Chef Cece de Castro's Mini Cooking Demo at Island Pacific Supermarket

The other week, I received a call from FilAm Chef Cecilia de Castro. "I will be doing a mini cooking demonstration at Island Pacific Supermarket on Saturday," she said. "Would you like to join me?" she inquired. Of course I did in a heartbeat. The last time we talked in person was on December 13, 2008, when the Pampanga Day Commission bestowed her with an "Outstanding Kapampangan" award at the San Gabriel Hilton. On that evening we talked about projects that we could collaborate on. She as a trail-blazing FilAm chef, and I as amateur cook. One of the things that we had agreed on prior to December 13 was to make myself available for a cooking demonstration at her culinary school in Northridge. When I told her that I have a food and cooking blog (cuisinerolosangeles.blogspot.com) it started the ball rolling.

Saturday's mini cooking demo was held at the activity center of the Island Pacific Supermarket in Panorama City, the same venue where "Ploning", the movie was screened free to the public in December. When I got there, a large pot of beef sinigang was stewing, and Chef Cecilia, assisted by a gaggle of culinary students who are attending her culinary school in Northridge, California, was extolling the benefits of an array of sauces and mixes made by the popular Mama Sita brand. The audience was made up of homemakers -- men and women -- a Disneyland pastry chef who is a friend of Chef Cece's, and some female students from Chef Cece's culinary school. (Chef Cece's next big cooking gig will be in February when she will assist celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck cook at the after-Oscar Awards "Governor's Ball" in Hollywood).

The cooking demo, according to Chef Cece, was organized in about two weeks by her and "Kababayan L.A." host/producer Jannelle So. It was videotaped by Joey Gonzalez of DEMO (Diversified Entertainment and Media Organization) for future airing at KCSI Channel 18. It was a one-and-a-half hour cooking demonstration in which some of Mama Sita's mixes and sauces were featured, including the tamarind "sinigang" mix, the Pang Gisa mix, and the oyster sauce. Other pre-packaged processed foods like tocino were also used, for instance, in a green salad, prepared by Chef Cece. When my turn came, I prepared a simple, easy-to-cook veggie stir-fry consisting of American broccoli, green pea-pods (sitsaro) and mushrooms. I used the Mama Sita Pang Gisa mix, tossing the contents of a small envelope and adding 1/2 cup of water. No mixing, no slicing of onions and smashing garlic. No sweat.

The audience participated, often asking questions on how the entrees achieved this and that consistency, color and taste. Chef Cece and myself quizzed the audience with simple questions pertaining to the entrees the demo participants had prepared, and prizes -- Mama Sita products -- were given away to everyone with correct answers.

Cooking from scratch, using the freshest and homegrown ingredients, is the best way to go. But, let's face it, there are fresh ingredients like tamarind and kamias that are not readily available in the States, unless you are fortunate enough to have a tamarind or a kamias tree in your backyard. This is where companies, like Mama Sita, Pamana, Tropical, Pampanga Brand, UFC, McCormick and many others, come in. They process these ingredients into ready-to-use mixes and sauces freeing us cooks and homemakers from the task of finding and processing these indigenous produce so that we could cook an authentic sinigang, caldereta or adobo. They are time-savers, and yet, they retain their authentic essence and flavor. The tamarind sinigang mix is really piquant, the adobo mix is savory, and the lechon sauce is just right.

Fine Dining is Alive in Cerritos' Issan Thai Restaurant

Thai cuisine, which is so popular in Southern California, has assumed a level of familiarity here that rivals that of Chinese cuisine. As a consequence, a few of the so-called "original" Thai restaurants in the Los Angeles area have lost some authenticity and novelty. I used to believe that Thai cuisine was engendered by a number of cookie-cutter Thai establishments that served pad thai, chicken barbecue and thom yum koong. These restaurants are a dime-a-dozen here in Southern California, and despite the establishment of more non-franchised Thai eateries, these California icons have dominated the dining scene for so long as to dictate the Angelenos' culinary preference.

