F is for Filipino

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008


Tselogs Tapas Cafe
6055 Mission Street
Daly City, CA 94014
http://www.tselogs.com/Tselogs/Home.html

Filipino cuisine was an interesting one. It was our first real trek outside the city into one of the more scenic neighborhoods in Daly City - you know the pretty dead at 8pm "not-sure if my car will be there when I leave the restaurant" kinda blocks. Before we talk about the restaurant and the food let's learn a little bit more about the Philippines and Filipino cuisine. The Philippines is the world's 12th largest country with a population of over 91 million people spread throughout the country's more than 7,100 islands. The cuisine of the Philippines is fairly standard Southeast Asian grub with a little Spanish flair. Spain ruled the Philippines all throughout the colonial period pretty much from Ferdinand Magellan's arrival in 1521 to the end of Spanish rule in 1898. The Spaniards' influence to the Philippines extended beyond the introduction of exotic spices and artifacts, the Spanish language, and Christianity. Spanish rule brought with it tomatoes, garlic, chili peppers, modern oil/onion sauteing techniques, marinading techniques like adobe, as well as Spanish staple foods such as Paellas and flan. Although historians agree that more than 75% of Filipino cuisine came from Spain, other cultures, like Arab, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and even American, had their influence on Filipino culture and food.


Filipino cuisine might as well be a synonym for Pork. I'm not exactly sure how many pigs were slaughtered for the benefit of feeding our party that night, but everything from the egg rolls to the seafood noodles had pork in it. For non-pork eaters, the options were definitely thin at the restaurant, but there were a few things to choose from which we'll discuss later on.

Filipino cuisine = homage to pork

If you look at the menu at Tselogs, you'll notice a common theme. Every dish ends with the suffix "silog". Now what in the heck is silog you might ask. Well silog comes from the combination of two words "sinangag", which I guess is Filipino for fried rice and "itlog" which is the word for fried egg. When these two foods are combined into one meal, it becomes kosher to call it a "silog". The word you add before "silog" is essentially the main component of the dish you're eating. Spamsilog, for instance, is spam, fried rice, and eggs, while Bacsilog is short for bacon, fried rice, and eggs. Silogs are apparently very popular during breakfast time, which is why Tselogs is a trendy breakfast spot. Although the food served at Tselog's is breakfast oriented and the restaurant name has "tapas" in it, don't be fooled. The food is extremely hearty (think Filipino style comfort food) and the portion sizes by no means resemble tapas - the portions were ginormous.

As we sat down and were handed the cheap xeroxed menus, a number of us were disappointed that various items from Tselogs' catering menu did not work their way into the "tapas" menu. Yes, there were a few of us (only a few of us) avidly looking forward to tasting "Dinuguan" (which to me sounds like Dinosaur dung). Dinuguan, as eloquently described by Wikipedia, is a "Filipino savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich, spicy gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili, and vinegar." As Rachel Ray would say "delish" or my favorite "yum-o". Unfortunately, we weren't graced with this dish that evening. Another disappointment was that Tselogs was out of the delectable gelatinous canned meat, Spam! Spam is apparentely a big part of the Filipino breakfast experience.

Yum, visit the Spam website

To kickoff our dinner, we started with appetizers, which included "lumpiang shanghai" (filipino eggrolls). As a non-pork eater, I did not sample the eggrolls, but they looked pretty standard and people seemed to think that they were ok. Next up was soup, which I believe was one of their specials for the night. What kind of soup you ask? Bone-in savory pork soup of course. The soup looked pretty standard (I must admit I was skeptical when I heard people had actually ordered this) but those who sampled it thought it was ok. The only complaints I heard were that there was more bone than pork in the soup and that the meat was fattier than it needed to be. So far so good in my book though as we're two dishes into our dinner with no fatalities or stomach churning runs to the bathroom.

Palabok (Filipino noodles)

Next up were entrees or as we jokingly called it "the logs". Per the waitresses' recommendation, we ordered our dishes ala carte instead of ordering the silogs with the rice & egg compliment. The ala carte logs were pretty cheap (about $5 per dish) so we decided to order a variety of dishes to sample (we later found out that the amount of food we ordered could probably feed a small village in the Philippines). As we sifted through the 10 or so logs on the menu, we noticed that close to all had some kind of pork in it. Even one of their shrimp and noodle silogs had Chinese sausage (a.k.a. pig) in it. The non-pork eaters at the table ordered the sisigsilog (chicken sisag), bangsilog (fried milk fish), a few orders of the garlic fried rice (burnt garlic bits at the top looked like bacon bits), and the palabok (Filipino noodles) kicked up a notch with extra vegetables. If you thought the non-pork eaters were screwed, this is definitely not a restaurant I'd recommend for vegetarians. One of our brave vegetarian dinner club member had to settle for either the garlic fried rice or the noodles. Other dishes ordered that evening included the shrimp silog mentioned earlier and the embutidosilog (Filipino meatloaf).

