Dining on a budget: Jojo's Lechon
By Lafayette Hight
My knowledge of Filipino culture isn't incredibly extensive, but as I drove by Jojo's Lechon I instantly recognized the word for roasted pork and decided to give it a try.
Jojo's is a fast-food restaurant on Huntington Drive, with about a dozen tables and a similar number of prepared dishes in a display case.
The dishes weren't labeled but the type of food was pretty easy to identify. Unfortunately, the menu wasn't too helpful. Jojo's has a lot of items available for catering but the menu doesn't exactly correspond to what's available.
I decided upon a three-item combo meal for $6.25, and then began to browse the food choices which included fried fish, stir-fried squid, a few varieties of chicken and red meats.
I selected a chicken dish I later learned was Chicken Adobo, a mix of stir-fried shrimp with vegetables and then began looking for a pork dish. After all, going to a restaurant called lechon, and not trying the lechon would have been like going to the former Pup 'N Taco restaurants and ordering a hamburger. Or dining at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles for the first time, and eating a steak.
One of the largest trays in the display case had meat in a dark colored sauce, so I asked my server what it was. He told me the traditional Filipino name, but it flew past me so quickly that I asked him to spell it for me.
Instead, he said, "Some people call it chocolate pork."
Excellent, I thought, since I was looking for a pork dish to try.
I tried the Chicken Adobe first and it was excellent. It appeared to have been made from a whole chicken, chopped into pieces small enough to handle as finger foods. The combination of spices in the gravy was amazing. I enjoyed it so much that the first thing I did when I got in front of a computer was do a Google search for a recipe.
It's that good.
Second, I tried the chocolate pork, which I liked as well, but the spices weren't as vibrant as those in the chicken dish.
As I was eating the pork I noticed that the consistency of the gravy was similar to a roux, the base of most French cuisine.
You may know that a roux is simply cooking oil and flour which are stirred in a pot or skillet over a low heat until the flower is a dark, rich brown - similar to the color of mahogany. I usually make one for gumbo, or other French stews, and when a freshly-made roux is added to the final dish it tends to clump up at first, and needs to simmer for several hours before it becomes a uniform consistency. Until then, however, the roux is a thin layer on top of the dish.
This is how I interpreted it.
And I couldn't have been more wrong.
But first, the shrimp with vegetables dish. Like in many Asian cuisines, the shrimp are whole. It was simple and good. The combination plates come with steamed rice.
Now back to the pork. About an hour after my meal, I learned that "chocolate pork" is actually called dinuguan, which means pork blood stew. It is a dish made with pork blood, entrails and meat.
So now I'm on the fence. On one hand, if my server had told me, I probably wouldn't have ordered it. On the other hand, who knew that blood and entrails could taste so good?
Jojo's Lechon is at 1112 Huntington Drive, Duarte.
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2764
I frequently visit the blog and take on some of your great suggestions. This one i find quite humorous. As a filipino, it doesn't surprise me when people get turned off by dinuguan but it is actually quite goo, and it has a variety of taste depending on which region it originated from. Its nice to know you enjoyed your filipino meal and i can't wait for further suggestions.
Some foods taste better before you know what they are. "Head cheese" is like that, too.