#LA2BAY: Sweet (Desserts at Patio Filipino) Followed by Savory (Lechon from Taste Buds)

This post is part of my ongoing series about my #LA2BAY trip to San Francisco and continues my eating adventure after doing a Ferry Food Building Crawl.

You'd think that after doing a Ferry Building Food Crawl, even a group of dedicated food lovers may have hit their limit, but three of us still wanted something sweet and somehow, nothing at the Ferry Building was appealing to our sweet tooth.  So after conferring, we decided to take a short drive to Patio Filipino in San Bruno to get some Filipino desserts.  This was actually going to be my second visit there since I had dinner there just a few weeks before. When we arrived, we started off with a round of drinks that included buko juice and calamansi juice.

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As for dessert, we ordered 3 different kinds.  The first to arrive was the Buko Con Seta which had jello made from fresh coconut juice with sweet beans and topped with ube ice cream.   It all arrived nicely packaged in a coconut shell.  I had this before and even the second time around, it was just as refreshing.

Next was the Turon with Ice Cream.  Turon is a fried banana lumpia (aka egg roll). Sometimes, turon is also a combination of banana and jackfruit.  What's different about the lumpia wrapper for the turon is that sugar is usually sprinkled inside the wrapper.  When it's fried, the turon has a lovely caramelization to it and that's what was good about the turon at Patio Filipino plus it arrived warm and crispy to our table.

Last was the Crema Pastelera which is a Flan Served with whatever berries are in season. While we were there, it was all about the strawberries. There wasn't anything unique about this flan, but it had a nice custardy texture, it wasn't too sweet and it tasted good. What more do you need?

By this time, we were stuffed to the gills and we honestly weren't going to eat anything else.  But then, while stopping to get bottled water, we ended up right next door to Tastebuds.

Tastebuds is a Filipino restaurant that specializes in lechon (whole roasted pig) and from Tuesday through Sunday, they serve a different style of Lechon  We were actually planning on eating there while we were visiting San Francisco, but couldn't seem to fit it in our schedule and yet, there it was.  So we went inside just to take a look and were greeted with a very porkalicious sight!

The plan was just to order some lechon to go.  Our intentions were good.  They cut some pork, including skin, from that roast pig, put everything into a to go container for us to go back to the hotel with.   However, it was looking and smelling so good, we broke down and actually ended up sitting down and eating that crispy skin and moist succulent pork goodness straight from the plastic container.

Wow, that was some of the best lechon I've had in a really long time and unfortunately, there isn't a Filipino restaurant in Los Angeles that does what Tastebuds does.  So if you're reading this and you own a Filipino Restaurant in LA, please follow Tastebuds' lead and I bet you'll get a lot of happy pork lovers coming your way.

This was definitely a full day and after all this eating, it was time to rest up because in just a few hours, we were going to be enjoying a delicious dinner at Attic, so stay tuned.

Patio Filipino
1770 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650) 872-9888


Tastebuds
582 San Bruno Ave W
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650) 583-0899
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The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer: Filipino Pork and Beer Pairing

 

Last September, I was proud to be part of a delicious Filipino culinary event called "The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer", and it was geared towards beer pairings with Filipino pork dishes.  It was hosted by myself and fellow Filipino food bloggers, Karena and Haydee of the Pig Parts and Beer Blog.  What was really cool about this event was that it was a Filipino food trifecta.  In one corner were a trio of Filipino Food bloggers.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the three of us, but here's a picture of 3 of the 5 beers used in the pairings and the San Miguel is actually a popular Filipino beer.

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In another corner was the delicious food from the Filipino food truck, Neri's Curbside Cravings.

Finally, two of the beers for this event came from Filipino-owned Eagle Rock Brewery.

It all came together for a delicious evening starting with our first pairing which consisted of a Lumpia Shanghai (fried spring roll filled with minced pork, carrot, onion and egg with sweet chili dipping sauce) paired with a San Miguerita (San Miguel beer, tequila, calamansi juice, salt and lime). The crunchy porky goodness of the lumpia was a nice foil for this refreshing beer cocktail.

Next was the Sisig (pork sizzled with chiles, ginger, garlic, vinegar and calamansi) paired with an Anchor Small Beer, which you can see below as well as a photo of the Curbside Cravings Crew. I'm not much of a beer expert, but I think I tasted citrusy notes that went well with the tart-sour-spicy flavors of the Sisig dish. 

