St. Helena, CA
Iberico Ham Purchased from Dean and DeLuca

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Oakland, CA
Hawker Fare

Fried Chicken Sandwich at Bakesale Betty buttermilk fried chicken. jalapeño coleslaw. torpedo roll from Acme Bread...

Not Your Ordinary Macaroni and Cheese mac + cheese. Niman Ranch bacon. extra sharp cheddar cheese....

Multiple Bay Area Farmers’ Market Locations
Roli Roti

Fried Chicken Sandwich at Bakesale Betty buttermilk fried chicken. jalapeño coleslaw. torpedo roll from Acme Bread...

San Francisco, CA
Flour+Water

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This was one of my favorite dishes growing up. I haven’t had it in so long, so the opportunity to recreate a childhood favorite dish using Kikkoman’s Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce was something that I was excited to try.

Ingredients
1-2 Pounds of Green Beans
1-2 Pounds of Pork Belly or Pork Loin
1/4 Cup of Kikkoman Ponzu Lime Dressing & Sauce
1 Large Diced Onion
5 Crushed Garlic Cloves
2 tbs. of Honey
1 tsp. of Salt
1/2 tsp. of Pepper
Olive Oil
3-4 tbs. of Kikkoman Soy Sauce
Water (Optional)

Steps
First prepare the green beans by cutting the stem ends off and wash them under cold water. After they are cleaned, take a large pot and boil the green beans for 10 minutes. Strain them after they are done cooking and set them aside.

Take the pork and cut it into small chunks, about 1 inch in size. Place the chunks into a large bowl.

Combine the Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce, half of the diced onion, crushed garlic cloves, honey, salt, and pepper into the bowl of pork. Mix everything together and let it marinade. I marinated the pork for about half an hour. You can do it longer if you wish.

Now it’s time to cook the pork. In a large pot, heat up some olive oil under medium high heat. Pour the bowl of pork belly and marinade into the pot and let it all cook together. 5 minutes into cooking, place in the other half of the onion into the pot. Be sure to keep stirring everything together. After another 10 minutes of cooking, take the green beans and combine that with the onions and pork. The onions should begin to caramelize, which is what you want to do. You can combine the soy sauce with the dish now. You will notice a sauce forms from all of the ingredients cooking together. Let everything cook for another 15-20 minutes. In between that final time for cooking, continue to taste the sauce. If you feel that it’s getting too salty, add in some water to balance out the saltiness.

After everything was done, I finally sampled my recreation. It definitely tasted like what my Mom made years ago. It was funny how inspiration for cooking can come from looking at a label and just thinking back to food that you grew up with.

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Chicken Relleno is a roasted chicken that has been deboned and stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, Filipino hot dogs, and eggs. The pork stuffing is the key component to the dish. I first learned how to make the pork stuffing recipe from my Dad. With Chicken Relleno, the hardest part is to debone the chicken. Once you’re able to do that, this recipe is fairly simple to follow.

Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken (Deboned)
Soy Sauce
Lemon Juice
1 Bulb of Chopped Garlic
1 Can of Sprite
2 tbs. Sugar
1 1/2 Pounds of Ground Pork
2 Shredded Carrots
1 Large Diced Potato
1/2 Cup of Raisins
6 Beaten Raw Eggs
Salt
Pepper
2 Filipino Hot Dogs
2 Sliced Hard Boiled Eggs

Steps
You must start with a whole deboned chicken. It is easiest to start the deboning process by slicing the back skin portion of the chicken and detaching the meat from the bone. Work your way from the back, the wings, the thighs, and finally the breast. Later, you will sew back together the skin opening, after stuffing the chicken.

Next, in a large bowl, combine 1/2 Cup of soy sauce, 1/2 Cup of lemon juice, garlic, Sprite, sugar, and 1/2 tbsp. of pepper. Place the whole deboned chicken in the marinade for 2-3 hours. We prefer to marinade the chicken overnight in the refrigerator.

In another large bowl, mix together the ground pork, eggs, carrots, potato, raisins, 1-2 tbs. of salt, and 1 tbsp. of pepper. While mixing, begin to boil two eggs that will be sliced and placed into the stuffing later on.

When it comes to the stuffing part, following these step by step photos below might help. First take some of the pork stuffing to fill the chicken. Next, lay out the hot dogs and eggs inside. Take the remainder of pork stuffing to fill the chicken again. The whole chicken should be very plump by now. With a sewing needle and thread, stitch the skin of the chicken to enclose the stuffing.

Bake the chicken in a deep pan for 2-2 1/2 hours at 350°F.

With Chicken Relleno, you should be able to cut into the chicken and serve slices of it, similar to a meatloaf.

