PARKERSBURG – Since 2010, Daniel and Ellen Lubuguin’s dream was to open a restaurant.

In January 2012, Daniel decided it was time to make it a reality.

In 1997, Ellen opened her beauty shop, Ellen’s Styling Salon at 1757 Seventh St. in Parkersburg. “The same year my son was born,” said Ellen.

Philippines Best Food at 1757 Seventh St., opened in 2012, but just had take-out available. Daniel had wanted to open a full restaurant since it opened.

Daniel decided it was time and he and his friends began construction to build the restaurant. The project took four months to complete. The full restaurant opened in April 2012.

Philippines Best Food can seat 45 customers inside and as 20 customers outside on the porch, said Ellen.

“Philippines Best Food is locally owned and we take pride cooking the food because it’s cooked fresh as customers order and no preservatives are added for the meals,” said Ellen. “We’re glad we have the restaurant open because it’s been too hot and nobody wants to eat on the porch.”

The restaurant has 12 employees, said Ellen.

Ellen and Daniel said they decided to open the restaurant because it is something Daniel has dreamed about since they started doing the concession stand in 2010 and because people want to sit down when they eat.

“Most our customers are people traveling and see it in Yelp (Internet site),” said Ellen.

Philippines Best Food concession stand is only operated during the summer months. Ellen said they serve their food at six fairs and festivals every year.

Ellen’s favorite part of running a restaurant with her husband is having so many more customers and meeting new people. Daniel loves cooking the food and talking to new customers.

Pork adobo or chicken adobo are among dishes served at Philippines Best Food.

“It’s pork marinated, cooked in its own sauce; same thing in chicken with onions and potatoes too,” said Ellen.

The restaurant caters parties and events. It can serve a whole pig.

In Filipino “we call it lechon,” said Ellen. Lechon is a pork dish in several regions of the world.

“They have to try it first, even though they are picky, and they will say it’s so good,” said Ellen.

“Our food is different in the way that we have different tastes in every dish because it has a mix of Spanish, Japanese and Chinese cuisine; it might look like Chinese but it has a very different taste,” Ellen said. “Our egg rolls are made with fresh vegetables and meat.”

Philippines Best Food has food specials everyday. “The best place to find our specials is our Facebook page,” said Ellen.

In the fall the restaurant will have a buffet once a month. “We are having the buffet so new customers can come and try our food,” said Ellen.

Ellen is originally from Luzon in the Philippines. Daniel is from Olongapo, another city in the Philippines. Philippines Best Food LLC is open 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.