In summer 2008, I was proven wrong when I was assigned to write a review of a newly-opened restaurant in the city of Cerritos. That restaurant is Issan Thai. After my first lunch there, I realized that fine Thai dining is alive and well and can be had in some restaurants in Southern California. Thai Issan's owner, a likable dyed-in-the-wool Southern Californian named Thomas Mulvihill, gave me a history lesson on the origin of his restaurant's name. Issan is Thailand's northeast region-- Mulvihill tells me -- where the culinary style is slanted toward spicy and hot. But his most welcome revelation was that Issan-style cuisine was his restaurant's specialty. The cooks, a Thai couple, are his mother- and father-in-law, Linda and Tony -- their Americanized names -- both fine, accomplished cooks in the Thai tradition.

Linda, who had lived in Issan, is a stickler for that region's cooking practices, and Tony, who grew up in Bangkok, is more laid-back. He cooks the straight-up Thai dishes. Of the two, Linda is the outspoken and gregarious type. She tells us she is very proud of Issan Thai because of its adherence to the culinary legacy of Thailand's northeast region. "You go to Phuket (a northern Thailand resort city), and some of the cooks in the restaurants are not even Thais," she rails. What she is trying to say is that authenticity is her claim to Thai culinary nirvana.

We ordered the shrimp rolls to whet our appetite (in photo), and it caught my attention because of the way the shrimp were wrapped, like seashells. We followed that up with the piquant thom yum koong soup, as a foil against the winter chill, then for a main entree, the garlic chicken, and a fried rice. The garlic chicken came nestled on a bed of shredded Napa cabbage. The fried rice had a hint of curry, but the amount was not overpowering as to dull the taste buds. Probably a concession to us East Asians who are not used to too much heat in our food.

Issan had recently raised its prices by about a dollar each for all their main entrees since they opened in Cerritos in 2008. But their portions are proportionately abundant, and I feel that avid Thai foodies like ourselves should pay a fair price for high quality and authenticity; these attributes are evident in their offerings and in the restaurant's ambiance.

If there such a thing as fine Thai dining in the Los Angeles basin, it can be found in a few restaurants like Issan Thai. It is located at a strip mall called Fountain Plaza on South Street, a half-mile east of the 605 Freeway. Don't expect to find a fountain -- a lawn sprinkler is more like it. But there is ample free parking, and the establishment is open every day except Tuesdays.

Linda and Tony have lived in California for many years and had cooked Thai foods almost all their lives, and a few years ago, in their original Thai establishment in nearby city of Norwalk. That restaurant had built a strong and devoted following among Latinos, Anglos, Asians, including a lot of Pinoys, before Tom decided to move a few miles west to Cerritos, right in the midst of restaurant row on South Street. Tom told me that some of these former customers had followed them to Cerritos. He even had some discerning words about the Pinoy's proclivity for Thai cooking. He said that the Filipinos' taste for food is more adventurous and he theorized he was not surprised that Pinoys loved Thai cuisine.

Having been piqued by Tom's choice of Issan as a restaurant namesake, I did a little research and I discovered in "Thailand, The Beautiful Cookbook," written by Panurat Poladitmontri and Judy Lew, and photographed by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni and John Hay that, indeed, Issan (called Essan in the book) had figured prominently in Thailand's history, and not just in it its culinary legacy. "Indeed, more and more frequently, one hears connoisseurs of Thai cuisine proclaiming that northeastern fare is the best in all that country," the authors declared. "Typical Essan dishes can now be found on the menus of the smartest Thai restaurants in Bangkok, and many of those humble side-street food shops are crowded with well-dressed diners as well as taxi drivers," the food writers noted in the book.

As in neighboring Laos, where Linda was born, and in northern Thailand, the food writers noted that glutinous rice is the staple, eaten either as a base for other dishes or as a sweet when steamed in a hollow piece of bamboo with coconut milk and black beans. Typical Laotian herbs such as dill or cilantro (coriander) also turn up as seasonings. "Perhaps in a sort of culinary reaction to their difficult lives, or perhaps merely because some of the traditional ingredients needed strong seasoning to make them more palatable, Northeasterners like their food not just spicy but very hot, and chili peppers are used with greater abandon than almost anywhere else," the authors noted.

