Recently in Filipino Category

I don't know the history of Filipino food but after my first visit to D.J. Bibingkahan in West Covina, it wasn't too far from Mexican food.

It made me wonder, who inspired who?

This little bake shop is a spacious restaurant and bakery in what is locally known as Little Manila, or the Seafood City shopping center off of Amar Road and Azusa Avenue.

On a recent lunch hour, playing on televisions throughout the dining area was a Filipino version of "Ugly Betty," an American television show that is a version of the Mexican soap opera show "Betty La Fea."

The cheesy over-acting and camera work immediately reminded me of Mexican "telenovelas" or soap operas.

Ordering food here required a quick lesson. First of all, I didn't understand the menu, and not because of language barriers, but there also isn't much clarity as to how to order food.

Luckily, I was well accompanied by two fellow foodies who were familiar with the way of the D.J. Bibingkahan.

It actually reminded me of how one may typically order food at a fast-food style Chinese restaurant. The food is spread across a long counter behind glass and you can just point to what you want.

Easy for me since I didn't know what items were what, let alone know how to pronounce it properly in Tagalog. 

Much of the food in front of me looked very good but so as not to be sorely disappointed with my lunch I went with a couple suggestions made by my companions instead of following my hungry eyes.

Everyone mostly orders combos which come with steamed white rice and an optional cup of soup, but you can order items a la carte.

With everything from a side spinach with coconut milk dish, beef boiled in blood stew to fish dishes, there was plenty to choose from.

I decided to go with the beef barbecue on a stick and a beef stew called beef kaldereta. I didn't get to try the soup this time which had pork in it.

I did try the chicken adobo off of a lunch companion's plate though. The chicken is cooked for hours in a soy sauce and vinegar mixture, making the chicken tender and juicy and the mixture a little more sweet than salty.

The beef barbecue was perfectly cooked, not too tough, and had the nice barbecue taste and not just the marks of a grill.             

The beef stew tasted so close to a Mexican dish my mom cooks. The spices in the stew and the juicy, chunky cut of the beef are almost exactly the same as the Mexican version, though the color is a little different.

I didn't taste them at first but the stew also has potatoes and carrots, much like the Mexican dish. My mom's dish also has peas and squash though.

My mom serves the dish with rice as well. It's a great way to absorb the stew and flavor the rice.

This D.J. restaurant is actually one of six chains with another in Las Vegas.

D.J. Bibingkahan in West Covina is at 1515 Amar Road, (626) 581-4682.

(NOTE: After this article ran in print and on the Highlander website, there were many commenters helping me out with a little history lesson on Filipino and Mexican food. And others commented on Spanish soap opera history. Feel free to join in on that discussion by clicking on the link above or start a new one here - Comment away! Thanks.)

By Lafayette C. Hight Jr.

During the 90 seconds between the time I left my car until I entered The Green Banana Leaf restaurant in Duarte, I tried to guess what type of cuisine I was about to experience.

My first thought was Puerto Rican food, since I know banana leaves are used in pasteles - like tamale cakes - and other dishes native to the island.

Then my mind jumped from Mexican food, where the leaves can be used to wrap tamales, grilled meats and other char-broiled dishes, to Hawaiian food, where banana leaves are even used to cover meats in the imu, the underground oven where pigs are traditionally roasted whole.

In the end, I decided that there are far too many types of cuisine that use the leaves - African, Malaysian, Indian. After I asked, I was told that it was Filipino food.

Browsing the menu, I was delighted to see that the most expensive combination plates were $7.50. The only exceptions were for family meals and the special on Mondays, where two whole fried chickens can be had for $10.99.

The sweet and sour shrimp, seafood combination, breaded pork chops, and rice bowls all seemed appealing. But in the end I decided to try calamari as an appetizer and the BBQ Mix combination.

When the seafood arrived, it looked good, but after I tasted a few pieces I was a bit disappointed. It was slightly greasy and it seemed like it had been in the deep fryer for one or two minutes too long. 

I'm not sure if it was the "Monday, one hour before closing time" factor but it seemed like the seasoning was right and it would have been perfect with a little less time in the oil. A bit worried, I watched as my BBQ mix arrived, hoping that this trend didn't extend to the main dish. My fears were soon eliminated.  

Both the beef short ribs and the chicken had been seasoned in a delicious marinade that I really enjoyed. The chicken was amazing and the ribs were prepared similar to Korean kalbi.

All of the special combinations come with a soup, and on this day it was Crab and Corn Soup, which was very similar to Chinese Egg Drop Soup, but with those two added ingredients. 

Also complementing the meal were egg rolls, steamed rice and pancit, which I had for the first time. 
 
The restaurant serves two types of pancit, and I had a bit of both. To me, the major differences between the two varieties of stir-fried noodles were the type of pasta: One thick like chow mein, and the other made with really thin rice noodles.

I look forward to going back and trying some of the other dishes. I'm a huge fan of places that serve breakfast all day, like this one, and am particularly interested in the bangus (milkfish) dishes, tocino, which I've heard is similar to bacon, and longanisa, which are supposed to be amazing sausages.

The Green Banana Leaf is at 1740 Huntington Drive, Suite 304, Duarte. It can be reached at (626) 301-9541.