probably get the shot.

Blacks were the most skeptical or resistant to getting the vaccine. Only 29.6% would definitely get the vaccine and 33.8% would probably get the shot. 

Overall, about 8% of American adults reported they had received a COVID-19 vaccination and around half of adults who haven’t (51%) indicated they would definitely get a vaccine, while an additional 26% said they probably would, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday.

The latest revision to Phase 3 of the Household Pulse Survey was implemented on Jan. 6, 2021, and included a new series of questions about COVID-19 vaccinations and attitudes toward the vaccines.

Adults who have not been vaccinated are asked if they plan to get a vaccine once available. Respondents who express uncertainty are asked the reason(s) for their reluctance.

These data show:

• About 95% of the estimated 19 million who reported receiving a COVID-19 vaccination said they had received or plan to receive all required doses.
• Around half (51%) of the approximately 226 million adults yet to receive a vaccination said they “definitely” plan to receive it when available (Figure 1).
• An additional 26% of adults yet to be vaccinated reported they would “probably” get a vaccine once available, compared to approximately 14% who said they would “probably not,” and 10% who said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated. Overall, these results indicate that around a quarter of all unvaccinated adults will probably not, or will definitely not, receive a COVID-19 vaccine once one is available to them.

Filipino nurse administers first coronavirus vaccine

NHS nurse May Parsons injects Margaret Keenan the coronavirus vaccine.

The first vaccine to prevent the coronavirus was administered by a May Parsons, a Filipina nurse in Great Britain. 

Parsons, a nurse in the UK's National Health Service, gave the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan.

"It's a huge honor to be the first person in the country to deliver a COVID-19 jab to a patient," Parsons said in a statement released by NHS. "I'm just glad that I'm able to play a part in this historic day."

“The last few months have been tough for all of us working in the NHS, but now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

May, originally from the Philippines has worked in the NHS for the last 24 years and been at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire since 2003. She is one of thousands of nurses recruited from the Philippines to fill up the healthcare staffing gap in Great Britain.

The phased vaccination programme will see patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, and those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, among the first to receive the life-saving jab.

“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year,” said Keenan.

“I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too!”

"My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90, then you can have it too," she said. In 21 days, she will have to receive another booster injection.

In a tweet, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce also recognized Parsons, adding she is "one of the many thousands of Filipino healthcare workers making such an enormous contribution to the NHS."

This is part of the agency's biggest vaccine campaign that will prioritize those aged 80 and above and who are already going to participating hospitals as outpatient; those who work in care homes; and health care workers at high risk.

The UK recently granted drugmaker Pfizer and its partner BioNTech temporary authorization for emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine they developed, which already showed 95% efficacy with no safety concerns.

Since the coronavirus began spreading like wildfire across the globe, pharmaceutical companies have been racing to find a vaccine to the previously unknown virus.

Britain's government has secured 800,000 doses of the vaccine so far, enough to give 400,000 people two doses each, the government said. Pfizer and BioNTech were the first to come up with a vaccine in the West. The Boston-based Moderna is reportedly on the verge of a vaccine.

Healthcare personnel and the vulnerable elderly were given priority for the shots.

To immunize the rest of the United Kingdom's 68 million people, health officials must solve enormous logistical challenges. Vials of the vaccine must be kept frozen at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit).

The United States government in July reached an agreement with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for 100 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccine if it proved safe and effective. The Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Thursday (Dec. 10) to review the companies’ emergency use application.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a member of Pfizer’s board, told CNBC on Tuesday the company’s offers to provide the U.S. with additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine in 2021 were declined by the Trump administration.