Marie's Kitchen

Marie's Kitchen has become Dallas's beloved hidden gem for Filipino cuisine since opening in 2019, founded by Candy Marie Ramos and husband Jay Gersan Jr. as one of only two Filipino restaurants in Dallas proper, tucked inside an office building at 11910 Greenville Avenue Suite 103. Originally opened as an American deli for office workers, the couple added Filipino breakfast items after just one week, which became an instant success and transformed the restaurant's identity. Operating as a true mom-and-pop with Ramos cooking all food while Gersan runs front-of-house, Marie's Kitchen specializes in all-day Filipino breakfast featuring authentic silog plates-combinations of garlic fried rice, sunny-side-up eggs, and various proteins including tocino (sweet marinated pork), tapa (marinated beef), bangus (milkfish), and bacon. The restaurant has earned acclaim for its signature ube pancakes made with purple yam and topped with ube sauce, representing Filipino flavors in an approachable format. Ramos, who learned cooking from her family's restaurant in the Visayan Islands without formal culinary training, prepares daily and weekly specials showcasing regional Filipino cuisines from across the Philippines' 7,000+ islands, including dishes like dinuguan (pork blood stew), humb (Visayan braised pork belly), bicol express, kare-kare, and lechon kawali sisig. The couple's mission goes beyond serving food-they aim to make Filipino cuisine part of everyday dining conversations alongside Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food, while helping Filipino-Americans feel proud of their culinary heritage and introducing authentic traditional recipes to those unfamiliar with the cuisine.