Cid’s Ma Mon Luk
How likely is it that a Filipino family will invite you over for some of their traditional chow? No time soon, I’m guessing, so until then, Cid’s Ma Mon Luk is where to go for down-home cooking from the Philippines, set forth without ceremony (or much service—hey, this is mom’s kitchen, what do you expect?). Siopao is a rubbery meat-filled steamed bun, which I liked but that may be an acquired taste. More recognizable to most of us is beef caldereta, pot roast sprinkled with sausage slices in a mildly piquant tomato sauce, comfort food epitomized. Most delicious is lechon kawali, roast pork chunks with a crunchy, glistening coppery crust served with sweet, vinegary, livery dipping sauce, stupendously simple and satisfying. To drink try the calamansi juice, a type of limeade. —David Hammond
Inheriting the slick interior of the Romanian nightclub it replaced, this weird mishmash of cuisines is certainly a much more welcoming neighborhood spot, with artwork and flat-screen TVs softening the clubby edges. The menu, however—inexpensive though it be—is an imbalanced mix of Filipino, Italian, and Japanese dishes, with a hamburger thrown in for good measure. I found the Asian offerings most appealing: tightly rolled crispy pork and vegetable lumpia, homey eggy yakisoba noodles, and chewy sheets of tocino, sweetly glazed pork, to name a few. But that’s not quite the kind of stuff that plays nice with eggplant Parmesan, vodka-sauced penne, or the undistinguished penne and salsiccia, dressed in what sure seemed like barely cooked underseasoned canned tomatoes. I’d like to see a tighter focus on the Filipino third of the menu, as Dolce would represent a departure from the usual quick-serve buffet-style establishments you normally find the cuisine in. —Mike Sula
Across a sprawling mall from fellow Filipino restaurant Cid’s Ma Mon Luk is the much more comfortably appointed La Filipiniana, which also delivers friendlier service and a bigger menu of more exotic options. Pig parts come from head to tail, or rather snout to hoof: many tables enjoyed the pata, trotters fried golden and splashed with vinegar. If you prefer vegetable with your pork, some pancit noodle platters feature a decent mix of greenery. Things got weird with the binagoongang baboy, a dish of pork in what our waiter said was blood-based gravy (it definitely contained some fish sauce). Bicol express was a coconut broth filled with tentacled creatures of the deep unseen before on any plate of mine; whatever they were, they were surprisingly tender and tasty. To drink there are many smoothies (try the avocado) and fruit drinks, some with tapioca pearls; for dessert, sample halo-halo, a Filipino favorite of shaved ice, ice cream, red beans, corn, and tapioca. —David Hammond
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As the name suggests, Fishpond features more seafood than your average Chicagoland Filipino joint. There’s also lots of meat, but we were knocked out by some of the simpler Filipino dishes. The sinigang, for instance, is a superb example of this native soup, fresh bok choy and daikon in a sour tamarind broth. We were also pleased with the kare-kare, oxtail stew with, as the owner told us, “just a little tripe because people expect it.” The chicken adobo is also quite tasty, with a nice vinegary tang. Come early and you can try a traditional breakfast of tapsilog, a mound of rice with fried egg and served with cured beef, bacon, or fish. On Wednesday, there’s come-all-ye ballroom dancing instruction in the back room; a buffet is laid out on Wednesday and Friday. There’s also a buffet at the weekend brunch, which runs from 11:30 AM to 3 PM. —David Hammond
A friend of mine says he “just doesn’t get” Filipino food. Maybe Isla Pilipina can help. Then again, maybe not: our meal was a string of big hits and misses. Unlikely as it may seem, the deep-fried pig’s foot was scrumptious, and I’ve never enjoyed trotters much. A bowl of taro leaf cooked in coconut milk along with Asian spices and a few shrimp proved a delicate balance of bitter and sweet, rough and creamy. But to my palate sinigang, a traditional soup with tamarind, was sour to the point of inedibility, and though my charming server heartily endorsed the chop suey guisado, it amounted to no more than thinly seasoned celery and other predictable veggies. The menu description of pancit palabok promised pan-fried noodles with shrimp or meat, but we got pretty much only scrambled egg—not bad, but not as advertised. Mixed adobo is a good illustration of our dining experience at Isla: chunks of pork and chicken were flavored with the classic Filipino spice of soy, vinegar and garlic, well-seasoned and tasty if not quite to my taste—maybe I just don’t get it. —David Hammond
