Seafood City

Our next stop was Filipino food heaven...

Lechon kawali? Yes please!

Chicharon bulaklak?  Not so much...for me at least. What is this curiously named food item? Answer at the end of the post)


Of course, our next stop could only be Seafood City which has been going strong since they reopened at this new location earlier last year. It's on Orange near the 805 exit. It used to be an Albertson's. The old Seafood City on Third (near Palomar) is now Foodland. One thing's for sure, there's way more parking!

It was the first time for Cathy and CAB here. Dennis had been here earlier this year for our epic food crawl. Fresh octopus in the bags. Fresh shrimp with shell and head on.

 Clams big and small, along with huge squid (pusit).

Seafood City also caters to its Latino clientele. Here's pickled pigs foot and cueritos (pickled pig skin). They have tortillas, spices, and other canned and fresh items here, though not as extensive as Northgate though.

Bacalao - salted cod fish:

The seafood area...we cruised mostly the perimeter not venturing into the snack, noodle, rice, or dry goods aisles. We also skipped the fresh fruits and vegetables since we were trying to be time efficient.

Different types of longanisa (a type of pork sausage that can be mild, sweet, or hot). My parents used to make their own longanisa back in the days, along with homemade tocino and tapa (other types of cured meats).

I was happy to see Calamansi juice although I'm sure the sugar content is  probably sky high.

Radioactively red hot dogs. I personally have not tried these but they sure are colorful! Red dye #5 anyone?

I liked the rounded font for this item...So 70's.

Edam cheese - this is a popular holiday item for Filipinos. It's only sold during Christmas time. As I type this, nearly a week after Christmas, they've gone done about 20% in price. They'll go down lower after the New Year. The cheese is nutty and mild and goes well with fruit and crackers. My parents love this stuff. They call this cheese, "Queso de Bola" or "Bola Bola" ("Bola" means "ball" but also refers to the shape which is round).

More frozen items - grated and whole cassava (also known as Yucca), used to make desserts.

Don't forget the SPAM! The Hot and Spicy really isn't that spicy but there is a little kick to it!

The different types of bagoong, a fermented shrimp paste.

Some of it is made from fish or squid (pusit)...

For the unitiated, the smell (when you open one of the jars) can be overwhelming. I use it sparingly when I made sauteed green beans with pork or pinakbet. I mentioned in a previous post that some Filipinos like to eat bagoon with unripe mangoes for that sweet, salty and sour kick. Below, we have jarred crab fat paste, which I'm curious about getting next time. It sounds so good to me!

Lastly, one of the food places in here. I believe this was Lisa's Desserts. You can see the many trays of puto (steamed rice caked), kutsinta (steamed rice cake with brown sugar), puto bumbong (a traditional Christmas favorite - purple rice rolled in coconut), ube (purple yam) and pandan (panadus) and corn based desserts topped with toasted coconut, and much more...

After seeing all this and walking off some (not all, ha ha) of our calories, we were ready for a little bit more! So off we went again!

But before I end this post - the answer to the question at the beginning...

Chicharon Chicharon may be a familiar word to some of you, you know, pork rinds? Cracklings? Bulaklak means 'flower'. Well, 'bulaklak' is just a prettier way of describing what the fried pig intestines look like...a flower. So nice and ruffly when fried up nice and crisp. You know, I am going to try this next time I go. Dip it in some vinegar with crushed garlic....yeah. That's some goodass pulutan (snack food for your San Miguel or Red Horse beer for ya) there! Crisplicious!