Snacks and Tracks
Dance and dine at Lasita, where a once-a-month event pairs inspired bites with a curated soundtrack.
Chef-owner Nico de Leon and sommelier-owner chase valencia
Since Lasita opened in 2021, Chef-Owner Nico de Leon and Owners Chase and Steff Valencia knew they wanted to incorporate live music into their space. It started last year during Filipino-American history month. “We wanted to create an event to feature Ringgo (aka MNDSGN),” says de Leon. “He’s a good friend of ours, so we wanted to showcase who he is and what he does, being a Filipino artist.” The event started to take shape once de Leon put a set of specials on the menu inspired by the artist. After a successful evening with Ringgo, the Lasita team dove head first into the program, further developing its structure and mission and turning the central collaboration between musician and chef into a regular event. “We bought all the [sound] equipment” and “really invested” into it, says Chase. With some help from Ringgo, they named the program Snacks Tracks.
After connecting with guest DJs, de Leon sits down with the artist to “get an understanding of who they are and what they are about” and to learn about the “food that’s meaningful to them.” The process gives de Leon an opportunity to try new cooking techniques and taste unfamiliar flavors. “And then it’s showtime,” says de Leon. The DJ is set up outside of Lasita, spinning tunes and lighting up the courtyard at Far East Plaza, while de Leon and his team churn out imaginative bites. “It’s poppin’,” says Chase. There are “people waiting for tables with a glass of wine” and “some people who just come for the music. Guests really get to engage with the space in a different way.”
Another advantage to this kind of in-house activation is the ability to involve and support existing staff at the restaurant. Maha Aekalu, a front-of-house staff member who has also become the restaurant’s music coordinator, plays “an essential role” in Snacks Tracks and is “an Ethiopian DJ and community advocate. They are helping us spearhead this program,” says de Leon. Kash Kane, another front-of-house employee (and graphic designer), designs the artwork for each event.
One of the program’s most successful nights was Snacks, Tracks, & Mahiishaaa, which featured Aekalu as the guest DJ. One of the specials de Leon created for the evening was a riff on kitfo. He utilized raw flat iron steak from Lasita’s steak tartare dish and seasoned it with Ethiopian spices. De Leon’s kitfo was topped with a house-made farmer’s cheese and sautéed greens, and served with an injera cracker. Chase, who runs the wine program at Lasita, brought in a Catalonian sparkling wine from Partida Creus that’s fermented with honey as “an ode to Ethiopian Tej.” Like de Leon does for the food menu, Valencia tries to think on his feet and find wines that work well alongside the host’s cuisine, yet stay true to the wine list’s original objectives.
The Snacks Tracks program allows the restaurant to reach past its four walls and connect with the local and creative community. In the typical setting of “food, wine, and restaurants, there isn't a way to collaborate with these people,” says de Leon. This is “a way to do that intentionally; to work with friends and people we have been fans of; to be memorable and personal.” Although the program has evolved since that first night with Ringgo last year, the desire to highlight the relationship between food, wine, music, and culture has stayed the same.