Our third pairing was all about the Mini Tocino Burger (house-cured pork in sugar and anise wine with pickled garnishes in a pan de sal roll) paired with Eagle Rock Brewery Revolution XPA.  Given the richness and strong sweetness of the tocino, the slight bitterness of this beer was a good counter balance.

The last savory pairing of the night was the Crispy Pork Adobo (diced pork cooked in vinegar, bay leaf, black pepper, garlic, soy sauce and pineapple juice then deep-fried) paired with Cable Car Small Batch Amber Ale. This was actually my favorite duo of the night. First, who can say "No" to deep-fried pork. I know I can't.  As for the beer, I can't remember anything distinct about it. I just remember that the beer and this pork complemented each other exceptionally well.

The evening ended with the Macapuno Manifesto Beer Float, which was sweetened young coconut ice cream with Eagle Rock Brewery's signature white ale, Manifesto.  As an ice cream lover, this was the perfect way to finish up this evening of pig parts and beer.

Overall, this was definitely a fun time and I really have to give credit where credit is due.  While the Pig Parts and Beer ladies and I came up with the idea for this event, they really did all the heavy duty party planning. I just had to help spread the word and show up.

In the end, the goal of Karena and Haydee is to help showcase Filipino food whether it's through their blog or setting up events highlighting Filipino food and Filipinos who are in the food business.  I'd say that "The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer" was definitely a great start and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.  So if you want to stay in the know, be sure to visit their contact links below and you can also see the pertinent links for Neri's Curbside Cravings and Eagle Rock Brewery.

Pig Parts and Beer
Blog
Twitter
Facebook

Neri's Curbside Craving
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Eagle Rock Brewery
Website
Twitter
Facebook ^

New British Kitchen TV Show Features Filipino Food

The New British Kitchen is a UKTV show which takes you on a culinary exploration of the UK, discovering how settling migrants have brought their homeland's cuisine with them to the area. In this episode (Parts 1 and 2), they featured Filipino flavours and cooking (Lumpia and Sinigang) along with Mae Williams from Philippine Generations, showing the master chefs how its done!

Six Taste Filipino Food and Cocktail Event at Nola's

On November 20th at 6pm, Six Taste will hold their annual Filipino food pairing event at Nola's, in the Arts District in Downtown LA. Last year, they had a blast pairing 5 traditional Filipino dishes with five great wines. This year, the focus is on a selection of contemporary takes on Filipino dishes and unique Filipino-inspired cocktails. The pairings were designed in partnership between Six Taste, Nola's, and Filipino blogger Abby of Pleasure Palate. (Hey, that's me!) Tickets are available now at for $50.


We have an exciting menu created by Nola's Filipino American Executive Chef Edric Ocampo.

MENU

Breakfast Egg Roll
garlic rice, tocino, egg

Adobo Chicken Wings

Shrimp Fritter (Okoy)
shrimp, sweet potato, onions, garlic vinegar dressing

Lechon Carving Station
whole roasted pig, Manila style & Cebuano style lechons

Desserts Provided By:
"Turon" Ice Cream by Ramar Foods Magnolia Ice Cream
Ube Cupcakes by Let Me Eat Blog

Guests will receive 3 drink tickets to use towards selecting one of the four cocktails especially created for this event.

Lychee Cucmber
ketel one, calamansi nectar, fresh lychee, fresh cucumber

Spicy Calamansi Margarita
corzo silver tequila, calamansi nectar, jalapeno, fresh lime juice, orange juice

Manila Mule
buffalo trace bourbon, calamansi nectar, ginger beer

Ube Passion
bacardi rum, fresh mint, calamansi nectar, halayang ube, passion fruit juice

STAY TUNED FOR MORE EXCITING NEWS! RAFFLE ITEMS, GIFT BAGS & MORE!

This event is not recommended for vegetarians or vegans.  RESERVE YOUR TICKETS BY CLICKING HEREbefore they sell out!
To Learn More About Six Taste, visit the links below:Six Taste WebsiteSix Taste on FacebookSix Taste on Twitter

Filipino Eats at the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture

 Every year, the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture aka FPAC is put together by FilAm Arts, a non-profit organization. In fact, 2011 is FPAC's 20th Anniversary. For those of you unfamiliar with FilAm Arts, it's a multi-disciplinary community arts organization whose mission is to advance the understanding of the arts and diverse cultural heritage of Filipinos in the United States.

