Filipino Restaurants – Page 8

Turo Turo Tuesday: Erlinda’s Filipino Cuisine & Ice Cream Parlor

July 8, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

**** Erlinda's has closed

I hadn't been down to National City in a while, at least it seemed that way. So this past weekend I headed down with no real plans, I actually was taking one of my scenic drives….you might like evergreens, giant redwoods, an ocean view…….for me, well, it's seeing a new turo-turo shop and the smell of sisig in the morning!

This one was a surprise; I was taking the 8th Street drive from the 5 and was shocked to see Conching was gone! After how many years? It was now something called Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine and Ice Cream Parlor.

Well, the interior looked the same, the food looked the same…….I decided to have a two item combo.

Now, I've cut down severely on my rice intake in recent years. I even asked them to go easy on the garlic rice….I didn't need too much. I guess this is going easy on the rice?

In retrospect, I should have just gotten pancit or nothing at all since the rice was terrible; mushy, the garlic burnt and bitter, and in dire need of seasoning…….

As you can see; it was pork adobo and sisig.

Once upon a time, Conching made one of my favorite versions of sisig, though it was terrible and disappointing the last time I had it. This version was good, not as good as the best I've had at Conching, but it was pretty close…it was still on the mushy side, but at least there was enough sour-salt-spice to make it enjoyable.

The adobo needed more vinegar and black pepper flavor and a ton less sodium as it was unpleasantly salty. In terms of texture it was fine, a couple of tough pieces, but adequately tender. It was just much too salty…..

I haven't been a real regular at Conching's over the years so I'm not sure if the cooks and staff are the same….based on the sisig, I'd venture that some if not most of the folks here are still the same Conching folks.

Anyway, there you have it……. RIP Conching.

Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine & Ice Cream Parlor
3400 E 8th St.Ste 115
National City, CA 91950

Chic-Boy (Filipino sit down fast food) (National City)

May 28, 2014 Cathy Filipino Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Here you are, back at reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Today's adventure takes us to National City, because that's where Cathy drove. Kirk is still on vacation and Ed(from Yuma) is still clearing out his office.

So, let's get some things cleared up right now. A) Baboy is Tagalog for pig/pork. The name of this restaurant is a shortened version of Chicken-Baboy, or Chicken-Pig, which are two of the primary items served here. There also is fish on the menu (Isda in Tagalog), but that word doesn't fit the signage in a non-double entendre way. {I'll wait while you go through the possible combinations in your head} 2. There are three tables (with a total of eight chairs) to sit at inside this tiny shop, so if you are here and can't find a place to sit and eat, don't be surprised. Located in a a mall anchored by Popeye's and Starbucks, across the way from a McDonald's, Chic-Boy is one of more than eight Filipino owned businesses in this mall near the South East corner of 805 at Plaza Boulevard. Despite my tendency to blog about places and food items that nobody else has blogged about, I was happy to find Faye did blog about Chic-Boy last year. Now I don't feel too far out of the loop and am glad to share one of her (an my) (and cc's) snack food favorites with you (hint: last photo of this post).

Yep, that's pretty much the entire menu on the wall (there is a sandwich board out front, listing some specials) and the other three photos are the entire counter, showing items available. We were here early, so everything was available.Above is a "BBQ Pork Stick Combo"($3.78)[The combo includes a choice of canned beverage]. The rice is jasmine and very good, the BBQ pork stick is moist and has good flavors (there is vinegar in the marinade, making it not so sweet, which I like).

Above , the BBQ chicken breakfast bowl ($4.99). The BBQ chicken stick, is also moist and not overly sweet. This is also served with a good amount of jasmine rice, some stir fried bok choy (the only vegetable I've ever seen here) and an over-medium egg. Just a perfect mesh of ingredients for a hearty meal. Those greasy bags to the left in the glassed in area? Fried dilis (anchovy), fried bulaklak (pork intestines) and, above, fried chicken skins(the snack of choice by both Faye and myself). Each priced the same, ($8.99/lb) and served with a cup of garlic infused vinegar, a perfect, tasty, non-carb snack.

This is a great place to stop for good, fresh food.

