Understanding that people are looking for more delivery services and ways to cook at home, Chef Reina is an online storefront working out of a ghost kitchen. Delivery drivers around Daly City and the peninsula provide her customers with vegan Filipino takeout, delivery and care packages. In a couple of months, she plans to launch a delivery service for vegan meats nationwide.

It was important for Montenegro to keep her menu focused on vegan Filipino food. I think its a bolder approach and more honest, she says. Im excited to share more of me and my food without the question Who is Nick?

Montenegros goal has always been to reach the Filipino community in the Bay Area, which she says is super heavy on meat-eating.

Theres absolutely no dish out there that doesnt have meat, she says. Filipinos have very high cholesterol. [My] people are dying of diseases, and I created all of these mock meat dishes to mimic these heavy meat dishes as we used to eat. Im changing tradition here, and people used to get upset. Im not afraid of that. Im not trying to do anything but save your life; [Im] not trying to do anything other than save the planet and animals.

She also hopes to have her own commissary kitchen by the end of the year. Theres freedom to do what I want finally, and not hesitate or worry about what a partner or partners will think, says Montenegro.

One of her new dishes is vegan beef bulgogi. Its one Montenegro says no one has made, and she thinks it will be one of her bestsellers. Using meat alternatives, shes working on a beef torta and holiday dishes scheduled to launch this month. Also to come: a dessert menu with leche flan.

Montenegro sees these alternative dishes as gateways for people who want to transition to vegetarianism and veganism. Because of the pandemic, shes had a lot of time to play with textures and tastes while d developing the dishes for Chef Reina. Its almost like I turned into this crazy mad scientist during Covid, she says.

For Montenegro, the most Reina dish on the menu is the tocino, which is traditionally cured pork made from the belly of the pig. It was a dish she grew up eating, and its her absolute favorite. Its also one that took a long time to perfect as a vegan version.

Montenegro wants Chef Reina to be the place where people think the vegan version tastes as good as or better than the original. Its my form of culinary activism, through my food, she says. For her, this new iteration is welcome changea new beginning on her own terms.

Read more:
Chef Reina Steps Out of the Shadow Of Nick's on Grand - KQED