My Take on Holiday Ham and Morcon (Beef Rolls)

On Christmas eve morning I began a grueling task of cooking three Filipino favorites: my special pineapple-flavored ham, rellenong bangus (stuffed milkfish) and morcon (beef rolls). I am going to document here how to prepare the ham and the morcon, having already written about how to prepare rellenong bangus in November. I cooked two of the stuffed milkfish as fulfillment of a promise that I had made to a friend that I would give him a relleno for Christmas, and made two, one for our Christmas eve dinner. Also, it made sense to prepare two because I couldn't guaranty that it would be perfect. And as it turned out yesterday, one of my rellenos sustained a break during frying and some of the stuffing spilled out. The second one, thank goodness, turned out perfect, and that's the one that I gave to my friend.

I have not cooked morcon in a long time, and I would consider it a big cop-out if I didn't cook one for this Christmas eve. On Saturday, we bought a pack of Kirkland brand beef flank steaks at COSTCO for about $6.75 a pound. The pack weighed approximately 2.72 pounds. For the ham, we bought a Farmer John's cooked ham (on sale at Ralphs for $1.79 a pound). It weighed, with the bone in, at about 6 pounds, plenty big for my family. So, it was a given that we would share some of the ham with friends.

So I will cut to the chase and describe how to make the ham first.

Ingredients

1 cooked ham (6 to 8 pounds)
1 large can of Dole or Del Monte pineapple juice
1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (approx.) of whole cloves

Procedure

Prepare the ham by slicing off some of the skin around the base of the ham. Keep some of the fat on. Score the ham by slicing about 1/2 inch deep and making a checkerboard pattern throughout.

Place the cleaned ham in a large stockpot and pour the pineapple juice, and try to make sure that it covers the ham. Boil for 30 minutes. Do not overboil because the hams are already cooked. I make sure that the ham absorbs the pineapple by using a large cooking syringe and injecting pineapple juice into the ham after the boiling process.

Take the ham out of the pot into a large platter or dish, and begin inserting whole cloves in the crevices created when you made the shallow slices on the ham. Insert as many of the cloves as you can because it will impart its flavor on the ham.

Meanwhile, begin making the syrup by mixing 2 cups of the used pineapple juice and 1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until it reaches a honey-like consistency.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham in a deep pyrex or metal baking dish, pour a cup or two of pineapple juice, to prevent the ham from drying while baking. Allow 10 minutes baking per pound of ham.

During the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking, take it out from the oven and brush syrup all over it, then complete the baking process. You may want to cover the ham with a large sheet of aluminum foil to prevent it from getting burned. Take the baked ham out of the oven and place it on a large platter. It should be ready to slice as soon as possible. Use the rest of the syrup to add more of the pineapple flavor, when you serve the ham.

Morcon (beef rolls)

Ingredients

2 to 3 pounds of beef flank steaks
1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice
1/3 cup of soy sauce
a dash of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 medium size carrots, cut into thin strips
3 large pieces of sweet pickles, cut into thin strips
3 pieces of lean bacon, cut into thin strips
2 large hotdogs or wieners, cut into thin strips
1 large onion, quartered
1 large ripe tomato, quartered
1 medium size bay leaf
3 cups of water
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered

Procedure

Marinate the flank steaks in soy sauce, lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper and garlic for about 30 minutes (1 hour, if left in the fridge). On a large chopping block or a large dish, begin making the rolls by arranging strips of carrots, pickles, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and hotdogs on the flank steak then rolling it around the ingredients. The result would be akin to a large beef sausage. With a ball of cotton string, secure the rolls by tying it all around with the string (as shown in the photos).

Brown the rolls in hot cooking oil, turning them around until all sides are browned. After browning, set the rolls aside. Pour the three cups of water in the pan where the rolls were browned, drop the onion and the tomato. Bring to a boil; add the rolls, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Then put everything -- rolls, onion and tomato, bay leaf and stock -- in a large baking dish (as shown in photo), cover the dish with a sheet of aluminum foil and begin braising the rolls in the oven preheated to 350 degrees. The rolls will be completely cooked in 1 and 1/2 hours. Take out all the strings.

Serve by slicing into 1/8th-inch thick slices (as shown in photo). Serve with the stock that remained after braising.

Preparation and cooking time for ham: approx. two hours, and for the morcon, about two-and-a-half hours.

Which is Better, a Fresh-Cut, a Living, or an Artificial Christmas Tree?

