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Chicago: the pork ‘belly’ of the midwest 2010 was the year of the pork belly. from LA’s Kogi BBQ to New york’s Momofuku, Pork belly was the king on the carnivore’s ranch. I personally consumed enough pork belly last year to be sold on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.
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It must be a Filipino thing. Pork is a staple on every family’s table. We eat longaniza (cured sausage) for breakfast, bowls of pork sinigang (sour soup with vegetables) for lunch, steam pork bao for an afternoon snack, pork adobo (pork or chicken in garlic, soy sauce and onions) for dinner and sisig (chopped pig’s cheeks and ears sautéed with hot peppers) and chicharon (rinds) dipped in vinegar for late night treats. In the Philippines, pork can stand toe-to-toe with beef as the king of the ranch. Anthony Bourdain got it right when he ranked the Filipino lechon as the best spitroasted pig in his Hierarchy of Pork blog post. Bali took second while Puerto rico slid into third place. I know every latino country would argue their version as the best, but we are not talking about some small time schlep here. Anthony Bourdain is “the man” and I can’t imagine ever crossing his culinary opinions. While the pork belly is still hot, it is the other parts of the pig that are sizzling in every chef’s menu. there isn’t a city in the United States embracing this trend more than Chicago. take the meatpacking district’s Publican restaurant for starters. Publican is all about the pig with pig portraits and every conceivable pork dish imaginable. My wife and I visited Publican for their Sunday brunch and we noshed on spicy pork rinds dipped in cheddar while enjoying their spicy Bloody Marys. I also devoured the beautifully presented plate of la Quercia (Iowa) prosciutto with red wine poached egg, sourdough and Bearnaise. A few blocks from Publican are two of my favorite restaurants in the city, Blackbird and Avec. Blackbird invigorated the migration of top chefs to the meatpacking district when it opened its doors in the mid ‘90s. And Blackbird hasn’t lost a beat as a host of new restaurants pop up in the area. the service is so good
that it almost overshadows the impeccable food. the Slagel Family Farm (Fairbury, Illinois) organic pork belly served with crispy sweet shrimp, Chinese broccoli, preserved green tomato and black pepper was a titillating version of the surf and turf combo. Avec, next door to Blackbird, with its floorto-ceiling wood interiors, resembles a steam room for food aficionados. Avec’s chorizo stuffed Medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper tomato sauce is one dish in this pork-crazy city worth preserving in a time capsule. I was speechless the moment I bit into the steaming hot chorizo umami dish. Food and travel magazines have been raving about Chef Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat restaurant in the same magnitude as a Steve Jobs introduction of a new Apple product. While the goat takes center stage, G&G’s wood oven-roasted pig’s face with tamarind, cilantro, potato stix and a sunny side up egg tops the list of must-try dishes in the top Chef’s repertoire. Moving north to the Magnificent Mile, the Purple Pig is without question my favorite restaurant in Chicago. three communal tables, a long banquette and bar seating make up the cozy ambience. Seating fills up quickly at lunchtime and the wait at dinner could reach two hours—but it’s worth every second of it. From the pig’s feet cake to the wide selection of pork-centric charcuterie, this is where our beloved pig is crowned its rightful place on the top of the food chain. I have never had pig’s tail until I tried the restaurant’s pig’s tail stewed in balsamic. threads of succulent meat fall off the bone while the reduced balsamic performs its magic in your palate. My only regret is that I waited this long to fall in love with this underrated and dismissed pig’s part. Our Chicago pork journey must end where it all began for me—Filipino pork. there is this 20-year-old breakfast and lunch diner in Chicago’s west side that specializes in my beloved Filipino breakfast. Polish Mike Grajewski and his Filipina wife, lucy, own Uncle Mike’s Place. After 17 years, lucy finally had enough American pancakes and waffles, so she started bringing Filipino dishes for the cooks to make for her breakfast. Her plate of longaniza and tocino (annatto marinated pork), vinegar dipping sauce, and garlic fried rice topped with two fried eggs caught the envy of the mostly Caucasian clientele, and they started asking the servers for “whatever she’s having.” Uncle Mike’s Place’s Filipino breakfast accounts for a majority of its breakfast sales. It’s a small token victory for Filipino cuisine in this pork heaven of a city. But we’ll definitely take it. -george aquino
photo by george aquino
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a typical Filipino breakfast consists of pork longaniza, pork tocino, garlic fried rice and fried eggs.