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Before leaving, I stumbled upon a pleasant surprise. A new restaurant had opened up called Il Cane Rosso.

Il Cane Rosso is a casual Italian rotisserie and sandwich shop that focuses on using the freshest local ingredients possible. After checking their website, we found out that it was created by Daniel Patterson, the chef and owner of Coi, and chef Lauren Kiino. They had just opened about a week ago.

I looked at Il Cane Rosso’s menu and my eyes lit up after I saw that they had a Porchetta sandwich on the menu. Just behind the counter you could see the rotisserie at work, spinning the meats as their juices slowly dripped. Watching the rotisserie was hypnotizing. Suddenly, I just got hungry again. I still needed my pork fix so I gave in and ordered one to go.

The sandwich was piled with a good amount of sliced tender pork, topped with mustard greens. A plum mostarda finishes off the sandwich to give it a slight tart finish. Not only was it a relief knowing that I still had my chance at a Porchetta sandwich today, but it was good to know that this casual Italian spot had opened for when I’m in search of deliciously roasted meats.

Il Cane Rosso is located on the Bay side of the Ferry Building, next to Charles Phan’s Slanted Door. They offer a daily changing menu which you can check on their website, www.canerossosf.com. If you aren’t fiending for a Porchetta sandwich like I was, Il Cane Rosso has a selection of other sandwiches, soups, salads, and rotisserie platters. They are open everyday for breakfast and lunch.

Il Cane Rosso
1 Ferry Building, #41
San Francisco, CA 94111

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This recipe was inspired by the Super Simple Slow-Cooked Ribs recipe from Penzeys Spices. In my version, I add another Penzeys Spices seasoning called the Mural of Flavor to the ribs.

Ingredients
1 Rack of Baby Back Ribs
3 tbs. of BBQ 3000 Seasoning
1 1/2 tbs. of Mural of Flavor Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Steps
Preheat your oven to 250°F. While the oven is heating up, cut the rack of ribs into 4 different sections. Wash the ribs and dry them afterwards. Season the ribs on both sides.

Take a baking pan and place the ribs with the meat side up. Bake the ribs for 3-4 hours. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, turn the ribs over with the bone side up.

With the slow cooking time this recipe requires, the ribs become succulent and tender. The flavors from the seasonings just soak into the ribs. Of course you could use your own rub or seasonings for the ribs, but I go with the BBQ 3000 and Mural of Flavor from Penzeys Spices. The BBQ 3000 gives you that touch of hickory smoke flavor with just a hint of heat, which both pair well when doing barbecue. The Mural of Flavor is a salt free blend of herbs and spices. The flavors of rosemary and thyme complement several other spices like garlic, lemon peel, shallots, chives, and green peppercorns, which give this seasoning a complex feel.

Most importantly is that Penzeys’ products are guaranteed fresh and have not been sitting on store shelves for years, like other brands. You can tell right away in your cooking.

For even added flavor, baste the ribs with some barbecue sauce like this one.

Don’t let the screaming face trick you into think that this sauce is lava in a bottle. It’s actually sweeter than it is spicy. Original Juan’s Batch #37 Garlic-Que BBQ Sauce brings traditional Kansas City barbecue and garlic from Gilroy, CA together. The end result is a sweet tasting barbecue sauce with just a slight sizzle of heat.

After cooking the ribs I finished them with this sauce which gave me that finishing barbecue touch to the oven roasted ribs.

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One thing for certain is that the Bay Area is home to the one of the largest Filipino communities in the nation. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to over 321,333 Filipino Americans, according to the 2000 Census. Somebody has to be cooking good Filipino food in the area with that many people. There’s one standout Filipino dish that I was in search for here in the Bay Area – sisig, a sizzling pork dish that blows your senses away with its taste and texture. It’s the quintessential dish to pair with beer. It’s that dish that brings you and your friends together.

The Story Behind Sisig
Anthony Bourdain was right on point when he described the history of sisig on the No Reservations Philippines episode. Clark Air Force Base commissaries in Angeles City, Pampanga were disposing unused pig heads. They had no use for them. Local Filipinos were purchasing the heads because they were readily available and cheap.

Lucia Cunanan, better known as Aling Lucing, of Angeles City is known as the sisig queen because it’s believed that she invented the dish. She created sisig by taking chopped pieces of pork ears and cheek meat, marinated them in vinegar, and combined them with onions and calamansi juice. She then served it on a hot skillet, creating a sizzling mural of sweet, tangy, spicy flavors of taste and texture. While Aling Lucing may have created the dish, over time, other Filipinos began to come out with their own variations.