There is an on-going debate between Americans who buy fresh-cut Christmas trees, those who nurture living trees (like moi), and those who prefer artificial trees. I am in the middle of this debate because I have a live tree that I have decorated recently. It is sitting on top of my computer desk festooned with a Santa's head on top and small-size ornaments all over. I used to belong to the first group, buying fresh-cut trees from the Christmas tree lot two weeks before the big day. But because of the progressively worsening economic condition, we stopped buying Douglas and Noble firs and other good-smelling trees when their prices hit the high thirties.

After we stopped buying fresh-cut trees, we purchased an artificial tree that had a real pine tree trunk and pine cones and artificial pine needles. I guess this tree would qualify as a hybrid. It is not a fresh-cut tree; but it is not a true artificial tree either. In the looks department, it could pass for a real pine tree -- from a distance; and in the scents department, it scores a big 0. The store in Van Nuys, California, where I bought this hybrid Christmas tree from, had suggested buying one of their cans of pine scent sprays. I thought acceding to that suggestion would be pushing the envelope way too far. So I said "no, thank you" to the sales associate.

According to an article published by TIME Magazine a couple of weeks ago, a sustainability firm, PE Americas, had found that owning an artificial tree -- like 50 million other American households -- resulted in lower carbon emissions in a decade, compared to buying a real tree for 10 years in a row because of the gasoline used to transport a cut tree from farm to the living room. The trade-off, however, is that the study was sponsored by the American Christmas Tree Association and focused on carbon emissions. That study seems to work in favor of the makers of artificial trees. But this is not altogether true because most artificial trees are made in China and shipped to all corners of the globe, and that involves usage of fossil fuel also.

Asserts Rick Dungey, NCTA communications director: "Even if you use a fake tree for 10 years, when you throw it away, it's not biodegradable. It's always better to use a natural product over an artificial one."

Adding fuel to the debate is the material used in making artificial trees: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a type of plastic that's hard to recycle and poses a threat to children's health, according to Mike Schade, the PVC campaign coordinator for the activist group Center for Health, Environment and Justice. He claims that older plastic trees tend to contain higher levels of lead, a deadly neurotoxin.

At the other end of the debate, the greens are recommending buying a live tree with the root ball intact, keeping it alive through the Christmas season, and then finding a place to replant it. The last requirement goes against my ilk because, as an apartment dweller, I do not own the ground around my abode. Which explains why my living pine tree continues to thrive in a red plastic pot three years after we bought it from the Home Depot in Hollywood. What it is is a planter, taking in the sunlight outdoors eleven-and-a-half months of the year and serving its purpose as a decoration inside my apartment during the Christmas season.

According to the TIME article, there is a company in Portland, Oregon called Original Living Christmas Tree Co. that delivers potted trees for a rental. A few days after New Year's Day, its workers will pick up the living trees and deliver them to parks, schools and other institutions, whose owners are only too eager to fork over $10 for a tree to have them re-planted in their yards. Listen to John Fogel, founder of the company: "We're set to do over 400 trees this year. I want people to feel good about trees."

Even the Sierra Club has a take on the debate. "Kids are so out of touch with nature," offers Bob Schildgen, Sierra Club's environmental advice columnist. "Just having a living thing in the house can enhance environmental values in a way you can't measure in dollars and cents."

I feel good already. Happy Holidays to everyone who happen to stumble on this blogspot!

Why I Roast Chicken Instead of Turkey for Thanksgiving Day Dinner

The other week I wrote why I don't roast turkeys for Thanksgiving Day dinner anymore. So what I did I cook in lieu of turkey last Thursday? Well, I roasted the closest relative of the turkey, chicken. I made it a cut above by stuffing the plump supermarket-bought chicken with sweet rice, shiitake mushrooms and walnut chips. Weeks before Thanksgiving Day, we made a choice between ham and chicken, and chicken won out because the hams on sale were much too large for my family. So chicken it was.

A day after Thanksgiving, I went to my office and the topic of conversation among some of the staff members was what to do with leftover roasted turkey. A visitor, who happened to be a foodie, said that she converts leftover roasted turkey into paksiw na turkey, using the Mang Tomas lechon sauce to give it a tiny bit of connection with the original, and much loved, paksiw na lechon. I almost gloated because they were talking about what I had been avoiding for years: that of dealing with a lot of leftover roasted turkey after Thanksgiving. Well, I do not have to deal with that anymore because I swore off roasting turkey for TG dinner more than a decade ago.

