Ron Bilaro: Paying it forward

I was grumbling over my monthly accounting last week when my phone rang. Olive, a dear friend, was excitedly telling me about a Chicago-based Pinoy chef who was coming to town. "He’s a friend of Marni’s (her best friend) and will be here soon. He’s cooked for Oprah and was one of the chefs she flew in for her 50th birthday!" she said. (We are shameless Oprah fans.) "He wants to give back to the country and would like to offer his services for a fund-raising activity. What do you think?"

Let’s see. Oprah: The queen of positive thoughts and deeds. Karangalan: The initiative that has launched a groundswell of positive thoughts and deeds towards the new Philippines. And now, a global Filipino chef who has experienced the former and, out of his desire to give back to the country of his birth, managed to connect with me. What’s there to think about? It was clear I had to do it. So, I called my favorite foodie, paella master and on-the-spot event magician Monchet "Monchef!" Olives, who quickly brought Myrna Segismundo of 9501 to the team. Thus began the texts, e-mailing and phone calls that will culminate on Feb. 27, at the Karangalan benefit cocktail with chef Ron Bilaro and Restaurant 9501.

Ron Bilaro was born in Pasig and attended high school at Pasig Catholic College. He attended Letran and Maryknoll (now Miriam) College, then moved to the States and was based in the West Coast for several years. He then became a flight attendant for United Airlines before pursuing a career in the culinary arts. Ron started working as a personal chef even before graduating – at the top of his class – from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago under Le Cordon Bleu. He apprenticed as a pastry chef at Rhapsody and trained under chef Gene Kato, who is now the executive chef of Chicago’s premier restaurant, Japonaise. He worked as sous chef to Art Smith, Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef, who included Ron in his second book, Kitchen Life.

Ron has also cooked for Hollywood’s best but keeps his roster of clients private. We can probably get him to tell us how many confidentiality clauses he’s signed, if that, but that’s all the info we’re getting from this super-pro Pinoy. His regular Chicago client base is made up of corporate families, though special events and private dinners continue to fill up his professional calendar. He has been featured in newspapers and magazines in Chicago and will be interviewed on CBS, upon his return there in March.

In his first e-mail to me, Ron wrote, "Marami po akong gustong i-experiment na pagkain sa Pilipinas, at naniniwala ako na food is the most common factor that binds us and it should be a celebration – whether it’s a meal of talbos ng kamote and daing or osso buco and crème brûlée. Dito maraming nagkakakilala, maraming pangarap ang nabubuo, dito maraming karanasang nagugunita. (I would like to experiment with a lot of food in the Philippines and I believe that food is the common factor that binds us and it should be a celebration – whether it’s a meal of camote tops and dried fish or osso buco and crème brûlée. Here, people meet, many dreams are born, here many experiences are relived.)" I was so inspired by these words, especially after dining beside a family whose members thought nothing of having multiple cell phone conversations during lunch. Horrors. Yes, I definitely admire the chef who brings soul back into eating. It is not a meaningless activity but a wonderful relationship-building experience that chef Ron seems to know by heart.

"Sake-poached pears with Australian blue cheese, candied walnuts and dried cherries, mixed greens in kalamansi and dalandan honey vinaigrette": This is but one entry in a long list of possible dishes Ron will be preparing on the 27th. But food is not his only mission. "I’d like to somehow inspire the younger Filipino generation and show them that they can be anything they want to be," he shares. "I would also like to inspire other Filipino-Americans to someday return to their homeland and pay it forward."

Pay it forward. I hadn’t heard that since the movie of the same title many years ago. Back then, I thought it a wonderful turn of phrase. Today, especially since the inception of Karangalan, I can’t think of a better way to put it. Give towards the future. Of course!

I realize, a week later, how fitting it was that I first heard about Ron as I was doing my monthly accounting and making mental notes on how I would budget my resources this month. Ron has shown me a different type of resource allocation that has everything to do with one’s gifts, talents and spiritual intentions. He has even suggested auctioning off his services for future fund-raising events. It is something to think about. Pushing material wealth aside and looking at our personal skills and talents, what else can we give towards the future of our country? How have we chosen to pay it forward?

Ron does it with passion and enthusiasm. He proudly tells everyone in America that he is Filipino. He is young, enthusiastic, down-to-earth and just raring to cook for his kababayans. He may have left his home in the Philippines but his heritage is embodied in his work and his deeds. He brings the best of the Filipino to the world and then flies home to pay it forward.

If you would like to enjoy Ron’s company and cooking, meet old and new friends and pay it forward by contributing to the cause that is consciously creating the new Philippines, please call us. There are some slots still open for the Karangalan benefit cocktail on Feb. 27, 6 p.m., at Restaurant 9501, at the 14th floor of the ELJ Communications Center, Eugenio Lopez St., Quezon City.

You can e-mail me at magisip@yahoo.com or text or call 0919-2458016 for ticket invitations. This line is strictly for business, so please call or text for bookings only. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.