Chicago: Seafood City
The best kind of vacation is where you don't do anything but hang with friends and eat. After watching Ali Wong's second special on Netflix, it took some effort to haul ourselves off the couch and out the door.
For a late lunch, CK brought us to Seafood City:
A Filipino supermarket, Seafood City also includes an awesome food court:
With so many options to choose from, we didn't know where to start. We approached the furthest stall, Crispy Town, first. CK asked if we could sample some of the offerings. To my surprise, the nice young man behind the counter whipped out tiny plastic cups and started scooping out whatever we wanted to try:
Ultimately, we decided on pairing lechon with bagnet sisig ($8.99):
The lechon or roast pork was juicy and so, so tender while the skin was perfectly crispy. The bagnet sisig was this sour pork dish that was slightly spicy and delicious with rice.
As if that wasn't enough pork, from Grill City at the other end of the food court, we got a grilled pork skewer and dinugan combo ($8.50):
CK spotted calamansi juice and got a cup of that as well:
My sister had been telling me to try dinuguan forever. A dark pork offal stew, the dinuguan was vinegary and thick and necessary to have with rice. I couldn't really make out the pieces of offal though, which was a bit disappointing.
Slightly outside the food court area, there was a street food stand selling halo halo and other goodies. CK scooped up a balut ($2.50):
It was my first time, so I was excited. The baby chick we got was a tad further developed than any of us expected:
This photo unfortunately didn't capture its tiny head complete with tiny eyeballs. The balut juice was very subtle. Almost too subtle for me. I wish I could've had a bit of salt. Egg yolk might be my favorite thing in the world, but I wasn't in love with the yolk in the balut. Something about the texture was just a tad off.
For dessert, CK got two pieces of turon ($2.80 each):
Essentially a sweet lumpia, it was filled with banana and jackfruit:
By the time we got to dessert, the turon had cooled and the crispy exterior had unfortunately turned stale. With the starchy banana inside, each bite was a bit difficult to swallow. I needed to gulp down the calamansi juice as a chaser.
I've only been recently introduced to Filipino cuisine, but I am seriously hooked. I'm definitely a huge fan of Seafood City. There's actually one in San Jose, but alas, it doesn't have a food court like the one in Chicago.
Apparently there's one in Milpitas with a food court. Guess I should check it out, eh?
Seafood City
5033 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60630
(773) 295-1658
http://www.seafoodcity.com/
For a late lunch, CK brought us to Seafood City:
A Filipino supermarket, Seafood City also includes an awesome food court:
With so many options to choose from, we didn't know where to start. We approached the furthest stall, Crispy Town, first. CK asked if we could sample some of the offerings. To my surprise, the nice young man behind the counter whipped out tiny plastic cups and started scooping out whatever we wanted to try:
Ultimately, we decided on pairing lechon with bagnet sisig ($8.99):
The lechon or roast pork was juicy and so, so tender while the skin was perfectly crispy. The bagnet sisig was this sour pork dish that was slightly spicy and delicious with rice.
As if that wasn't enough pork, from Grill City at the other end of the food court, we got a grilled pork skewer and dinugan combo ($8.50):
CK spotted calamansi juice and got a cup of that as well:
My sister had been telling me to try dinuguan forever. A dark pork offal stew, the dinuguan was vinegary and thick and necessary to have with rice. I couldn't really make out the pieces of offal though, which was a bit disappointing.
Slightly outside the food court area, there was a street food stand selling halo halo and other goodies. CK scooped up a balut ($2.50):
It was my first time, so I was excited. The baby chick we got was a tad further developed than any of us expected:
This photo unfortunately didn't capture its tiny head complete with tiny eyeballs. The balut juice was very subtle. Almost too subtle for me. I wish I could've had a bit of salt. Egg yolk might be my favorite thing in the world, but I wasn't in love with the yolk in the balut. Something about the texture was just a tad off.
For dessert, CK got two pieces of turon ($2.80 each):
Essentially a sweet lumpia, it was filled with banana and jackfruit:
By the time we got to dessert, the turon had cooled and the crispy exterior had unfortunately turned stale. With the starchy banana inside, each bite was a bit difficult to swallow. I needed to gulp down the calamansi juice as a chaser.
I've only been recently introduced to Filipino cuisine, but I am seriously hooked. I'm definitely a huge fan of Seafood City. There's actually one in San Jose, but alas, it doesn't have a food court like the one in Chicago.
Apparently there's one in Milpitas with a food court. Guess I should check it out, eh?
Seafood City
5033 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60630
(773) 295-1658
http://www.seafoodcity.com/
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