Last Thursday, I cooked a cup of sweet rice first by soaking it in lukewarm tap water for about 30 minutes and boiling it in enough water until it is cooked, about 20 minutes. I then set that aside and I sauteed a teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 medium onion sliced thinly, 10 pieces of shiitake mushrooms (pre-soaked in water) and sliced into little squares, and 1/2 cup of walnut chips.

Then I added the cooked sweet rice, added 1/2 cup of green peas, and 1 cup of chicken broth. I let it simmer for about ten minutes, which was enough time for the rice to absorb the liquid. I would have added a box of raisins, but stopped short to reduce the sugar content of the stuffing. But non-diabetics may add raisins if they so desire. Dust it with 1/3 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper to taste.

I took the plump 5-pound dressed chicken-- already completely thawed out-- from the fridge and removed the giblets from the cavity and put them in a small plastic bag for re-freezing. Then I thoroughly cleaned the cavity, making sure that no blood residues remained. I wiped the inside and outside of the bird with a paper towel and dusted it with kosher salt and ground black pepper.

Stuffing procedure

I took the cooked stuffing from the fridge and began stuffing the chicken with it, filling the entire cavity, leaving just enough room for the anticipated expansion of the rice stuffing, then I tied the ends of the drumsticks together with twine, and closed the cavity using some pointed toothpicks. The chicken is ready for roasting in a conventional oven.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and insert an oven thermometer in the thickest part of the breast, making sure that the thermometer's probe is not lodged in the breastbone. Roast for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until the thermometer shows an internal temperature of 150 to 160 degrees. To make the skin to acquire a golden color, I also brushed soft butter on the chicken a few minutes before it reached full doneness.

My TG chicken was perfectly roasted in 1 hour and fifty minutes, and the pictures show how good it looks. But serving it with a beef and asparagus soup with noodles and hard-boiled eggs, and a two-pound loaf of Italian panettone bread beats just looking at the photos. You may try it next Thanksgiving Day or any day, and not worry about what to do with leftovers because there wouldn't be any.

Filipino Cuisine Finally Gets Featured in Saveur, a Mainstream Culinary Magazine in the United States

Two days ago I received an urgent e-mail from an ardent foodie somewhere in North America. My unofficial correspondent noted that Filipino cuisine is featured in Saveur Magazine, a mainstream culinary magazine published monthly in the United States. It piqued my curiosity, and so I joined the holiday crowds snatching bargains during the annual Black Friday shopping spree, and bought a copy of the December issue of Saveur from Barnes & Noble in Burbank, California.

This is a major development, not only for foodies like me, but also for the entire Filipino ex-pat community in the United States. This seminal event deserves the support of food-loving Filipinos living in North America. We can make it better by buying a copy of the December issue of Saveur to make an impression on the magazine's publishers. If even just a quarter of the estimated 3 to 4 millions Filipinos living in North America bought a copy of the December issue of Saveur, it would make a huge impression on its publishers and show how large a consuming public we really are. Hopefully, with that show of support, we could enlighten the path of other mainstream publications in North America to pay attention to our unique culinary traditions, as well as other attractive aspects of our beautiful country. Tourism is the first thing that comes to mind. And while we are on the subject, why don't I suggest culinary tourism?

Surfing through the food and cooking blogspots emanating from the Philippines, I have discovered to my delight that it has made quantum leaps in its culinary evolution. Following a North American fascination with the new celebrity darlings -- chefs, cooks, and cooking advocates -- the Philippines is making huge strides in showcasing what can be considered one of its national pastimes: foods and holiday feasts. This renewed focus on foods and cooking has not escaped the attention of foods and cooking icons, from Andrew Zimmern, who brought his Travel Channel show, "Bizarre Foods", to the Philippines last year and merrily sampled the country's uncommon delicacies -- from baluts in Pateros, Rizal, to raw coconut tree worms in Palawan. And there's more. This coming January or early February, chef Tony Bourdain, an irreverent and funny foods and lifestyle commentator cum traveler, who enjoys a widespread following in the country, will unveil a full "Without Reservations" show on Filipino cuisine -- from chef Claude Tayag's home-restaurant destination in Pampanga, the country's culinary epicenter, to Talisay's (in Cebu province) famous pig lechon. These developments are creating a buzz among foodies everywhere, and they augur well for the country. The Philippines is finally getting its just desserts.

