Tito Mel's Filipino Food - Luther Gelen VA.

We had the opportunity to visit Tito Mel’s Filipino Food in Luther Glen. We traveled south on route 1 and found this awesome place less than a mile from the Spotsylvania line. We barely got through the door before front man Justin welcomed us with a smile and a hearty hello. The place was bright and impeccably clean. We watched as a young man picked up his order at the counter. Justin says “ I feel like I have seen you a lot this week” Dude says” I have eaten here everyday this week!. I love this place” That states volumes for a food business. We were looking to take out some entrees and sides for Friday night dinner. We rattled off a pretty good order, trying to taste as many different dishes as possible. Lumpia Shanghai Chicken and Lumpia Gülay (veggie). Both appetizers were crispy with generous portions and seasoned perfectly. We ordered noodles, Pancit Bihon was delicious with a julienne of vegetable on top. Palabok, I believe, was the rice noodles with pork and shrimp, garnished with a hardboiled egg. Both dishes were outstanding! The Pork Dingtaw with bell peppers and oyster sauce had that awesome Unami mouth feel. The big winners here were the BBQ Skewers, and the Empanadas. As a matter of fact, I don’t think the empanadas were even on the printed menu. But they were there, calling us from the steam table. I believe the dough was corn (masa?) based and had an almost sweet crunch. The empanadas were closer to calzone size than your average empanada. We ordered a couple of other chicken dishes including coconut curry chicken. All outstanding! This was obviously a family business which can often be a challenge. Tito Mel’s, however, had everyone on the same page. Carla (Justins wife) was fun and bubbly and going at about 100 MPH. As customers would come in, if they did not have exactly what the customer wanted ready or what was ready was past its prime, they made fresh. I believe there were a couple of other folks in the kitchen. This family had a shared passion and respect for their food. When I used to teach high schoolers (prospective culinary students) I would ask “When a customer purchases food from you aside from money, what else does that person give you?” Hands would raise, answers would fly and some of the responses were pretty good. A compliment! A High Five! A really good tip! I would explain that yes all of those things are true. And the customer is also putting their trust in you. Trusting you to treat them and their food with respect. Tito Mel’s has it all! The passion. the respect, the fun! And we hope it continues for many years.

Tito Mels! Doing it right in so many ways! Be Smart-Be Fast- Be Funny! Be Well ! Dave