Filipino fare hooks you the first time
By Ralph Millis
THE GAZETTE
Town Fiesta Filipino Restaurant and Bakery
Dear Readers, this is a disclaimer, or , at least, a heads-up. Like many other
Americans who have spent time in Asia, I fell in love early on with the golden and
green dream of the Philippines and its incomparable people. In all of Asia, this is the
place that sets its hook in your heart, a kind yet insidious barb you can't throw. Ever.
The hospitality and friendliness -- all right, the irrepressible affection -- toward
strangers, especially Americans, so palpable among Filipinos are inextricably bound
up in the act of eating, of sharing food. Even the poorest, dustiest backcountry barrio
is rich -- when a child is christened, a boy and girl are married, an American friend is
honored with a feast...a fiesta. So, I always approach a Philippine meal somehow
knowing I'm going to enjoy it. Accordingly, you must take this review with a grain of
salt (actually a shot of patis, a salty, fermented fish sauce) and check out my
judgments, and Philippine food -- largely, and unjustly, overshadowed by southern
Chinese and Thai cuisines -- for yourselves. The Town Fiesta is so much like the
casual eating joints found throughout the Philippine archipelago that travelers to the
islands almost certainly will feel deja vu the moment they step inside. Filipino cuisine
is built around roast meats, soups and stews -- like preparations, so it's quite
common to find foods laid out in a sort of buffet style and often served at room
temperature. Town Fiesta is a shiny-clean, no-frills place dominated by a serving
line spread with 12 to 15 or so items, depending on what day you visit. Basically,
you grab a tray, ask the helpful server what's what, then point. Two entrees will cost
$4.89, and three will set you back all of $6.09. My recommendation: Be imaginative;
be daring. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the flavors of Filipino food.
Much of the cuisine is built around fin fish, shrimp, pork, soy sauce, vinegar and
native Asian fruits and vegetables. It's a unique amalgam of wildly varying food
traditions: the ingredients, cooking techniques, even the names of dishes reflect the
influence of the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, China, Spain, Mexico and the United
States. The preparations are rotated on a set schedule here -- check the
compli-mentary printed menu -- but whatever day you visit, you'll be sure to sample
authentic Filipino comfort food. On the Saturday we visited, we enjoyed the two
types of Filipino lumpia -- egg rolls-- that most Americans find addictive. The
Shanghai lumpia ($1 for three) are pencil-thin and stuffed with ground pork,
sometimes with minced shrimp, then quickly fried. The regular lumpia ($1.50 for two)
are near-relative of the familiar fried Chinese egg roll, crammed primarily with minced
vegetables. But the Filipino version tastes different, somehow. We the has paksiw
na pata, pig's knuckle and strings of banana blossoms slowly simmered in soy
sauce, vinegar, and plenty of garlic. The tinola is a soup-stew: chunks of chicken
boiled with ginger and garlic, then finished with leaves of a peppery Filipino spinach.
The traditional mechado (note the Spanish-Mexican name) is tender beef braised in
vinegar, soy sauce and spices, with generous chunks of potatoes (another New
World influence) and tomatoes added. More mundane-sounding is the chicken curry
with green peas, but this is a classic marriage of tastes and textures (very "un-curry,"
actually). Spoon in some of the ubiquitous rice, and it tastes sort of like an
Asian/Indian chicken pie. If you really want to go hard-core Filipino, though, try the
pinkabet, a defining and much beloved recipe. Town Fiesta's sautéed and
simmered version adds whole baby okra pods, whole green beans and chunks of a
winter-type squash to the thick-sliced, streaky pork pieces. What gives pinkabet its
characteristic taste is the addition of bagoong, a cured and salted shrimp or anchovy
paste. Don't worry that the bagoong will strangle the dish in its cradle: pinkabet is a
dish of complex, subtle tastes Finish off everything with some suman maruecos
($2.50 for two), sweetened glutinous rice steamed in banana leaves until it becomes
a firm cake, then peeled and dressed with a sweet coconut sauce. The cassava
"cake" ($1.50) is grated cassava mixed with coconut and sugar, then baked. It firms
up to the consistency of a fruitcake, but, boy, you won't pass this baby around from
relative to relative each Christmas. No need to tell you by now that I LOVE Filipino
food. Nor do I need to mention -- and so I won't -- that the staff and other customers
came to our table, cheerfully started conversation, invited us to Fil-Am Friendship
Association parties, and just in general showed a genuine interest in us because we
were interested in Filipino food, the Philippines and them. Some days, being The
Gazette's restaurant critic is the greatest job in the world.
Ralph's rating:
The Town Fiesta is a congenial, reasonably priced place to go, especially if:
(1) You're unfamiliar with Filipino food and want to try customer-friendly, carefully
prepared, down-home versions of it, or (2) You want to reconnect with the
comforting tastes and all those other things that made you love the Philippines that
very first time.