Queen Grill City

Lechon Kawali*
Copyright 2011 LtDan'sKitchen

Yesterday, we had lunch at one of the newly established Filipino eateries in Seattle. It was of the style familiar to Filipinos back home which is to point at something you like and they will serve it to you. To point at something is "turo" in the Filipino language and these food stops are referred to as turo-turo or "point-point". The one at Seattle boasts quite a bounty of traditional Filipino dishes, mostly the meat stews and the grilled/deep fried/roasted meats that are very popular back home especially the lechon kawali that was really very tasty and crunchy.

Over the last two days, I have been stuffed with really good Filipino food it felt like I was home even for just a moment. However, reality sinks in and you see these Filipinos who are now mostly American citizens wearing their new citizenship proudly. Well, a bit too proudly it bordered on arrogance although I'm excluding my friend and her family and her in-laws who were all very nice down to earth people. It was weird watching a bunch of Filipinos acting way more American than Americans. There was an instant I wanted to clobber this lady who had her three kids falling in line for her while she chatted on her phone and at the very last minute, decided that she wanted more stuff at the checkout counter while still conversing on her phone. So basically, she is now an obnoxious Filipino who thinks she can do anything she wants because she is now an American citizen. Argh! This is a very normal thing to witness back home but the newly acquired citizenship seems to have given her an air of "I can do what I want" in the worst sense ever. If it were not for the good food being sold at the counter, I would have said something. But then again, what is the point?

Dinuguan or Pork Blood Stew
Copyright 2011 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

Now that I have vented, I'm featuring a stew that will make most people's blood curl (pun intended). Traditionally made with pork offal, this dish can be made healthier by using regular pork meat. The most interesting part though is how this dish is completed by the addition of either pork or ox blood giving the dish its unmistakable brown color. To the unlearned, they might mistake the dish for chocolate sauce until they figure out what it is really made of and they usually end up spitting the dish out. It took me some time to really love this dish but I prefer to cook my own version to be sure that I use really good ingredients giving me a sense of peace that I'm eating something that is really well prepared. Since then, I only eat this stew in restaurants or in homes of people I know. Traditionally, it is also eaten with a steamed rice pudding just like corn bread is the perfect match for meat chilis.

* I had to switch to a picture of the lechon kawali that I made myself a couple of months ago. I would like to feature the one that I ate at Queen Grill City but the picture taken with my Balckberry was not of good quality and I just cannot let go of how badly it translated in the blog.