Every year, FPAC is a festival where Filipinos and non-Filipinos gather to experience Filipino culture through music, song, dance, other forms of art and expression and of course, through food.  Speaking of food, for those of you who have yet to try Filipino cuisine, FPAC would have been a great opportunity for you taste some of our food from different food vendors and all in one place. That doesn't happen very often, so it's something to think about for next year.

As a Filipina food blogger, Filipino food is definitely going to be the main topic of this post, so get ready to feel hungry.  It all started with a visit to Neri's Curbside Cravings Food Truck.
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Owner, Rhea Espino, gave us some delicious recommendations that started with her two Filipino-inspired gourmet burgers. First up was the Tocino Burger, which was a grilled sweetened pork patty, topped with cilantro, tomato and egg on a bed of a special mango-bell pepper slaw with a garlic aioli spread.

Following the Tocino Burger came the Tapa Burger, a grilled marinated beef patty that's topped with cilantro, tomato and egg and on a bed of a special mango-bell pepper slaw with garlic aioli spread.

Other dishes from Curbside Cravings were the Crispy Dinuguan, a blood stew with fried pork and the BBQ Chicken, which was grilled boneless chicken that had been marinated in a sweetened soy sauce.  Josh of the Food GPS blog was quite enamoured with the Crispy Dinguan, which you can read about by clicking here.

After Neri's Curbside Cravings, an order of Crispy Chicken Adobo which is chicken adobo grilled into crunchy flakes and served over rice with more tender chunks of chicken came from the Tapa Boy Food Truck.

Okoy may be an unfamiliar dish for those of you who are non-Filipinos, but I think it would be hard resisting taking a bite out of what is a fried shrimp and veggie fritter.  The one below came from Neri's Restaurant.

Filipino barbecue is generally on a stick and is either pork or chicken marinated in a soy-based sauce that also includes lemon-lime soda, brown sugar, garlic, lemons as well as other ingredients.  When grilled right, there is a lovely caramelization on the meat's surface just like the Pork Barbecue Stick I had from the Ramar Foods International booth.

When it was time to take care of one's sweet tooth, there was something for everyone.  For example, my grand-niece enjoyed a Grape Slush from Island Shaved Ice.

There was also a "Sweet Naman" booth that were manned by Filipino-owned dessert businesses. For example, you could get a scoop of goat milk ice cream from Delicieuse Artisanale French Ice Cream owned by Filipina, Patricia Sampson. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try it out.  However, I made sure not to miss Tasty Clouds, owned by Nina Rodecker. After all, I wanted to make sure that I got a taste of their new cotton candy flavor that they decided to debut at FPAC, which was Philippine Mango. This flavor was so successful that Nina has added it to her Limited Edition Flavor List.

Also at the Sweet Naman booth was Creme Caramel, owned and operated by Kristine de la Cruz.  Like Tasty Clouds, Kristine introduced two new Creme Caramel flavors, Ube and Ube/Macapuno. I was all over that Ube/Macapuno and loved how I had to dig through the creamy flan to get to that sweet coconut. I'm crossing my fingers that those are two flavors that Kristine will carry on a more regular basis.

My final food of the day was a dish of Mais-Queso ice cream from Magnolia, a Filipino ice cream company.  Mais-Queso translates to corn and cheese and while that may seem like an odd pairing for ice cream, I love it.  It's just something you'll have to try for yourself. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture so that you could see how good it looked, but trust me. It was delicious.

On our way out, we also passed a table with these humongous Filipino vegetables. Take a look and you'll know what I mean.  In fact, one of them looks like a snake rearing its head.

Although most of the photos I took were geared towards the food, I did manage to capture a couple of stage shots, one of a band and the other which was a photo of Lea Salonga (wearing the black baseball hat) taking a photograph with the FilAm Arts Board of Directors.

All in all, it was a delicious way to spend a Saturday morning and hopefully, I'll bump into one or more of you at next year's Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture.

FilAm Arts
Visit the FilAm Arts Website
Like FilAm Arts on Facebook
Follow FilAm Arts on Twitter
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