Most Filipino restaurants serve food the way mom used to–with a casual disregard for presentation, set on the table in still-steaming pots and platters. So what better place to begin exploring the cuisine than in a Filipino home?
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LTHer Sharon Bautista recently hosted a group of folks from LTHForum up in Evanston for a spread of Filipino faves. One of the tastiest foods I’ve ever had–that’s right, ever–is the lechon kawali she served, lush nuggets of pork belly first boiled and then fried and traditionally served with a liver sauce. If you’re not lucky enough to know a Filipino family that will have you over for dinner, Cid’s Ma Mon Luk (9182 Golf Road, Niles, 847-803-3652) also serves up a delicious version, the pork coppery, crunchy, and punched up with the vinegary dipping sauce. At Cid’s you can also get siopao, a meat-filled steamed bun, which I liked but may be an acquired taste–my companion found the shell mucilaginous and the meat stringy. A dish most people would probably find more accessible is beef caldereta, a pot roast sprinkled with sausage slices in a mildly piquant tomato sauce: comfort food epitomized.
One major exception to Delcano’s axiom is mungo, a stew of mung beans, shrimp, tomatoes, and watercress you can sample at Isla Pilipina (2501 W. Lawrence, 773-271-2988). Though the vegetables are stewed beyond recognition, there’s an unmistakable earthy flavor to this dish.
