Got Your Back, Chef Brenna Villareal and wine professional Sasha Schoen’s genuinely wonderful pop-up that has cemented itself in the food scene thanks to a months-long residency at Selva, is taking on brunch. For one day only—Sunday, April 19 from 10AM to 2PM—the pair will be taking over the back kitchen of Midnight Oil to bring on some brunch items filtered through their Filipino and Californian lens.
“While we’re still operating very much as a pop-up given our residency every week within Selva, that doesn’t mean we won’t take full advantage of any opportunity that comes our way,” Sasha said. “It’s to showcase other types of food or styles of service; that helps us both as workers and a brand.”
Even more, the pair hasn’t done brunch in over two years. The last time? It was their three-day residency inside what used to be Mangette’s, before owner Alicia Kemper (rightfully) changed it into Buvon’s.
“And we know everyone was obsessed with our longanisa breakfast sandwich,” Sasha said, laughing. “And if there was an opportunity to bring even just that back, we knew we would. So here we are: come on out. As we slowly move toward organic, steady growth and owning our own space, this is a great chance to show more of what we hope to offer. We can offer a brunch service and see how people respond. If they love it… If they hate it… Or if it’s something we potentially build into a business plan in the future… Like our residency, this is a perfect way to experiment and see what our community needs from us.”
What to expect at the Got Your Back brunch at Midnight Oil…
There’s a reason the longanisa sandwich entered the annals of local food fame: With a house-made longanisa on a Gemmae pandesal, Chef Brennan layers that with garlic mayo, cheddar, and a banana ketchup hot sauce.
“We know people fawn over our bibingka so we’re stoked to bring that into a French toast form with a Muscovado coconut syrup on top,” Sasha said.
What else? A variety of silog, or classic Filipino breakfast plates: One with ukoy hash, playing with the Philippines’ famed fried fritters. Another classic silog with lechon. Halo halo parfait, a nod to one of the most famous Filipino sweet treats. And, the mighty Tortang Talong, a Filipino omelet made with eggplant.
Also, Midnight Oil’s main barman, Sherwood will offer four drinks:
- A non-alcoholic iced cold brew with ube foam
- Filipino Breakfast: Cold brew coffee | Mr. Black espresso liquor | Tanduay Filipino dark rum
- Michelada: rice lager | Asian-inspired miche mix
- Bloody Mary: vodka or tequila | Chinese-inspired bloody mary mix
And yes, Got Your Back has a wine club. And yes, they will bring part of it to Midnight Oil for brunch.
Sasha, ever the FOH maestro, has also started a wine club through Got Your Back—an idea that has been concocting in her head for over three years. And it is something she plans on showing off at the brunch at Midnight Oil.
“It’s either your choice of one bottle a month or two bottles a month,” Sasha said. “The first drop is gonna be the first Monday and Tuesday in May at Selva during our dinner service. Plus, some perks like discounts and the ability to be the first to experience our monthly menu changes.”
Why Got Your Back is part of a larger food conversation that Long Beach has long needed to have.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Collaboration is necessary for a healthy, well-rounded, respectable food scene—and Long Beach is beginning to truly harness it, with Got Your Back in many ways being one of its leaders.
Their recent collaboration dinner with Selva was proof this. It was beyond the residency the pop-up has every Monday and Tuesday at Selva’s space on Anaheim Street. And it was beyond Selva’s own, admirable pursuit in elevating its own space.
It is the reflective power of two entities shining. On one hand, Got Your Back, being handed a space that gives them the tools, resources, and actual physical capacity to flex beyond a pop-up grill. And for Selva, the allowance to show its own community that there are others worth uplifting.
These characteristics could easily be exuded in other Long Beach food spaces—and they should.
Got Your Back’s brunch pop-up takes places on Sunday, April 19, from 10AM to 2PM at Midnight Oil, located at 255 Long Beach Blvd.
