A Friendly Intro to Filipino Dishes
By Linda Bladholm, The Miami Herald
Aug. 30–Tessie Garcia opened Tatay’s Philippine Restaurant in North Miami Beach three years ago, but it remains off the radar outside the Filipino community. That’s a shame, because it’s one the most user-friendly Filipino places in town.
Tatay means “father” in Tagalog, and Garcia’s dad, Elpido Galang, is the cook here. Tessie and Ric Garcia emigrated from Luzon province 30 years ago so she could take a nursing job at Broward General Hospital. Six years later they sponsored her parents, who had run a cafeteria back home.
The small space is sparkling clean with cream walls, green accents and shell lamps. Photos of all the dishes line one wall, making it easy for newcomers to order. The steam table selections always include chicken adobo (in vinegary sauce), pancit bihon (rice vermicelli with strips of chicken and shredded carrot, cabbage, celery and scallions seasoned with fish sauce), pork-stuffed lumpia Shanghai (egg rolls) and banana turon (wrapped in egg roll skins, fried and dipped in a caramelized sugar).
Check the menu for the daily rotation of specials, many based on bangus (milkfish), the mullet-like national fish of the Philippines that is imported frozen. All dishes come with steamed white rice. Be sure to ask for a tiny, fragrant kalamansi lime for squeezing over everything.
Filipino food is a tangy, hearty blend of Hispanic, Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and U.S. influences. Vinegar, citrus juice, fermented shrimp paste (bagoong) and fish sauce are used heavily. The galleon trade from Spain via Acapulco brought Mexican produce and cooking styles that were adopted and adapted.
Adobo and Menudo are Mexican terms, but the dishes are distinctly Filipino. Adobo is chunks of pork or chicken thighs in a garlicky vinegar and soy sauce marinade, sometimes enriched with coconut milk and seasoned with pepper, chiles and bay leaves. Menudo is cubed pork cooked with chickpeas, carrot and bell pepper in tomato sauce with star anise, green olives and raisins.
Daily specials include paksiw na lechon (chopped roasted pork sauteed in sweet-and-sour pureed liver sauce), earthy dinuguan (pork in beef blood and vinegar sauce eaten with puto, small fluffy sweet rice muffins) and sinigang na baboy (pork belly in tamarind broth with sweet potato leaf tips and chunks of starchy malanga).
There’s often whole fried tilapia with tomato, onion, and shrimp paste salsa and kare kare (from the Tamil word “kari,” from which “curry” is derived), oxtail or beef cubes in coconut peanut sauce with baby bok choy, eaten with salty shrimp paste.
Kakanin are desserts, most based on sticky rice. The best is bibingka, a custardy cake made from rice flour, coconut milk and sugar topped with grated cheese, baked in a banana leaf and sprinkled with grated coconut.
Wash everything down with shredded cantaloupe mixed with ice and water. Kain na! (Let’s eat!)
Linda Bladholm’s latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.
Place: Tatay’s Philippine Restaurant.
Address: 237 167th St., North Miami Beach, North Miami Beach.
Contact: 305-654-9494.
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.
Prices: Combos $3.75-$6.95, desserts $1-$5, drinks $1-$2.
—–
To see more of The Miami Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Miami Herald
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.