If the food at the cafe is as good from the truck, I would recommend White Rabbit Cafe in Canoga Park CA.

The pork toscino burrito was amazing.

Whiterabbittruck.com

Kusina de Manila - Des Plaines IL (NW burb of Chicago) very close to ORD
 

Best adobo I've had, ever:

I had seen this place from the street a number of times and made note to stop in for dinner sometime. Tonight was the night along with a friend.

Not a large place, we were greeted warmly and led to a table for two right in front of the piano where karaoke was going on, "the greatest love" "honesty" etc, you get the idea. Winston the owner, waiting on us and making sure we didn't have any questions. Also mentioned to us if we had suggestions for the person playing the piano, to go ahead and make them.

I had Adobong Kambing (goat meat adobo), this was simply outstanding, the spices, soy sauce/vinegar, pepper with bone-in chopped goat meat. (if not a fan of goat, other meats are available)

Friend had Lechon Kawali - fried hunks of perfect pork goodness. There have been numerous times where the lechon I've had in Filipino restuarants has either been old or very overfried so that the meat was dry. This version was VERY juicy and skin super crispy, cooked perfectly.

Plenty of other dishes to choose from, wish they had a website but they do have a FB page.

Kusina de Manila
632 W Algonquin Rd, Ste 100
Des Plaines, Illinois
(847) 378-8838
10am - 8pm (closed Mondays and closed from 3-4pm on Saturdays)
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kusinademanila/
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Willie

Mark Bittman has an adobo recipe where you basically boil the meat in the soy/vinegar/garlic marinade for a bit, cover and refrigerate overnight, and then throw it on the grill the next day and reduce the marinade to make a glaze.

Don't tell my wife but that's the best adobo I've ever had...

Anyone know any good Filipino cuisine in the Miami-Orlando area? Never tried it before.

Panama City (FL) isn't that big a town but the Filipino population is significant. I notice them at church where they have a club, called Sampaguita. The Sunday's that they take over the church hall for a meal, the aroma is overwhelming. So, when one of my fellow parishioners started his own restaurant, Manila To Go, I was intrigued. (no web site but can be found on Yelp or Tripadvisor)

I asked the guy at the window to fix me a plate, as I didn't know what to order. I have no idea what I got although I do remember small eggrolls and fried rice. While the food was good, the garlic stayed with me for days.

I'm ready to go back, thanks to this thread.

My wife's cooking

:D

The many Filipino restaurants that I have been taken to by my wife and family all tend to do the same thing:

1. Cook ahead of time and then display in a hot buffet style. Usually not that hot by the time I look at it.
2. Some dishes are cooked to order, but they take a long time.
3. Fried foods are cooked, but tend to be very greasy like the temperature of the fryer is too low to cook it quick enough and the oil penetrates the outer layer.

I tend to want everything freshly cooked. I will only eat my wife's adobo as soon as she finishes cooking it. The rest of the family actually will come over hours later and eat it while it has been out for hours at room temperature.

However, the best Filipino food I had is a dessert:

I thought the local guy's fried items were overly greasy too. I think maybe you're right about the temperature of the oil.

He has a short list of call-ahead, cooked-to-order items. I'm headed there for lunch today and will try something off that list if it's less than a 15 minute wait.

And that dessert is amazing. I don't think I could eat it, but it sure is pretty to look at.

I ended up with lumpia and pancit. Still too much garlic. I recall now that those are the same items I tried my first visit. I need to order something different next time.

You need to try Adobo, most common is chicken, but if you like Pork, some people know how to get the best taste out of it.

Looks to me like it's a combination of three puddings topped with flan, jellies, oats and ice cream. Looks delicious.

Thanks for your insight!

Actually, no pudding, the majority is finely chopped or shaved ice, different jellies, fruits from the Philippines, different nuts or grains, finally topped with Ice Cream, usually a purple yam based one called Ube. I prefer it with chocolate ice cream myself. Halo-halo is actually translated in English as mix-mix as you are supposed to mix it all together before eating it. If you live in South Florida, there are two restaurants called Lutong Pinoy. One is on W. Dixie Highway in North Miami Beach and the other is on Pembroke Road near Douglas Road in Pembroke Pines.

I recently went to the Jollibees location in Skokie (north burb of Chicago) a couple weeks ago. The spicy fried chicken was cooked perfectly and quite enjoyable. The burger was mediocre. I think I missed this, sorry man !! I think this is what you are referring to: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/23/di...of-flavor.html

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Back when I worked in health care, we had regular potlucks. Two things guaranteed to be there were pansit and flan prepared in a ham tin. Why the flan absolutely had to be made in the ham tin (the big oval shaped kind) I never found out, but between the odd residual "hammy" taste and the sickeningly sweet syrup on it, that was the worst excuse for flan I ever tasted.

Two things I remember from Manila are the boiled peanut vendors and ordering milk and getting goat's milk, which is an acquired taste.

As mentioned somewhere above; I'd give my left nut for a big plate of lechon kawali and garlic fried rice.

In general, I would agree that the PI likes their food "sweet" and greasy. I think the greasy has to do with not rotating the frying oil enough. The sweet is simply a palate issue.

One of the best dishes I ever had was a stew served in a deep fried french fry bowl. Yum!

(I want to go back to the Hobbitt House!)

If you make it out to the Bay Area, Chibog (referenced upthread as Sinugba - on Gellert Rd in Daly City) has really good lechon kawali and they serve it silog style with a mound of garlic fried rice and 2 fried eggs.

Any tuyo fans? I usually leave the room when the wife and kids dig into that. I know it doesn't taste bad, but the smell. Ugh, in comparison, durian smells like a bouquet of flowers :D