This inspired us to search the best sisig in the Bay Area. I was fortunate enough to try the sisig at Aling Lucing’s during my last visit to the Philippines and ever since then, I missed it. This would be a way to temper my cravings. This leads us to the question, is there a spot in the Bay Area that comes close to Aling Lucing’s sisig? Could there be a spot that would be actually better than the Queen’s?

There’s something about the sound of sizzling pork bits that brings a smile to my face. With an, “Oh, yes,” moment that follows after seeing the dish. Grab yourself a beer and get ready to embark on a pork nirvana with us…

The Search Begins
A group of our close friends who all love pork and sisig were invited to join us. The idea of trying sisig at several restaurants fueled our excitement. It even got to the point where we looked at each other’s faces and questioned our ability to achieve the task. I selected five different restaurants, each having their own characteristic from the hole in the wall restaurant to the modern lounge, just to get a general mix of how each place makes sisig.

Gerry’s Grill
First stop, was Gerry’s Grill in Union City. Gerry’s Grill originated in the Phillipines and opened their first U.S. branch in February 2006. Not only does Gerry’s Grill specialize in barbecue, they serve plenty of traditional Filipino dishes as well. They pretty much cover their bases of being that restaurant you go to if you want to sit down and enjoy a full meal, or just to go to have a drink and few appetizers.

It was time to start with the first sisig of the day. We asked our server about the sisig at Gerry’s Grill. He told us that they used plenty of pig skin in their sisig. When the dish arrived at the table we could all see the mountain of pork. Time to dig in.

The sisig at Gerry’s Grill had hints of sweet flavors shine through. The pork skin was chewy which complemented the sizzled bits of pork and chicharrón.

Patio Filipino
We took a short ride across the San Mateo Bridge and headed towards San Bruno to Patio Filipino. We all took our seats ready to take on the next sisig dish. The first thing that we noticed was how different the sisig looked.

I wanted to know more about the sisig so I asked Betty of Patio Filipino, “What makes the sisig at Patio Filipino special?”

Betty replied, “Our sisig is made fresh. We use the pork belly from lechon.”

Tribu Grill
Since we were still in San Bruno, we wanted to check out a Filipino restaurant that was in the same area. With several restaurants being all nearby, I wondered if the sisig dishes would be that much different from one another. Opening the menu at Tribu Grill revealed the answer. I saw that they used pork face, which our server explained was the combination of the cheeks, ears, and snout. So far, this usage of pork in this sisig was closest to Aling Lucing’s original recipe.

The sound of this sizzling sisig was music to all of our ears. After tasting the sisig, we all noticed the flavors of vinegar stood out the most. Texture wise, the crispy bits were the best parts. Knowing that Tribu Grill used pork face was a plus.

The House of Sisig
We headed towards Daly City to The House of Sisig, a small family owned and operated restaurant. My curiosity sparked and assumed that if you have a restaurant name like that, you’re serving up a rocking sisig.

They used a cut of pork different from the first three restaurants. Here, they used pork butt. When the server approached our table with the sisig, they also brought along extra chopped jalapeño peppers and onions on the side. The sisig here was very meaty. I noticed a strong grilled flavor coming from the pork, which we all agreed was the way The House of Sisig stood out from the other restaurants.

Poleng Lounge
The final stop on our search led us to the NoPa neighborhood in San Francisco to Poleng Lounge. From the outside, you wouldn’t expect this restaurant to be serving Filipino fare. When you step inside, the feeling of being in a laid back modern lounge captivates you.

Poleng Lounge uses pork shoulder and pork face in its sisig. They bring the balance of chewy pork fat with the crisp piece of pork meat. Keeping the dish traditional as possible was their goal. Whatever marinade or selection of spices they used for the pork definitely is making this sisig scream with robust flavor. After the last bite of pork bits, we all raised our glasses in celebration for accomplishing the goal we set out to achieve.

The End Result
We ate our way across the Bay with our minds set on finding the best sisig. What we all discovered is that every restaurant featured their own take on sisig, crafting it into their own. There’s that impression that there are different sisig recipes that can satisfy anyone’s preference. The sight of seeing how each restaurant doing a different sisig fascinated us and we applauded their adaptations of the dish.

Many might think that only adventurous eaters like Andrew Zimmern would let such a thing pass through their gullet. It’s only when you actually get a taste of sisig when you can appreciate the flavors. Just eat. You won’t even flinch or think twice about this classic pig head dish. Your taste buds and stomach will thank you. Your rising cholesterol levels will forgive you. It’s worth it.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, take a look the this map as a guide to the spots featured on this sisig search. Thanks Foodbuzz for the chance to share this special sisig search with the world.

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