Beer Belly: 'Backyard Boogie' Filipino BBQ with The Park's Finest

*Post by Mark.

Beer and Barbeque. Two things that have become quite synonymous with Labor Day weekend holiday traditions. This Labor Day Weekend those two things came together in glorious fashion as our favorite Koreatown craft beer bar Beer Belly teamed up with Echo Park-based mobile caterers The Parks Finest for a BBQ pop-up. 

The Park's Finest is a catering team that combines classic American BBQ cuts with Filipino spices and seasonings. The Park's Finest is planning on opening a brick-and-mortar later this year in Historic Filipinotown, and all proceeds from the BBQ went towards their start-up fund. Hungry BBQers turned out en masse to enjoy the feast. Despite the five-hour window alloted for BBQing, The Park's Finest managed to plow through all 200 lbs. of their meat in just two short hours. In fact, we were amongst the last few to be served before they ran out, and we were quite glad to sneak through the line before they ran out.

$10 scored us a plate full of chicken wings, tri-tips, pulled-pork and bibingka corn bread. The pulled pork may have been our favorite - juicy, with crispy edges, and not the littlest bit greasy, as pulled pork can often be. The corn bread - an invention of Park's member Ann Pajimula - combines American cornbread with bibingka (a Filipino rice cake). The moist, pillowy cake is made from corn meal and rice flour, and was served fresh from a bed of banana leaves. The Timuay tri-tip proved tender, flavorful and perfect for harboring excessive amounts of The Park's Finest's house BBQ sauce.

And their 'Backyard Boogie' BBQ sauce may just be the key ingredient in all of this. The sauce is thick and smoky like you'd expect a good BBQ sauce to be, but there's a distinct tangy, sweetness from the introduction of flavors like pineapple and coconut.  Frankly, I wouldn't mind having a few jars of this stuff on reserve in my refrigerator right now.  

And while Beer Belly may have given its own kitchen a day off for the event, its taps were still open for business, pouring choice craft brews (below). It's no real surprise that owners Jimmy and Yume Han were eager to offer support for another community enterprise. Every beer in house is local - a conscionable choice that helps support many young, southern California breweries and is demonstrative of the burgeoning craft beer community in and around Los Angeles. We helped celebrate the holiday with tasty pours like the Cismontane Antigua Caturra Coffee Citizen, the Eagle Rock Populist and the TAPS Irish Red Ale.

The Backyard Boogie may have been all about The Park's Finest on this day, but Beer Belly's menu, crafted by Chef Wesley Lieberher, is certainly deserving of its own post. When they don't have the day off, the kitchen has already won over many bellies with their Catfish n' Chips, duck fat fries and fried Twinkies. Just as impressive has been their decadent grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and maple syrup and a filet mignon tartare with chopped egg whites.  

If you missed out on the event, you can still help support The Park's Finest by having them cater your parties, events or backyard barbeque. You can learn more about them and their dream of opening their own restaurant and even contribute directly to their goal here. We hope they meet their goals, because Angela still hasn't checked out Historic Filipinotown, and the promise of BBQ at The Park's Finest would be just the excuse to head on over. 

Pork Belly Adobo

*Post by Angela.

I should have known. The first moment that the idea of making pork belly adobo popped into my head, I should have known it would lead me to Marvin over at Burnt Lumpia. Sure enough, the very first entry  to appear in my Google search was this unbelievably decadent, yet virtually idiot-proof recipe. Marvin posits that it's the best adobo he's ever had, and, judging by Mark's inarticulate moans as he shoveled it into his mouth, my partner-in-crime agrees. I certainly couldn't get enough, continuing to eat past the point of discomfort. That is how good this dish is, my friends.

List of ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar (I doubled the original amount because the sauce is my favorite part)
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 lbs skin-on pork belly (I was surprised to find pork belly at Whole Foods relatively cheap, just a little over $5 a pound)
• 15 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 bay leaves
• Steamed white rice, and lots of it (trust me.)

First, the prep work, which is so easy as to be virtually non-existent. I smashed and minced the garlic, then cut the beautiful slab of pork belly into cubes.

I mixed together the vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl, then poured it over the pork belly, garlic, and bay leaves in a large pot. I brought the liquid to a boil, then reduced the heat to low, covered and simmered for about an hour and 15 minutes. Every once in awhile I'd uncover the pot to check the seasoning (I added a tiny bit more salt at one point), and each time, the acridity of the vinegar hit me so hard I coughed.  AWESOME, and I'm not being the least bit sarcastic. I love vinegar with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. No, seriously.

I turned the heat off, then, using a slotted spoon, I scooped the pieces of pork belly onto a baking sheet (skin side up) and stuck it under the broiler until the tops had turned a gorgeous brown, about 2-3 minutes.

