A group of us gathered at Tito Rad’s last night for Filipino food, descriptions pulled from their menu:
Lumpiang Shanghai - As @SteveR predicted, completely addicting, lucky they went fast, I could have eaten a dozen without much thought.
Sizzling Sisig - Finely chopped pork belly marinated with lemon and hot peppers, served on a hot plate. it took me a couple of years to appreciate thai larb, the learning curve for Sisig was much shorter, wasn’t love at first bite but by the end of the meal, this was one of my favorites.
Ukoy (bean sprout fritters) - My wife called this a guilty pleasure, this was the dish I saw on the most tables, crispy, crunchy, great dipping sauce., again, thankfully, this dish went fairly quickly.
Spicy laing - Taro Leaves cooked with shrimp, pork in coconut milk served with spicy green peppers. My favorite dish of the night, tasted like a coconut curry with just the right amount of heat, a must order when we return.
Lechon kawali - deep fried pork with a liver dipping sauce. Not sure where I stand on this dish, needed a couple of more pieces to form a solid impression but if forced to opine, I’d say a little bland.
Pancit palabok - Steamed Rice Noodles topped with a shrimp sauce served with bacon, shrimp, crushed pork rinds, and hard boiled eggs. Based on the description I was expecting a little more complexity, the shrimp sauce was eggy, almost like a rich egg drop soup. Still, I thought this good comfort food on a rainy night, would like to try again.
Chicken inasal - Boneless grilled chicken marinated in Tito Rad’s Special Sauce. Turned out to be bone-in chicken, I’m a bbq guy and would love to have this recipe, thought it delicious.
Ginataang langka - Sautéed Jackfruit with shrimp and pork served in coconut milk. Strange and interesting to have a slightly sweet fruit in a savory sauce, probably wouldn’t order again.
Grilled tuna belly - generous portion of overcooked, bland tuna. I grew up in a place where we fished for tuna, I’m thinking the steaks were cut from the back rather than the belly.
Kalderata kambing - Spicy goat meat cooked with tomato sauce, liver pâté,
olives, and other spices. I loved this dish, my wife not so much but she’s not a goat eater. The warm spices in the sauce were a perfect match for the somewhat gamy goat.
Crispy pata - Deep Fried Pork Knuckles with ginger and garlic. Dave will eventually post a photo of this beautifully fried pork knuckle, based on the menu photo, it was the one dish I’d hoped we were going to order. Perhaps I was getting full but the dish left me cold, the skin needed salt, the pork had no flavor…just didn’t do it for me.
Overall, I thought it a fabulous dinner, @DaveCook was correct, a smaller group made for broader interaction. Thanks to Dave and @JenKalb for researching which dishes to order, it was wonderful to see everyone again! @small_h@Saregama@ninkat and jim, you were missed!
best,
ps I hope my suggestion of a subsequent “if you cut me will I oink” dinner didn’t steer us to a pork heavy meal, other than the sisig, I thought the pork dishes a little weak.
Very sorry I missed it. But it looks like my dietary restrictions would’ve been tough to accommodate! Glad everyone was able to chow down on bacon/pork/liver/chicken/goat.
I’ve been there before and liked it. This time even more so. However, before going, I would’ve told you that there were plenty of meatless dishes that I remember were worth ordering. I would’ve been wrong, as I didn’t realize how many of those were not actually meatless but had pork. The Taro Leaves dish was excellent but is an example of this. Similarly, the Pancit palabok. We didn’t order the tuna jaw but it wouldn’t surprise me if they figured out a way to pork that up as well. And you might consider taking a temporary leave from meatless eating to try the lumpia. They are right up there with the best home made ones I’ve had (& I’ve had quite a few).
Now I really gotta go — love these (second only to vietnamese ones, tied with really good shanghai style ones)
This is something we run into all the time having so many vegetarian family and friends — even Chinese and Thai are still tough (chicken broth, fish sauce, eggs, and ground meat pop up where it’s not mentioned or imagined).
thanks to everyone for the company (great to meet @ElJefe ) and the good report and pictures!!! I really enjoyed this meal, highlights were the kalderata kambing - the malaysian name for goat and the spicing gives you half of the parentage the olive, potatoes and tomato in the sauce the spanish -
Loved the laing, taro leaves in an intense and delicious and spicy especicially with the mushrooms I got and the green chile garnish, coconut sauce, the ginataang langka, jackfruit coconut stew and the sizzling sisig which was made with tender chunks of pork belly, seriously better than the lechon kawali, which was dry, tasteless and not even crunchy. The chicken was cooked perfectly, moist, crispy and well seasoned, and liked the crispy pata though it needed salt on the skin, The fat was delicious and the meat was moist - Jim happily stripped the remains from the bone which I took home. I think others might have liked it better if it had been served earlier in the meal and if they liked fat!
The lechon kawali was too dry and somewhat tasteless, disappointing, Fried beansprouts were nice and more beansprouty than I expected. Pancit palabak was not as interesting as it looked, maybe I would have enjoyed one of the fried noodle dishes more. Its funny, the “firecrackers” did not send me - didnt feel they were all that different or better than those from say vietnamese places, fine of course but not great. Tuna was too dry to enjoy or even eat more than a couple of bites, disappointing.
There were many further fish, soup and other dishes on the menu which I would have liked to try - the
fresh lumpia (sariwa) sauteed veg in a unfried crepe with peanut sauce) the oxtail kare kare, also with peanut sauce, some of the fish and shrimp dishes including pickled and escabeche treatments, a spicy asian veg dish etc, a lot of delicious alternatives. http://titorads.com/menu/TitoRads-FullMenu-20220413.pdf Hope to get back to sample them!
Let’s put together another Filipino meal when absent friends are back in action. it doesn’t need to be a big one, or even necessarily at Tito Rad’s. Renee’s, in Little Manila, would be a good place to compare laing, sisig, and chicken inasal, and to try a different pancit.
Sorry I’m late. (Early to dinner, late to the internet!)
I have nothing to add in terms of photos and descriptions. My favorites were the vegetable based dishes – the coconutty Ginataang Langka and the Spicy (not so much) Laing. The Ukoy was excellent too but it’s hard to go wrong with a pile of perfectly fried, crispy anything.
It’s difficult for vegetarians in many SE Asian countries (especially Thailand and the Philippines) where pork is often considered a condiment and appears in everything, whether mentioned or not. While I am not vegetarian, I don’t often eat mammals so maybe that’s why I thought the Sizzling Sisig and Lechon Kawali were very good. Again it’s hard to go wrong with a sizzling dish and I only had one small piece of the lechon. It was meaty, fatty, and crispy. And of course, porky. I wouldn’t want a whole plateful so I was very happy that the rest of it disappeared quickly.
Lastly, we should mention that the service was attentive without being overbearing or attempting to upsell. And while I still have sticker shock over the cost of restaurant meals in NYC, this was surprisingly inexpensive given all the food we had.
Thanks for organizing a great dinner with excellent company. I’m happy to join again whenever I’m in NYC.
And you might consider taking a temporary leave from meatless eating to try the lumpia. They are right up there with the best home made ones I’ve had (& I’ve had quite a few).