Chic-Boy 2220 E. Plaza Blvd, Suite T National City, CA 91950 (619)472-2449

The Food Court at Seafood City (Tapioca Express, Filipino Desserts Plus, Valerios and Grill City)

May 17, 2014 Cathy Chains, Desserts, Filipino Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Usually Kirk is writing posts about food, but right now He is very busy 'researching' so he will have some interesting posts. Ed (from Yuma) is also in a 'researching' mode. Today, Cathy is writing.

More than 14 months ago, I started to write a post about an epic day of visiting a plethora of places to eat in Chula Vista with fellow food bloggers, cc, writer of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High, who has taught me so much and Dennis, who writes A Radiused Corner, another blog that is so informative as well as fascinating. That post seemed frighteningly long and I have left it 'on hold' for all this time. One of the places we stopped that day was the "new" Seafood City, on Orange at Melrose in Chula Vista.

This still is the newest location in the County (new in 2011) and since discovering it, The Mister and I shop here fairly regularly, always having a bite to eat in the adjacent Food Court area before shopping.

Yes, it's a Food Court with nice, heavy wood picnic table seating; so much nicer than plastic seating. Standard Filipino chains are here (I've posted on Chow King, in various ways more than once and Kirk has posted about Jolibee in various ways). The other places here are also interesting…

The colorful wrapped candies are pastillas and made with milk; a favorite.

Other desserts are sold here also. Mostly made with rice flour, I've tried bites of many of them at parties and visits with friends and really like the selection.

The steam trays here are fascinating.

As are the grab and go foods.

On a recent visit, we shared this ukoy (fritter)($2). Onion, potato, plantain and a head on shrimp, fried into a neat patty and served with black vinegar. This is a current craving.

We also grabbed one of these to share ($1)-the cashews are very good, crispy and the cookies were not too sweet. Filipino Desserts Plus Website multiple locations

At Valerio's, we bought this still warm bibingka ($2.50), a coconut milk/rice flour based cake that is baked inside a banana leaf. It's a special item for us. Valerio's Bakeshop, multiple locations, no website.

Almost every visit here ends up with something from Tapioca Express. Snacks of fried chicken nuggets, tofu and squid rings, seasoned as spicy as you wish and served with either ranch or sweet and sour sauce along with some sort of beverage is always a meal. Tapioca Express, multiple locations. Website

A more or less new addition to the Food Court is the freestanding Grill City grill (not in this photo) and steam table area. A chain, all locations are inside Seafood City stores.

Above, fried chicken skins, a pork adobo kabob and a whole stuffed squid. All are really good items; I am always up for fried chicken skins as a snack. Pay attention to that statement.

The squid stuffing is a wonderful mix of vegetables: tomato, onion and bell pepper.

On another visit, a slice of grilled swordfish and a grilled stuffed eggplant (inihaw) was our meal. So good and so fresh. The fish is served with a fresh mango salsa; a perfect condiment. (Prices for a la carte veggies are $3, $6 or $9, depending on size)(Prices for a la cart meat and seafood are $3.50, $6.50 and $9.50).

We enjoy this Food Court area and look forward to our drives to Seafood City market.

Seafood City (also a link to Grill City) website 285 East Orange Chula Vista 91911 (619)621-2050 Open 8am-9 pm daily

Carin de Ria – A quick first look

April 28, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

**** This location of Carin de Ria has closed

Soon after Eater San Diego's announcement that a new Filipino "fast casual" concept restaurant named CARiN de RiA opened in Escondido, I had couple of folks ask me if I'd tried the place. I'd pretty much had my fill of "concepts" and fast-casual style places at that time so I just waited for a while. Recently, I found myself in the area and decided to drop by and check them out.

I liked the lay-out of the restaurant….on the small side, but very clean and simple. I especially liked the gentleman manning the counter, who I believe is the owner; very warm, but also very professional. He just seemed like someone who has a restaurant background and also really cared about his customers.

The menu is pretty tight with 5 "braised/stew" style dishes, 3 items off the grill, plus pancit (of course), and lumpia (of course…of course) and a couple of other items.

I started with some lumpia ($3).

It becomes immediately clear that you're not in a "turo-turo" ("point-point") steam table joint. First the prices….which are definitely in the "fast-casual" range. The lumpia were very small. However, they were hot, freshly made,light, and crisp. The filling also had very good flavor…..I could even make out some garlic-porkiness. This was probably the favorite item I had.

