Lisa's Filipino Cuisine

Despite reading mixed reviews on Yelp, and hearing my own brother's dismal review ("it sucked halo halo balls"), we finally Checked out Lisa's Filipino Cuisine in the Eastlake Vons Shopping Center. My sister didn't think it was too bad, but I had to find out for myself. This eatery is next to Panda Chef and some Hawaiian BBQ place. I remember seeing the "Coming Soon" sign late last year. I wasn't sure if this place was going to be a nice sit down place where you order food with a menu and they serve you or a typic take out joint. I think the word "cuisine" made me think of former rather than the latter. Well, unfortnately, this place is just like any other Filipino mom and pop joint - a point/point steam table place. Sigh...
It's pretty small inside - it seats about twelve. There are two small circular table that seat two each and two bigger round tables that seat four. The server was this bored looking young lady (probably in her early 20's). I hate to say this, but the friendliness factor wasn't there. Why is that? They're downright rude, just like the checkers at Seafood City, and the food servers at JNC and Tita's Kitchenette. WTF my Pinoy and Pinay brethren? They need to get some courtesy training ASAP. But yeah, I know that's not going to happen.

The fried shit - Chicken Skin, Dilis, Squid, Lumpia (there's Shanghai and a thicker kind):
More stuff - You can kind of see the pinakbet, the longaniza and some noodle dish in the back:
The left half of the menu board (click on photo to enlarge). We got the Two Item Combos with rice ($6.00). You can also see the different Sapin Sapin dessert trays they have. I love the purple ube rice cakes with coconut! Those are my favorite.

The right half of the board. Hey, you can get 50 pieces of PUTO for $9.00! I wonder if that's a good deal? I can just ask my mom to make it. I'll have to try their in house desserts next time though.

The counter - Thank goodness they weren't wierded out by me taking photos. The bored server girl was in the back room most of the time, so I felt free to take photos without any disapproving glances or glares my way. The metal rack in front of the fried stuff held desserts ready to go - banana wrapped suman (plain rice and purple rice). There were also packages of Pancit Malabon on the counter ($2.75 each - that's not so bad):

There's a refrigerated case in the back holding cups of pre-made Halo Halo (sans the ice cream and the evaporated milk, desserts, soft drinks, and juice drinks (guayabano, mango, and coconut):

Here's some shelves filled with pan de sal (big and small sizes), and various desserts which were yema (egg based ball dessert), polvoron (dry milk power with sugar and flavoring), mini tarts, and spread (coconut and something else, which I forgot):

Bert's 2 item combo ($6.50 - .50 was extra because he substituted pancit for rice): Pancit with mixed Adobo (Chicken and Pork) and Longaniza (they gave him 3 pieces). The longaniza was nice and fatty, but a bit too sweet. I like spicier longaniza better. The pancit was not very good. The noodles were just too wet and gloppy. It was just filler - noodles, celery and cabbage. My mom packs hers in with shrimp, chinese sausage and shredded chicken.

My entree - Pinakbet with Rice, which I also had with...

Diniguan (Blood Stew)! There's also a green chili pepper in there! Doesn't this look good? Don't you want to do it like Veronica Sawyer in Heathers and "Lick it up baby! Lick. It. Up!"? I know I do.

Cross section of the Longaniza:

Closeup of the "Chocolate Meat". It's not exactly health food and the grossness factor tends to freak out most non Filipinos once you tell them that the sauce is made of pork blood, hence the lovely brown color. I only eat this in small quantities though. Too much of this and you'll be regretting it the next day.

Assorted desserts (ube flavored pastillas and pinipig polvoron). Ube is a purple sweet yam while pinipig is toasted rice.

Yema. I've never had this and next time I think I'll buy a package just to try it. I just took the photo for this post.Cashew Tarts:

Peanut flavored Polovoron - There were pretty good; there were actually pieces of chopped peanuts in here. It's like Mexican mazapan (you know, that circular powdery candy with the rose on it?), but better!

Cashew tart at home. It's kind of small but it was actually alright. I think that $2.99 is too much to pay for 7 pieces though. Am I tight or what? I like Goldilocks tarts better, but tasting those is a rarity. I won't go into their store in National City because it's a hell hole. It's better when you get them as a gift from relatives who've just come back from the Philippines laden with Filipino snacks like these, chichacorn, pastillas, and stuff. The tarts from Goldilocks are boat shaped and have a bit more flavor. What I liked about this was that the tart had a nice chewiness to it in the filling. The crust was okay, but I wished this was a bigger piece. It would have been more satisfying and I'd feel less piglike because I'd eat the whole package in less than ten minutes with these tiny things.