I plated up some rice, then served it with the glistening cubes of pork belly and plenty of the delicious sauce. Marvin claims this recipe serves 6; Mark and I managed to polish it off in under an hour, repeatedly hauling ourselves up to get more until it was all gone. Is that a little disgusting, considering the fattiness of the dish? Sure. Do I regret it? Not. One. Bit.

Chicken Adobo

*Post by Angela.

Thus far, in terms of Filipino food I've made for the blog, I've hit some of my childhood favorites: chicken arroz caldo, kare-kare and sinigang. But I've neglected the Filipino national dish: adobo. The term "adobo" actually refers to the cooking process in this tangy and tasty meal - the protein of choice (most commonly chicken and pork, but can be pretty much anything) stews in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce. As with all Filipino dishes, there are many different variations on adobo, but this one from the wonderful Marvin of Burnt Lumpia is one of my favorites, and is almost identical to the one my mom made us growing up.

List of ingredients:

• 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups cooked white rice

First, I heated the oil over medium-high heat, then browned the chicken in batches, about 5 minutes per side. Mmmm, crispy chicken skin.

I removed the chicken to a large bowl, poured off all but about 1 tbsp of the drippings, then sauteed the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute.

I added the soy sauce and vinegar and deglazed the pot, making sure to scrape all the yummy brown bits off the bottom of the pot.

I added the peppercorns, bay leaves and chicken (with its juices), then covered and simmered about 20 minutes.

 

I removed the cover, then simmered an additional 15 minutes to thicken up the sauce. I served the chicken with rice and spooned the piquant sauce over the top. This meal is not for everyone - the vinegar and soy sauce make for a very pungent and powerfully flavored dish. But surprisingly, despite his New England palate, Mark loved it and immediately went back for seconds. In fact, I wish that I had made double the recipe to keep eating all through the week, since adobo keeps FOREVER (the vinegar and salt from the soy sauce are great natural preservatives). Oh, well - it's such an easy and simple recipe that I can throw it together in a heartbeat if I want more!

San Francisco: Sights, Food & Filipino Feasts

*Post by Angela.

As you know from our previous post, our time in San Francisco was cruelly cut short, resulting in kind of a whirlwind of trip to see all that we could see and do all that we could do in a day in a half. After our dinner at Bix, we roamed the city and did a surprising number of things for one evening, including enjoying the sight of a fog-embraced Bay Bridge, braving the icy winds with Christopher Colombus at Coit Tower...

taking a quick stroll along the tourist-packed Fisherman's Wharf...

 and zig-zagging down the Crookedest Street.

The next day, after spending a rather depressing morning watching World Cup games (including the game of which we will not speak), it was time for the main event - my grandfather's 95th birthday party!  My immediate family (sadly, minus my little brother Jim, who, as you know, is hard at work at med school in the Philippines, but happily plus Mark and my sister's fiancé) headed over to the celebration at Patio Filipino in San Bruno (below) ... a fitting name as it a) serves Filipino cuisine and b) has a patio.  

Surrounded by virtually all of my dad's side of the family (which includes 22 aunts and uncles, and over 30 cousins, plus my cousins' kids), I snapped photos of the food as the staff set it up, buffet-style, while manuevering my way through greetings, introductions, hugs, and kisses.  While my favorite part of the party was seeing my family, the food was no joke, either. My heart leapt with joy as they carted out the main attraction, this beyond beautiful lechon, or roast suckling pig. Lechon is a staple at Filipino parties, and just one bite of the crispy skin and succulent meat was enough to send me into a blissful coma.

I was also happy to see some pancit palabok (below, right, a sort of stir fry dish made with round rice noodles, vegetables, and in this case shrimp) and chicken afritada (below, left, a tomato-based stew made with potatoes and bell peppers).

There were several other traditional Filipino dishes, including kare-kare (an oxtail-peanut sauce dish which I've attempted at home) and bistek (beef and onions slow-cooked in soy sauce and calamansi juice). Vegetarians would have a difficult time finding something to eat - the only vegetarian offering I can remember was the lumpia sariwa, or fresh spring rolls, which came with a sweet glaze on top... or the uh... steamed rice.

And like every meal I've ever had with my extended family, all that food ended up in a messy melange on my plate (see below). I was a little worried that Mark wouldn't be able to find anything he liked, but he did okay. That being said, I think real authentic Filipino cuisine may take some getting used to - it's very heavy, often greasy, and fairly heavily seasoned. Being the food of my heritage though, I ate it up and was happy than...well, definitely happier than our roasted pig.

But the real star of the evening was the handsome gentleman you see below. He looks pretty incredible for 95, in my opinion. He loved having his family around him, and we were all so glad to be there. He was also pretty happy about that gorgeous cake, which was made by the very talented wife of one of my zillions of cousins.

All in all, it was an exhausting trip, but well-worth it. I was so happy to able to celebrate my grandfather's birthday with him and my huge family, and to be able to share that experience with Mark as well. That being said, hopefully our next trip to the city by the bay will be a little less hectic!