Now for most folks, the first item they's try would be either Adobo, Bistek, or Inusok…..what most places call BBQ Pork. One of my favorite dishes is Kaldereta….here it's Kaldereta Baka, basically a beef stew. Well actually, it's Caldereta ($8) on the menu and comes with two sides. I like that you have a choice of brown or white rice, but you know what I choose, right?

For my sides, I chose the "charred corn salad", which was the better of the two sides, even though it didn't have much charred color, nor the development of the sugars that a good grilling of corn would. Good salt and the tomato added a nice acidic touch to it. The eggplant and tomato salad; basically ensaladang talong. Good garlic flavor here, but it was pretty flat overall, the eggplant was too hard and chewy, and versions that I enjoy have a touch of vinegar, which was lacking here.

The rice was a tad hard for my tastes as well.

The caldereta was nice and tangy, but needed a bit more salt and lacked the complex flavors of a long braised dish. The carrots were almost raw and hard and some of the pieces of beef were really dry, like both items had been cold stored and added at the end. I also missed other ingredients I'd find in various versions of this dish; olives, red or green bell peppers, that kind of thing. It seemed like a caricature of the intended dish.

Like many other of these "fast casual" concepts; there seems to be that "soulful" component missing; though I enjoyed some of the dishes here a lot more than say, Green Shallots. As a plus, that gentleman behind the counter was very pleasant, so I'm hoping they do well. This is not the place to get your turo-turo fix; but if you want something a bit lighter you might want to give them a try. I'll probably drop by again if I'm in the area in a couple of months.

Carin de Ria
3440 Del Lago Blvd
Escondido, CA 92029

You can read Lynn's post here.

Revisits: Pinoy Fiesta, Grandma’s Tofu & BBQ , and Tan Ky Mi Gia(yet again!)

February 10, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here's our monthly dose of revisits……

Pinoy Fiesta:

It had been a while since I last visited, so I thought I'd drop in and grab a bite. Nothing really called to me and I wasn't super hungry, but then a tray of lechon kawale came out of the kitchen, so I went for that.

It was hot, the exterior hot and crisp, but there was something strange about this…..the meat was on the spongy side and very bland….actually the texture of the meat wasn't very pleasant. I just can't quite put my finger on it.

Pinoy Fiesta
550 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950

Grandma's Tofu & BBQ:

I know, I just did a post on the Heokyumso Jeongol – the black goat stew a couple of months back. But the recent rain and colder weather had us craving this again. Instead of going on and on about the dish, I'll let you in to a little secret….our "goat strategy" if you will. As good as the Heokyumso Jeongol is, it's even better when spiced up a bit….so when the panchan comes, we quickly, but sneakily dump all the baechu kimchi and the sauce from the cucumber instantly into the broth….it makes it that much better! The nice ladies then bring us refills…we eat the kimchi, but make sure to dump the sauce into the stew….and so forth. We usually take home about 2/3 of this…..and we hit Zion on the way home for sesame leaf or wild spinach, then I'll get some tofu from Nijiya on my way home from work the next day….we always have Korean bean paste and gochujang and this ends up being two more meals.

Which is why we'll usually get something like the Kimchi Dolsot Bi Bim Bap with our meal.

Sshhh, don't tell anybody……

Grandma's Tofu & BBQ
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

Here's another one we've posted about in the last couple of months. Work has been brutal, but I've been enjoying the challenge. Still, I had been feeling a bit run down, meaning I needed something on the salty side to give me that "aaaahh" effect. During that time we hit up Tan Ky Mi Gia.

For me, this is comfort food……

For some reason, the Beef Sate Egg Noodle "dry" does the trick for me

Though the Bot Chien really wasn't worth the effort……

I guess I'm still chasing what I had at Kang Lac Bakery in Westminster. Instead of being crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, this had a hard exterior with a cardboard like texture and flavor. They probably bought it at Lucky Seafood next door.

The Missus strangely had a Banh Xeo which She enjoyed…….the pork in this version is braised which makes it more tender than others…..still, it's far from my favorite.

We came back a couple of nights later and I had the Egg Noodle Soup with Roast Duck…….

The duck can be hit and miss….on this visit it was super tough, definitely a miss, but the hot and salty soup really did the trick.

