Why is it so hard to find a good Filipino restaurant?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It’s curious because Filipinos are the second largest Asian population in the US. In a few cities, like Las Vegas, Philippine restaurants are starting to pop up, though. But before we dive into the restaurant scene in Sin City, first let's address this basic question: What exactly is Filipino food?

It’s hard to define, says Cathy Ferrer, a manager with Max’s Restaurant, "Cuisine of the Philippines."

“When you say Filipino food, it’s actually a fusion of many cultures and many countries,” Ferrer says.

Philippine food has Chinese, Malaysian, Spanish and American influences — all cultures that have shaped the Philippines. Filipinos eat a lot of rice, pork, chicken and, of course, fish — the Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, after all. All the food is spiced the Philippine way:

“Tons and tons of garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, onions,” says Ferrer

Ferrer helped open the new Max’s in Las Vegas a few months ago. The chain restaurant also has locations in California, Hawaii and New Jersey and has been serving food in the Philippines since 1945.

In Las Vegas, my hosts served me soft Pancit noodles and garlic fried rice and pork — cooked Philippine Adobo style, braised in soy and vinegar. And, of course, we had to have Max’s famous fried chicken.

“We love crispy stuff,” Ferrer says. “Deep fried stuff.”

It all tasted good, a bit heavy, but good. The restaurant was appealing. The servers were friendly. So what’s the problem here? Why aren’t more Americans eating Filipino food? Ferrer had one theory.

“We have a term that we call turo-turo: all food is already in a serving dish, and you just point to what you want,” she says.

Turo-turo, which means “point-point” in Tagalog, is buffet style. Max’s did away with that.

Here’s another problem, as I see it: the food didn’t taste all that different from basic Chinese food. So why switch?

Ferrer says her country’s food actually has quite a few surprises. She says she ordered me the “safest food” as a sampler.

“They gave you the ‘white guy menu,'" says Brock Radke, food editor at Las Vegas Weekly Magazine. “That happens a lot at ethnic restaurants.”

Radke has tried a fair amount of Philippine food and has good things to say about it. He thinks it hasn’t quite caught on in the US because it's considered rustic, homey food.

"Every time I ask someone, 'What's the best Filipino restaurant in Las Vegas?' most people tell me, 'There really isn't one ... my mom's house,'" Radke says.

He also thinks non-Filipinos might be intimidated, scared off by the food. For example, in the Philippines, fish, sometimes big fish, are served with the head intact. It’s done that way in the US sometimes. To be fair, many other cultures serve fish this way, too.

Radke told me about a bowl of sinagang he recently had at Max’s.

“It’s kind of a sour stew, with really giant chunks of food in it, like whole shrimp and big pieces of bok choy. It’s like they didn’t bother to cut it up. It’s kind of clumsily assembled, but I say that with affection. It’s kind of fun to eat, also.”

I had the same soup. Staring at the shrimp, and it’s many, many legs, well, it was a bit off-putting.

“I think the average suburban Las Vegan would probably be terrified to see a whole shrimp in their soup,” Radke says.

For the record, Radke liked the soup, as did I.

So how exactly does an eclectic cuisine gain acceptance? How did sushi catch on? Thirty years ago, who would’ve thought Americans would develop a love affair with raw fish wrapped in seaweed? What will it take for Filipino food to get to that point?

“It’s hard to say,” Radke says. “There are a lot of Filipino chefs in Las Vegas. Maybe somebody will, kind of, go the extra mile to put it into some kind of a package that’s a little more friendly and approachable for people.”

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-02-06/why-it-so-hard-find-good-filipino-restaurant

Edited February 7, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Psoas10 17]

Filipino food is real popular among the non-Filipinos here.

[Niblet 22]

I disagree,,,Philipino food is nothing much ,,what ,,poor cuts of meat,,,lots of Datu Puti vinegar and some soy sauce???

I mean,,pancit, sinagong,,sizzling si sig,,,,what maybe 8 dishes total???

[typo808 11]

Ahh, don't forget my favorites betute, bicol express, sinanglay, chicken tinola (great when you are sick) bibingka, suman at manga (great for long jeepney rides. Heck, great at any time! uhhhh, mango!) and my all time favorite longanisa together with cispy fried bangus and unlimited rice! yeehaw!

Oh yeah, then there are the staples of lechon manuk, lechon baboy, banana lumpia........aiya! I steh hungry now! latahs!

[Psoas10 17]

I like when you can get all the ingredients fresh from the yard, including the chickens. Well maybe not the chickens. My wife jus wen make sinigang, wen was jus cold recently.

[typo808 11]

True that! All the areas of Oahu Roda likes best are the rural ones with big, open properties. Waialua, Wahiawa, Mokuleia. She imagines having a house with a yard big enough to grow all the vegetables and animals she wants to cook fresh daily. Sounds really good to me!

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I disagree,,,Philipino food is nothing much ,,what ,,poor cuts of meat,,,lots of Datu Puti vinegar and some soy sauce???

I mean,,pancit, sinagong,,sizzling si sig,,,,what maybe 8 dishes total???

I love my wife, but you are right. Most Pinoy food is not real appealing to most Americans. Dried Fish,Bangus, etc Not good.

A few Dishes are ok--Pancit, Mongos soup etc

There is not even a full service Philippino restaurant in Atl, that I know of. There is one small snack bar style in Duluth farmers market. There use to be one on Buford hwy, but went under.

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

Don't blame the Cuisine - Blame the Cook.

