"Sampa is short for Sampaguita, which is the national flower of the Philippines," said Espinosa. "I went to culinary school after I stopped working at all these fine dining restaurants. ...I started selling out of my apartment and then realizing that people do want elevated Filipino cuisine."
The chef's good friend Jenny Valles is along to help. She says her family wanted her to go into the healthcare field.
"I just couldn't do it. It just wasn't in my blood. I always knew that one day I was going to own my own business. I didn't know what it was," said Valles.
Espinosa says he needed someone with Jenny's background, and drive, if he was going to make this work.
"I knew from, like, from the start where, like, you know, where her heart was, was just more so to help me out. And then I knew where my heart was, like, I couldn't do this without her. So, we became business partners."
"What I believe Sampa is trying to do is to showcase that there's so many more different flavor profiles, so many more beautiful ingredients, and to help people become more aware of what Filipino food has to offer for us," said Valles.
Espinosa added, "We just want to tell the story of us as L.A. kids, kind of growing up with different cultures and kind of just portraying it through our food."
"Our real happiness is serving our community, making sure people are fed and people know what Filipino culture and food is," said Valles.