Jade Cunningham was about seven years old when she began helping her aunt prepare vegetables for pancit and lugaw at a small neighborhood eatery in Bulacan, Philippines.

Years later, she would find herself cooking in one of the most celebrated kitchens in America.

But ultimately, it was the food she grew up with that convinced her to leave.

Today, Cunningham is the chef behind Carabao Filipino Eatery on Gasser Drive in Napa, where Filipino comfort food meets techniques she learned during years spent in fine-dining kitchens.

Getting there was hardly a straight line.

From Bulacan to Napa Valley

Food was part of Cunningham's life early. In addition to helping at her aunt's eatery, family gatherings centered around large spreads of home-cooked dishes, and Cunningham became the Mauricio family's enthusiastic young cook.

At 16, she was selected for an international training program that took her to Cincinnati as a culinary assistant. She later earned a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management at La Consolacion University Philippines.

After graduating in 2018, Cunningham came to Napa Valley and worked as a line chef at The Meritage Resort and Spa.

Then the pandemic arrived.

With restaurant kitchens disrupted, Cunningham began volunteering at The French Laundry. That opportunity eventually led to a position in the kitchen, where she progressed from commis (an entry-level, junior chef - the bottom of the traditional restaurant kitchen) to chef de partie (station chef or line cook in charge of a specific section of food production) and worked across the stations of the three-Michelin-starred Yountville restaurant.

It was the sort of career trajectory an ambitious young chef might hesitate to leave.

Then she started cooking Filipino food.

The Late-Night Experiment That Changed Everything

In December 2022, Cunningham launched a late-night Filipino pop-up while still working at The French Laundry.

It sold out.

So did the ones that followed.

The pop-ups took different forms, from à la carte dinners to plated prix-fixe meals and kamayan feasts - the communal Filipino tradition of sharing food laid out on a table and traditionally eaten with the hands.

What began as a way to share the food Cunningham knew from home gradually demonstrated something larger: there was an audience in Napa Valley eager to eat it.

The response eventually convinced Cunningham to make a considerable leap. With encouragement from her mentors, she left The French Laundry to pursue Carabao full time.

After years of pop-ups, Cunningham and her husband, Mathew - himself a French Laundry alumnus - opened Carabao's permanent home in June 2025 with business partner Eric Gonzales.

It became Napa's first Filipino restaurant.

Filipino Food Through a Fine-Dining Lens

Cunningham hasn't simply transplanted a Michelin-starred tasting menu into a Filipino restaurant.

The food starts with dishes and flavors familiar from the Philippines and applies some of the precision and technique she learned along the way.

That can mean kare kare, traditionally a rich peanut-based stew, transformed with crispy oxtail croquettes. Sisig, a sizzling Filipino favorite, appears both as a traditional-style entrée and in tacos.

Filipino spaghetti embraces the cuisine's characteristically sweet sauce - and keeps the hot dogs - but Carabao uses Wagyu hot dogs.

Other dishes range from pork lumpia and pansit noodles to grilled meats and kinilaw, the Filipino preparation of raw seafood cured with vinegar.

The result isn't Cunningham leaving one culinary life behind for another. It's the two meeting on the same plate.

Why “Carabao”?

The restaurant's name reaches all the way back to Cunningham's childhood.

The carabao, or water buffalo, is the national animal of the Philippines. Cunningham remembers seeing them growing up in Bulacan.

In Filipino culture, the animal has long been associated with hard work, patience, strength and perseverance—qualities Cunningham says reflect both her upbringing and the restaurant she built.

There may be no better symbol for a chef who traveled halfway around the world, worked her way into one of America's most demanding kitchens, and then took the risk of leaving it to cook the food that first made her love cooking.

Carabao is a small restaurant—just 12 tables, four counter seats and six bar seats—and reservations are strongly recommended.

But for Cunningham, the intimate dining room represents something much larger: a permanent Napa Valley home for the food and culture that started her journey in the first place.

Carabao Filipino Eatery is at 145 C Gasser Drive in Napa. It currently serves dinner Thursday through Monday, with lunch added Saturday and Sunday. The restaurant is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.