The nine-page spread in Saveur is titled "DAYS OF FEASTING" and is chockful of color photographs taken by David Hagerman and written by Robyn Eckhardt. The feature focuses on the Christmas holiday culinary traditions in the province of Pampanga and the article also showcases four recipes on Ensaimada, Adobong Manok, Ulang sa Gata and Pinakbet. That's just a peek of the entire feature article, enough to tease your appetite and make you run to your closest newsstand or bookstore to buy a copy. We hope that you could do your patriotic bit and get yourself a copy of the December issue of Saveur. My gosh, at five bucks, that's cheaper than some of McDonald's burger lunch combos.

Salakot Sizzle and Grill Restaurant Covers The Los Angeles Fine Dining Scene

An American lawyer who was married to a Filipino woman once told me that Filipinos in California do not habitually go to Filipino restaurants for sit-down dinners. He probably knew what he was talking about because at the time he made that observation he and and his wife were the owners of a Filipino restaurant in the Filipino-rich city of West Covina. Their restaurant had been taken over long ago by another owner, and the American lawyer had died.

One of the riskiest businesses in the food industry is the restaurant segment. Majority of restaurants opened do not make the grade and end up closing or saved from extinction by other restaurant operators or first-time restaurateurs. Despite this grim statistics, restaurants keep sprouting up in the Los Angeles basin like the proverbial mushrooms.

Around twenty years or so ago, Bayanihan Restaurant and Greenhills Restaurant -- separated by a distance of less than one-half mile on Beverly Blvd. in L.A. -- lorded it over the restaurant scene in that part of town. Bayanihan was the first to close in the mid-90s, and Greenhills, although still open, is no longer owned by the original founder. In the mid-80s, when Greenhills opened, it attracted lunchtime crowds from as far away as the mid-Wilshire district, some three miles away. Presently, there are four Filipino restaurants of note doing business in the Historic Filipinotown section of L.A. Bayanihan on Beverly Blvd., close to LaFayette Park, Kapistahan, and Bahay Kubo Natin on Temple Street, and the latest addition, Salakot Sizzle and Grill on Beverly Blvd.

A good number of Filipino restaurants have been successful for many years for various reasons. Some of these restaurants served topnotch Filipino foods, but eventually lost patronage due to their ambiance. Others achieved good reputations for the kind of entertainment fare that they offer, but came short in the culinary department. Others lost their viability due to a failure to maintain the quality of their food offerings. Still others closed or were sold for reasons that were never made clear to the community, like a very popular Filipino restaurant in Glendale that was shuttered about two years ago and had re-opened in adjacent Eagle Rock under new owners.

Salakot is located right smack in the center of Historic Filipinotown. Owner Ramoncito Ocampo, a lawyer and Christian church minister, says Salakot was established to address the lack of Filipino fine-dining restaurants in Los Angeles where diners could come and enjoy Filipino cuisine even when they are dressed to the nines. The brand-new restaurant is ensconced in a purpose-built two-storey building located on Beverly Blvd., a block southwest of Alvarado Street. If you are an Angeleno worth your salt, you'd easily find that location.

On Wednesday, November 26, I got to visit the new eatery during a press conference called by a large community organization, and I sampled some of its traditional Filipino fare, including, bulalo (boiled beef shank and bones with marrow and bok choy, cabbage and potatoes), $10.50; pancit miki/bihon, $8.75; and a seafood platter that consisted of steamed shrimps and mussels, grilled giant squid, and steamed pompano with tomato and onion stuffing, with boiled eggplant and okra sides and bagoong and onion with vinegar sauces; and pork (or chicken barbecue). The Salakot Seafood Platter is good for four to five persons and costs $31.95. A pretty good deal.

The selection of entrees is varied and reasonably priced. The lunch express selection consists of barbecue items served with soup, cucumber, garlic fried rice and vegetable/chicken roll, at prices from $5.95 up to $8.95 for beef short ribs, chicken and pork barbecue on stick.

The ambiance is bright and airy, with a mezzanine level that's designated for private banquets of 50 to 60 persons. In the back is a spacious free parking space good for about 20 or more cars. Salakot's address is 2122 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057. Tel: (213) 483-0303 and fax: (213) 483-0361. Business hours are Monday to Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.