Embutidosilog (mystery Filipino meatloaf)

Out of all of the dishes we ordered, the best dish of the night was by far the chicken sisag. Chicken sisag is essentially minced chicken fried and sauteed in garlic, onion, soy sauce, and lemon served atop a sizzling hot plate (the meat was in fact sizzling, kinda like the fancy steak fajitas you get at a Mexican restaurant). Chicken sisag is definitely something we'd order again and would recommend it highly to anyone who comes here or to any other Filipino restaurant. The vegetarian noodles had to be second on the good stuff list for the night. The noodles were decently flavored, spiced, and salted. There wasn't really anything special about the noodles (no fancy secret sauce, etc... ). The noodles were good enough that the table went through the entire plate we ordered. We unfortunately can't say the same for a few of the other dishes.

Chicken Sisag

The rest of the dishes we ordered that evening were well, "interesting". The shrimpsilog (or whatever it was called) was shrimp and Chinese sausage tossed in noodles served with one of the most fluorescent, neon yellow sauces I've ever seen. If the lights went out at Tselogs, I swear we would have been ok with this dish as our light source. Aside from the strange color, the dish was "goopy" for lack of a better term. For the longest time, we thought one of the main ingredients in this dish was raw egg yolks, but the waitress had insisted that eggs had no business in the dish. To this day, the bright yellow sauce remains a mystery (i don't think we want to know what was in there). One brave soul ended up taking the dish home as "leftovers", but only because he felt bad that the table managed only a few bites of the dish. He felt empathy for the waitress who clearly looked disappointed. It did not help that we had answered her question on whether we wanted anything boxed with the response, "yes, everything but that one".

Shrimpsilog and its bright yellow mystery sauce

Next on the strange food category was the mystery meatloaf (embutidosilog). The meatloaf looked like holiday cake with its multi-colored stuffing - imagine eating raisin bread where the raisons were each a different color. I don't think too many people gobbled this one down (I certaintly didn't as this was one of the pork dishes). Most of us were wondering whether these colored raisons were fruit, jellybeans, or M&Ms. Nothing screams appetizing like pale-colored mystery meat with Christmas lights for filler. The last dish we had that night was the fried whole fish (bangsilog). Nothing really special or unique about this one. The fish was edible, but most of us thought the fish was dry, meatless, and a little fishy in both smell and taste.

Bansilog (appetizing photo, ehh?)

All in all, Tselogs was a big disappointment and our worst dinner club experience to date. The chicken sisag is really what saved the dinner that night. Who knows maybe it was an off night, the main chef was out sick, or maybe Tselogs is just a better place for breakfast. We've heard Filipino food is good, but we didn't get it that night for sure. A lot of people do rave that Tselogs is the best restaurant for Filipino food in the city. There have been countless positive reviews online, including some on Yelp. There has even been a Filipino cuisine focused show that highlights Filipino cuisine and uses Tselogs' as an example (see Youtube video here - the lady in the video describing the food was actually our waitress that night). Anyways, our journey from Ethiopia to Filipino may have ended in tragedy, but we're hoping our stay in Germany for "G" will be better. Until next time.

E is for Ethiopian...

Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008


New Eritrea Restaurant & Bar
907 Irving Street (between 10th & 11th ave)
San Francisco, CA (Inner Sunset)
Yelp Review
Menu (courtesy of MenuPages.com)

E was a welcoming letter choice. Unlike D, which was a tough one for us, E for Ethiopian came as a recommendation from one of our regular A to Z patrons during our C for Cambodia dinner. Having never really tried Ethiopian food myself, the choice was a no-brainer. With Ethiopian food as our choice, we embarked on to a region that's more than 4,000 miles from our D for Dosa adventure in India.

Regional Map

I've always equated Ethiopia with the pseudo funny South Park episode highlighting an Ethiopian child called "Starvin Marvin" and mocking Sally Struthers for her famous Christian Children's Fund Feed the Children role (80s YouTube Feed the Child Video here). As far as the food was concerned, I had no idea what to expect, but was definitely pleasantly surprised by the results. Ethiopian food is spicy but not burn your tongue spicy and a lot of the food, for lack of a better word, was mushy (i.e. nothing in our meal was really crunchy and this is predominantly due to Ethiopian's long stewing techniques). For the adventurous, Ethiopian food does have some unexpected dishes out of "left field" like their version of beef tartare (the Kitfo raw ground beef dish). All in all, Ethiopian food was surprisingly good and addictive - by the end of the meal you are disgustingly full.