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

Kamayan Night at Villa Manila

February 4, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

A couple of weeks ago, our good friend "MG" whom I hadn't seen in a while told me that Villa Manila was doing a "Kamayan Night". For those who haven't heard that term before, kamayan literally refers to eating with your hands. In short, for the Filipino's I know, it also refers to a fairly festive occasion where family and friends get together and eat like crazy!

MG had great timing as my good friends, the twins, Pete and John's Birthday was rapidly approaching. Ange was nice enough to coordinate and since the four of us had been here together before, Ange knew everyone's preferences….in other words, pork, pork, and more pork. Since there would be 8 of us, Ange ordered the "Fiesta" and we supplemented with two (small) orders of Crispy Pata and Chicharon Bulaklak.

As you can gather, it's imperative that you make reservations in advance, unless you want to wait for a couple of hours for food. You can then supplement again if the need arises. Also, note the fine print that adds charges if you have excess people and don't supplement.

Also, those bowls don't hold soup, ok? It's water and lemon for your hands….you'll be needing them, since you'll be eating with 'em. So don't drink that!

Anyway, having made reservations, our banana leaf draped table was ready when we arrived. And they quickly got our first supplement, the bulaklak, fried pork intestines, out to the table. Love the version here and can't get enough of it.

Soon enough, our Server, whom I shall call "Iron Hands" because he didn't even flinch when placing our steaming rice on the banana leaves.

"Iron Hands" also displayed his overall strength when he brought the proteins out to be served.

Here's the progress……so in case you're keeping score, you can see the the Inihaw na Baboy and the Halabos na Hipop (steamed shrimp), along with the Adobo….

Fried Chicken (supplement), bicol express, crispy pata (supplement), etc, etc…..

On a funny note, Xiāng Jiāo couldf not get enough of the Crispy Pata and Lechon Kawale…..she even got a pork "high" feeling a bit light headed near the end of the meal.

In case you were worried about our vegetable intake, dinner came with Inihaw na Talong (grilled eggplant) and the green stuff at the end of the table….though I think it was mostly a garnish. Those preserved eggs were pretty heady, but was nice combined with the mango and the atchara.

You can kind of tell what everyone was missing here right? Crispy Pata, bulaklak, lechon kawale, bicol express, adobo, and inihaw na baboy…it sure wan;t pork…..

This stuff is obviously great pulutan….beer food. Unfortunately, Villla Manila does not serve alcohol, nor allow BYOB. I was told it was because of the church across the street.

Initially, we thought we'd get a "mega" halo-halo, but there just wasn't much room after the cake.

Happy Birthday guys! We should do this again soon!

Villa Manila

500 East 8th Street

National City, CA 91950

619-477-8512

Kamayan Night only on Thursday – I suggest calling and making reservations.

Because everyone was itching for a nightcap. Candice, who has a deep affection for old-school and dive bars, suggested La Maze. Remember, this was the group who hit up Albie's. It was a nice old-school ending to a wonderful evening.

A revisit to Pho Lucky

February 2, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

It's been a wonderfully fun and busy weekend for me, here some stuff that I've had queued up while I catch up on things.

Pho Lucky:

Yes, yet another post, among perhaps a half dozen or so done by myself and Cathy over the years. This little shop ajoining Lucky Seafood has been our go to shop. So naturally, when the Missus wanted some pho recently, this was where we headed to.

Notice the jalapenos that the Missus adds to Her version…….not something I enjoy, but at least She doesn't dump in a boatload of hoisin or sririacha….

My intent was to have pho as well; but while walking from our car the fragrance of grilling pork permeated the parking lot. So I order the house special broken rice.

And while the rice wasn't as fragrant as I prefer, the pork chop was well flavored and fairly tender, the "bi" had been tossed with rice powder and was also good….the Missus poached the shrimp, which She enjoyed. We probably had good timing on this one…….and I'm not complaining.

What good stuffs did you have to eat recently?

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

What we ate during the hottest 2 weeks of the year: Revisits to Izakaya Sakura, The Original Sab E Lee, Grandma Tofu and BBQ, Manila Fast Food and Desserts, and Champions Mariscos Truck

September 5, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Food Trucks, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Sisig, Thai Restaurants

Man, the last two weeks have been brutal….call me a soft San Diegan, but I've been feeling the heat and humidity. I told Cathy that I wish it would just storm like crazy so this weather would break. No such luck so far!