Ube pastillas - I've never seen unwrapped pastillas . They had the plain flavor and the ube. Of course, purple freak that I am, I got the ube. These were soft and had that nice sugary gritty coating. I thought they would be dried out since they weren't wrapped. In this case, I'm glad there was no wrapping since the act of unwrapping these pastillas would delay in the consumption of even more pastillas. Naked pastillas all the way!

I bought three packages of desserts (ube pastillas, peanut polvoron and cashew tarts). There was a guy at the counter who was pretty nice. He was actually smiling and then he asked the unfriendly bitch to ring me up. She was cleaning tables at the time. While she was ringing me up, the guy was talking to Bert and telling him his favorite part of the pig, which was kidney by the way. The girl who rang me up was just so blah. I guess working for minimum wage or under the table because you're helping your dad/uncle/whatever, makes her entitled to be rude to customers. She didn't even count my change out.

Oh yeah, here's more about the nice "hospitality" we felt. Before leaving, we got up and got our stuff ready. The chick was cleaning the tables near us. We caught her eye and said, "Thanks" with a smile. Her - no response. Not even a small fucking "Thank you for coming" or "Come again". It's so disappointing that they are so rude there, but I hate to say that it's expected. Isn't that sad?

My overall view of this place is that it's okay - it's average. It would have been better save for the apathetic cunt rag who served us. Other than that, the food was decent - it would do if I wanted a quick dinner, but JNC is closer to me, so I'd be going there more anyways. I'll have to try their desserts another time, so I am willing to give them another chance.

*Note - the label "Shitty" is in reference to the girl's lack of courtesy, not the food.

Asia Cafe

After the fairly decent weather we had during President's Weekend, it finally rained on Monday. Buckets of rain! Having felt quite violated after eating at the Pukecake Factory, I wanted to eat some down home Asian food in the hood. That meant a trip up to the corner of Market and 47th to Asia Cafe. This is that very intersection - Asia Cafe is behind that Brake/Oil Change/Tune Up place, in a run down strip mall full of Lao/Thai businesses.
There it is. Never mind the derelicts that are hanging out in front of the other shops.

The condiments tray. See the minced garlic glass jar? That's NOT minced garlic in there. It's some sort of fish paste. It's quite strong. Try it if you dare. There's also hot chili sauce, Sriracha, fish sauce, soy sauce and chopped peanuts.

We sat in the corner (on the opposite side of the door opening since it was cold!). Check out this poster for a Vietnamese Spring Concert. It was autographed by all of the performers. More specifically, look at the dude on the left...Yays!!! He's rockin' the Prince look. The Morris Day eyeliner. The Little Richard moustache. The Spectrum photo hand pose. What a fkn scream! I wonder what he sounds like when he sings? Is he a Prince impersonator? Can he dance? I want to see this guy perform! Let's go to the concert!

Another version of the poster plus little figures of old Asian peasants flanked by 99 cent figures of little children. These are the same kind of figures you'd find in your Lolo or Lola's house. Hell, my parents have those cheap ass figures cluttering up their knick knack shelves, except it's bird figures and dogs. Nice. Oh yeah, if they're really old school, they'll have the old Asian man and old Asian women statues wearing a wooden yoke over their shoulders with pails of water. Before you think I'm knocking this place's decor, relax. I likes it. I think it adds to the authenticity, those plus Laotian calendars and pictures of their King or ruler. No fancy decorations here. That's the way they roll here.

Here's our view from our corner. My favorite place to sit in the summer is where that guy's sitting because that's where the fan hits you plus you get the breeze from the door.

Bert's Iced Coffee and TC's fresh coconut juice:

Mmm...fresh coconut meat! Don't eat too much though - you might get the squigz.

Their glass door couldn't quite close all the way. When anyone opened it, it made a cringe inducing scraping noise along the floor. Screee!!!!! You can kind of see the marks where the bottom of the door scraped the floor.

The Goi Cuon with Shrimp...on the everpopular Christmas plates!

Bert had their version of Pork Chop with Rice. This is the view on the Pork Chop Side:

Here's the other side of the plate. There's also a fried egg. What I liked about this egg was that it wasn't entirely runny; the yolk was partially cooked. Runny eggs gross me out. But wtf, this wasn't my meal, this was my husband's. I really liked this view of his plate because they arranged the tomato and cucumber slices so nicely, alternating them. The tomatoes almost looked liked eyes. There were also pickled vegetables on top of the rice. This pork chop had a deeper flavor than the one we had at Pho Anh. Hot Fudge ordered this several years ago and I remember eyeing her plate while my mouth was watering.

And here is the rice dish we almost always order whenever we are here. It's not on the menu, so ask for it by name, the Nem Khao. It's crunchy fried rice with chopped green onions, sour sausage, peanuts, cilantro and chili peppers. They serve it with lettuce leaves, mint, and cilantro. You can eat the rice wrapped up in the leaves and herbs. Or you can just eat it on your plate without all that. Either way, it's one of my favorite dishes. Ever.