Ethiopian Flag

Ethiopia is a landlocked country that sits at the Horn of Africa in the northeast region of the continent, a stones throw away from Saudi Arabia. The country is located in a precarious position adjacent to hostile African countries and downright frightening heavily armed seperatist factions that have been responsible for hundreds of thousands of genocidal killings over the last decade. Originally called Abysinnia, Ethiopia is Africa's oldest state and home to some of the earliest ancestral fossils, fossils that date back 5 million years. Believe it or not Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa. Despite its size, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries on Earth and is notorious for famines and droughts, most notably the devastating famine of the mid 80s, where more than 1 million people died. The famine in the 80s generated international media attention that led to the Sally Struthers commercials and phone-a-thons noted earlier. Ethiopia unfortunately has never fully recovered from the crisis and is in the midst of another famine (currently, anywhere from 10-15% of the population is in need of aid). Rising food prices, the global economic crisis, and a terrible crop season in both 2007 & 2008 have all been factors that have led to the nasty situation in Ethiopia (a few articles on the crisis: USA Today, CS Monitor, and YouTube News Video).

Injera (photo courtesy of sacatomato.com)

Ethiopian cuisine is unique. It is the epitomy of family style cuisine where utensils are absent from meals and all entrees are placed onto one massive plate (I was bummed we weren't eating on the floor, but maybe at M for Morroco we'll have better luck). At the restaurant we ended up ordering more than 8 different dishes and each one ended up on a large pizza-pan-like platter with all of the food sitting atop Ethiopia's own "wonderbread", the injera. The injera (which is also served on the side like Nan at Indian restaurants) is Ethiopia's utensil (well not officially). You essentially use it to scoop your way through the mushy entrees. Injera bread is extremely filling with a subtle sour taste and the look and texture of a sponge. Injera is essentially a pancake-like sourdough bread made out of fermented teff flour. Teff is a species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia and is an important food grain in the country. The teff seeds are tiny (smaller than Quinoa seeds). You would think that something native to a country that's more than 8,900 miles from San Francisco would be expensive, but thanks to the great state of Idaho, the USA now raises its own seeds meaning costs have been kept down and teff is relatively inexpensive. Although the process of making injera bread can be challenging, here's a blog (courtesy of the Mestawot website) that includes an injera recipe for us all to try.

Teff Grain (courtesy of whole life nutrition blog site)

Prior to ordering the main dishes, we had some Sambusas (or Sambusac) to hold us over (I think we actually had these at the A for Afghan outing). Sambusas are essentially a variation of Samosas or Empanadas and are popular in Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa. The vegeterian Sambusas we had were filled with lentils and were very tasty.

New Eritrea Restaurant Platter

A main component of Ethiopian meals are stews, referred to in Ethiopia and the region as "Wats". Wats usually begin with chopped red onions cooked until softened, then mixed with spices, vegetables, legumes, and/or meats, such as fish, chicken, goat, lamb, and beef (pork is not served at Ethiopian restaurants due to the Muslim and Ordodox Jewish makeup of the population). Stew options were aplenty at New Eritrea. For simplicity sake, the group defaulted to the veggie combo platter, which included three to four different stews: lentil beans (Tumtumo), okra, collared greens, and a potato and bell pepper stew. In addition to the veggie platter, we ordered some meat dishes: lamb dish in curry sauce, carrots, and potatoes (Allicha Bagee), a chicken dish (believe it was the Kilwa Borho), and the infamous Kitfo. For the Kitfo, we were asked if we wanted it raw (seriously?) or rare (likely an "Americanized version"). Kitfo is a traditional Ethiopian cuisine, which consists of raw ground beef marinated in mitmita (a spicy chili powder) and niter kibbeh (a seasoned clarified butter). The spices really hide the raw, reddish beef color (you can be fooled into thinking it is cooked through). At the restaurant, the dish was served in a small bowl tucked at the corner of the large serving platter. At first glance, the dish looked like it had been cooked and I forgot we ordered it "rare" (ok, yes I admit we were wimps for not ordering it raw), but as soon as you bite through the chewy, mushy texture you know there's something funky going on here (quote from an AtoZ patron: "the texture was a little disturbing"). Surpringly, the inner anamilistic side in me enjoyed this dish (I can't speak for everyone though). Admittedly, after eating half the bowl and both feeling that gooey rawness drip down your chin and that raw cow texture coat your esophogas, you can only help but pause and ponder whether this is even sanitary. The dish tasted ok though so I wrote off any concerns and kept chowing down. With no toilet hugging / stomach pumping episodes that night or the next morning, I call the Kitfo a success, although I don't think I'd order this dish again as I only found it to be ok.

Starvin Marvin (photo courtesy of this site)

All in all, New Eritrea in the Inner Richmond was a good find. The food was decent, pretty consistent, and cheap (would not consider this one of the top A to Z spots we've been to, but would definitely come back here again if I'm craving Ethiopian food). If you're ever in the mood for having a massive Kitfo binging party New Eritrea is great for large groups (we sat in a seperate section in the back). Next up on the list is Filipino food. From what I can tell there are some borderline sketchy places scattered around San Francisco, so we'll see. Let's hope F will be as good as E. Stay tuned. Aman (Ethiopian for Goodbye).