Well, regardless of the weather, you've got to eat, right? So here's some of what we had during the last two weeks.

Izakaya Sakura:

It had been a while and I was craving some Ebi Kakiage cold noodles, so Izakaya Sakura it was.

This time it was the cold udon version, which hit the spot.

This really hit the spot!

Though I could have done without having to listen to Wilson Phillips Greatest Hits throughout my meal….

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

The Original Sab E Lee:

**** This location of TOSEL has closed

Spicy Thai food is a natural for us during hot muggy weather…..not sure why.

The usual suspects at the Linda Vista location.

Man, that Grilled Duck Larb just hit the spot…right between the eyes.

I swear, I recall TOSEL having A/C? Well, not on this day. The result of spicy food with no A/C had me wondering if it was the Salted Fish Fried Rice….or was it me?

The Original Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Grandma Tofu and BBQ:

I wanted some Bibim Naengmyun, but Buga was closed for renovation (they've since reopened). So I ended up going to Halmouny…Grandma Tofu and BBQ.

Love the flavors….bracing and refreshing. The noodles however, seemed were really rubbery, like rubberbands, I mean, naengmyun is always rather elastic, but these just would not give way!

Grandma's Tofu & BBQ
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Manila Fast Food and Desserts:

I was up in the area and decided to grab lunch. I hadn't been back in here in almost 9 months or so.

A quick look at the steam table made selecting what I wanted easy.

The Beef Mechado was much more tender than the last time I had it. The flavor was also better, much more tangy flavor and decent salt. It was on the greasy side though.

The sisig was not bad; nice pungent, sour, spice, salt….. would have been nice to have a bit of crispness in it since it was typical "SD Sisig", left-over lechon kawale. But overall; no complaints, better than I've had recently.

Manila Fast Food and Desserts
8979 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Champions Mariscos Truck:

So, just as in the previous four weeks, I broke out the smoker during Labor Day weekend. I needed something fairly close by before I started the ribs, so I headed over to Champions Mariscos Truck in the parking lot of Toys R' Us on Morena.

Consomme might seem to be a bit much on a scortching day, but I can never turn it down. This was a bit too water for my taste, with a bit too much celery flavor. Not as good as my previous visits.

I went with the Arrachera y Camaron…the surf and turf taco. Not enough caramelization on the beef, but it was decently tender. The shrimp were moist and flavorful.

I decided to go with the Taco de Marlyn again.

Man, they really loaded this thing! Unlike my previous visit, it didn't seem to have too much queso…perhaps due to the amount of filling! All this "stuff" seemed to water down the flavor of the smoked fish though….but this wasn't too bad.

Champions Mariscos Truck – In the parking lot of Toys 'R Us on Morena Boulevard

So there you go….we may be overheatin', but we're still eatin'. Hope everyone is staying and keeping cool!

Tem’s BBQ

August 13, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

*** Update: Tem's is now Nanay's, the food seems the same though.

A couple folks have asked if I'd ever been to this little shop in the food court of the Plaza Sorrento Shopping Center. Which I think is a pretty good food court. Yes, there's a Subway and the Chinese Fast Food place, but you can also get Thai, Greek, not my kind of Sushi, and perhaps not not my favorite Pho shop. Throw in Indian, one of the places in our Mira Mesa banh mi crawl, and you've got yourself quite a variety….maybe not the best in terms of quality, but it's a combination that's hard to beat in one spot. And there's even Filipino Barbecue……which is where I'll pick up. I'd seen Tem's and had always meant to try them out. So I finally made it a point to grab a meal.

I've always thought Filipino "turo-turo" style food was perfect for a food court. As expected, the atmosphere is totally food court and the selection revolves around Filipino Barbecue, with an additional 3-4 additional offerings. The prices are reasonable….the 1 item and rice goes for $4.99. Here's an example with BBQ Chicken.