Main Course Favorites = Sopas, Afritada (CPB), Adobo, Mongo, Pancit, Lumpia, Siopao, Lechon, Mami, Sweet/Sour Tilapia, Kare Kare, Stuffed Bangus, Giniataang Tilapia, Garlic Fried Rice, Shanghai Rice, Embutido, Chicken Curry, Grilled / Stuffed Squid, Nilasing na Hipon (AKA - Drunk Prawns), etc ....

Sides & Desserts - Atsara, Chop Suey, Puto, Leche Flan, Moron Suman, Turon, Kutsinta, Ube-Macapuno Cake...etc...

I'm not much liking the Sinigang but all dishes, sides & dessets listed above = regulars on the Menu in Bahay.

While shopping @ Asian market 2-3 weeks ago - I asked my wife to show me the ill reputed "dried Fish". Never saw, smelled or tasted it. My curiosity is peaked = Just waiting for weather to warm up a bit & we shall cook it outside for my first try...& from what I hear - I expect to be a one and done. Interested to find out how bad it really is or isn't... .

Edited February 14, 2014 by Crashed~N2~Me

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Don't blame the Cuisine - Blame the Cook.

Main Course Favorites = Sopas, Afritada (CPB), Adobo, Mongo, Pancit, Lumpia, Siopao, Lechon, Mami, Sweet/Sour Tilapia, Kare Kare, Stuffed Bangus, Giniataang Tilapia, Garlic Fried Rice, Shanghai Rice, Embutido, Chicken Curry, Grilled / Stuffed Squid, Nilasing na Hipon (AKA - Drunk Prawns), etc ....

Sides & Desserts - Atsara, Chop Suey, Puto, Leche Flan, Moron Suman, Turon, Kutsinta, Ube-Macapuno Cake...etc...

I'm not much liking the Sinigang but all dishes, sides & dessets listed above = regulars on the Menu in Bahay.

While shopping @ Asian market 2-3 weeks ago - I asked my wife to show me the ill reputed "dried Fish". Never saw, smelled or tasted it. My curiosity is peaked = Just waiting for weather to warm up a bit & we shall cook it outside for my first try...& from what I hear - I expect to be a one and done. Interested to find out how bad it really is or isn't... .

It smells like a cross between necrotic body and stale wet socks

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

It smells like a cross between necrotic body and stale wet socks

Ouch. Well then...It may be - it gets cooked, smelt and tossed out before tasted. Won't know 'til I try. I'm gonna try...

[Caryh 5,206]

There has been many attempts to open a Filipino restaurant in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I've watched them go under for a number of reasons, most of the time its a cultural thing. First of all, they open when they feel like it. If you're an American and you go somewhere wanting to eat, how many times are you going to return when they're just not open during normal hours. Seriously you never know when they'll be open or not.

There's one I go to that is only open for brunch on Sunday. They'll be there maybe three Sundays a month. Sometimes they're not open for three weeks in a row. You need to go to their facebook page to make sure they're open. The food is always good though. They're costs are low, operating out of a cantina in a convenience store whose regular operators are closed on Sundays. They mainly support themselves catering, and have survived doing this brunch two years now. But again their main customers are Filipinos in a state with only 16,000 Filipinos.

Another long gone one got really popular in a Minneapolis international market. But again, supposed to be open every day but again they opened when they felt like it. People raved about the taste of the food, but they'd make special trips there to find it constantly not open. Eventually people just stopped going there.

Currently we have another in ST Paul. The guy opened his restaurant without bothering to get a license or even meeting any of the health requirements of a restaurant. He is currently just running a catering business to Filipinos now, while he tries to raise the money to meet a legal restaurant's requirements. But even then I doubt he's going to make it. Before he was closed down, he marketed strictly to Filipinos, his FB page for the place is almost always in Tagalog. His food is also hit and miss. Some days its very good, and some days its horrible. Plus he only makes so much food up ahead of time, often running out of food while he's supposed to be open. Or he'll run out of almost everything and just start serving what he does have without even asking if thats what you want. Truly a strange experience even for someone familiar with Filipino ways.

There was an attempt by a New York chef to move to Minneapolis and serve Filipino food in a big way. He opened a fancy place in an expensive area of downtown. He was born and raised in the USA, so I kind of wonder if he didn't truly know Filipino flavors, or if he was just trying to tame them down to Minnesota taste buds, but the food was so bland after one visit I had no desire to ever return. His place was the only Filipino restaurant here that was actually open normal and regular hours. Unfortunately the food just didn't cut it. It looked pretty, but it was expensive and lacking flavor. The place was gone in six months.

So from what I see here, the Filipino restaurants want to operate like they're in the Philippines and market to only Filipinos in a city where there just isn't many of them.

[Niblet 22]

Americans want real food..not vinegar and meat by products,,I mean those red hot dogs are basicly cancer in a package

why would you eat a RED HOT DOG ESPECIALLY in the USA????

Edited February 14, 2014 by Niblet

[Caryh 5,206]

Americans want real food..not vinegar and meat by products,,I mean those red hot dogs are basicly cancer in a package

why would you eat a RED HOT DOG ESPECIALLY in the USA????

Real food like this?

Although I agree with you on those red hotdog things. My wife tried some of them we got at the local Phil store here, she won't eat them now either after eating American hotdogs.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Caryh

[Psoas10 17]

Spam! I just had spam, eggs and rice from BK for breakfast.

[JoBri 545]

A friend of ours from the Philippines who we met from church has her own restaurant, the Philippines Egg Roll Express, right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. There are two Filipino restaurants here actually. I think that is something from a town of our size of 182,000. We also have a very large Asian market here. Not bad for the hills of Tennessee.