Gio moved to the Philippines (specifically in Pangasinan) in 1999, where he was able to soak up the culture and fell in love with street food, then came back to the US in 2002. Gio consistently had a passion for cooking, which he inherited from his Filipino mother. He sat with her in the kitchen and started off as her personal sous-chef. He also grew up eating his Nanay’s (his late grandmother) Pindang, which is a dried, marinated cured beef. It was one of his favorite foods to eat during his childhood. It became one of his noteworthy and cherished memories in regards to cooking. As he was motivated by his mother and late grandmother, Gio chose to fuse what he gained from them into his own style of cooking but still keeping the tradition in his heart.