Man, talk about enough carbs to keep you runnin' for a while….it's like three scoops of rice. The chicken is grilled, but not dry, and is dark meat which has more flavor. I enjoy the different riffs on Filipino BBQ, salty, sweetness from sugar or even 7-up, perhaps a fruitiness from Jufran, sour of Kalamansi, a hint of garlic, a touch sweet-pungent onions…..the list can get fairly long. The version here is very mild, coated with sauce, and for me, occupies a level barely above the food court "same chicken with a different sauce".

The best item I've had here is the "Spicy Pork", which is a pseudo sisig-ish.

It's the 50% solution….not very spicy, but it is pork. There's a hint of sour and sweet, the pork has a bit of chew, but isn't bad. It's the most flavorful dish I've had here.

The BBQ Pork on the other hand was totally "the other white meat". Dry, touch, and with less flavor than the chicken.

The one item I would absolutely not ever get here again is the Chicken Adobo. Dry, lacking in the flavor of soy, vinegar, black pepper, this was adobo in name only.

Then there was the occasion when my rice on the two item combo…..a reasonably priced at $6.09, was terribly hard and dry. No bueno…..

For some reason, the way the food is glazed reminds me of long defunct Eddel's, but with less flavor. Maybe someone with the inside scoops might know?

Tem's BBQ
6715 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121

It’s been a while week: Tita’s Kitchenette

July 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

Everybody know's Tita's right? I mean, really, it's an establishment here in San Diego. Cynthia "aka" Tita, has created a little kingdom for herself here in San Diego, now with a couple of places on Plaza Boulevard. Many folks, myself included brave the crowds to stand in line and pick out the "turo turo" favorites from the ever replenished steam table, beef mechado, adobo, tortang talong….. As I mentioned in my first post back in 2005 and other posts, I've yet to be able to polish off an entire plate from the place in a single sitting. The portions are huge and in terms of value, it's good. But over the years, I've been going less and less. The lousy attitude of the workers, in addition to not really going after quantity anymore, means that I really haven't gotten a meal there in quite a while.

Now this is with a couple of caveats. My good friend MG will get me lunch from there once in a while. Also, I dropped by looking for sisig as I mentioned in this post. Why sisig? Well, my recollection was that Tita's sisig just wasn't very good. In fact, when FOY (Friend of Yoso) and fellow food blogger Kirbie did a post about Tita's which included the sisig in 2009, "MrM"(I hope you're doing well) and myself commented on how bad the sisig was at Tita's. To me it just wasn't the thing you ordered there. And yet…….Tita's was on one of those food shows and the sisig there blew up….suddenly, folks were saying how good it was. At first I was kind of irked because changing the recipe for the purpose of publicity is basically admitting that you knew your sisig wasn't very good all these years and you did nothing about it. Whatevers. The strange thing about the lousy service at Tita's…..I'm glad I don't speak Tagalog, because the body language and facial expressions of some of the workers makes me really happy to not understand what they're saying…on the other hand, I've met "Tita" a couple of times and she was the nicest person. Go figure…..

So I finally hit paydirt a couple of weeks ago and actually got sisig. First I need to clear some things up. If someone got off the plane from Pampanga this morning and hit up a couple spots for sisig in San Diego, they' be wondering "what the heck?" What we have here is basically use of leftover lechon kawale, not the delici-yoso pig head and parts that make up traditional sisig. Still, when done well, it's porky goodness.

The photo above in a nutshell goes a long way in explaining Tita's popularity. You can easily feed two, or maybe two and a half with this $7 plate of food.

I chose the pork adobo because it just came out of the kitchen and was steaming hot. It was decent, sour enough, salty, not overly tough, especially at this price point. Maybe lacking in the black pepper department a bit.

The sisig on the other hand was as bad as the version I had in 2002, except not as soupy.

Not enough salt, sour, spice, very waxy and greasy in texture. All the benefits of using leftover lechon kawale lost in it's sogginess. Throw in the below lukewarm temperature and this just wasn't my thing. Which has me scratching my head….this can't be what folks have been raving about since Andrew Zimmern "tweeted" about it – "Tita's sisig, best I have ever tasted . San Diego Philippine food is crazy good".

You want bang-for-the-buck to feed your starving student, Tita's is it. You want good sisig? If this is an indication, I don't think Tita's is it. There are a good number of dishes they do make which are better…. I'm wondering if they still make the pancit palabok to order?

Tita's Kitchenette
2720 East Plaza Boulevard
National City, CA 91950