We love Asia Cafe. The food is always good. The service is prompt. There's no bullshit here - no hovering and no pressure (like at some other places where you feel like they want you to finish eating and GTFO) to leave. It's very chill here. We like that.

TC's haircut and the Cheesecake Factory

The Friday before Valentine's day was a day off for me as well as TC. We both had a four day weekend because of Presidents' Day (Thanks George and Abe). That morning, we took TC to my hairstylist to get her hair cut. And by cut, I mean, 9 inches chopped off!!!

Actually, we had planned this for awhile. She'd been wanting shorter hair and bangs. She hadn't had bangs since kindergarten. Her hair has been waistlength (and occasionally grazing her butt) since she was four. She is now eight and a half. We both thought it would be a good idea for her to donate her hair for people who have lost their own hair to cancer.

Locks of Love requires a minimum of 12 inches. We didn't want to go that short. One of my friends told me that Pantene would take 8 inches, so we went online, found the info and decided to go for it. My stylist sectioned her hair off in four smaller ponytails in the back and cut them one by one. If you cut just one big old pony tail, the ends won't be even, so you have to cut them in sections (that's what my stylist said).
Aaaaagh! Here goes!
My daughter now has shoulder length hair with a bits of choppy layers in the back. The sides of her hair are angled and razored (but not as extreme as my killer rocker chick hair was). Her bangs are also razored and angled. She looks quite hip. My baby is growing up. Here's her pony tail which will be donated...
After the marathon hair session (1 1/2 hours), we headed over to the Otay Ranch Town Center to use up a gift card we got for Christmas at the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, it's a chain (hangs head in shame), but Bert and TC aren't as picky as me, so WTF.
Well, at least it wasn't crowded like the Fashion Valley one; they always have a line out the door. Personally, I don't think their food is worth a longass wait.
Whoever decorated this place had the Las Vegas aesthetic in mind. Faux Egyptian columns?

We were seated in a circular area in one of the corners. This was the view from our window - that is Barnes and Noble bookwhore, I mean bookstore. When we walked into the seating area, there was a huge circular table with a bunch of unruly kids. One of them was screaming and throwing a tantrum. TC looked at me and made her hand in the shape of a claw, which is our "secret" sign of spotting bratty kids. We snickered and rolled our eyes to to ourselves as we sat down. Great, this was going to be a really relaxing lunch, what with the children of the corn next to us.

Here's more of that lovely decor (not):

Their special menu...we ordered the first item listed, the Cashew Chicken Salad:

Bert had a Caramel Coffee and TC had a hot Chocolate. Like their desserts, the Cheesecake Factory deems it "necessary" to drown their shit with whipped cream. I think it's overkill.

They gave us bread to start:

Bert ordered a bowl of clam chowder which he intended to share with TC. This did not even resemble clam chowder. It had a brownish tinge to it. There were too many flecks of herbs in it.

And of course, it was too salty. This was the first clam chowder I've ever seen that looked this way. Maybe it was a variation or something, but it was not even pale. It looked almost like a mushroom soup with the coloring. I think the cook should be slapped like a bitch by Samuel L. Jackson and made to listen to Kenny G, Yanni, or Celine Dion for his/her egregrious abuse of thyme in the soup.

I ordered the Chicken Sandwich sliders. There were four mini buns with breaded chicken, plus sides of sliced tomatoes, pickles and lettuce. The sauces were mayo and a spicier mayo. I only ate two. TC and I could have shared this...

Closeup of the chicken parts slider:

Here is the Cashew Chicken Salad - this was just another version of a Chinese Chicken Salad. I just ate the greens - a mixture of iceberg and romaine andyour bagged cabbage mix (red and green with slivered carrots). The dressing was citrusy. Those fried things are tortilla strips. The chicken tasted flat and dead, so I didn't eat any. This was a pretty big portion by the way. I think we ordered too much food. We ended up taking most of it home.

Here are TC's cheeseburger sliders. I can't believe this is an "appetizer". I thought the sliders would be a little smaller. They were pretty large. She only ate one and I had one. We took the rest home.

These sliders weren't so bad, but I still think the Shake Shack in NYC turns these MF's out. Keep keep it on and you don't stop...

Bert had the Crab Cake sandwich with fries and tartar Sauce (I always picture Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons evilly murmuring, "Let the fools have their Tar Tar sauce...". I had a bite of this and it was pretty tasty, but again, too salty. Hypertension alert.Well, at least we used a gift card for part of this meal...Eating here just reminds me of how bland and soul less these chain restaurants are. I prefer to eat at smaller places where you can see and taste the care they put into their food. This is just food cranked out to the masses. I'll have to make up for this travesty by going to Asia Cafe!