Tocino: The Filipino 'Bacon' at Isla Pilipina in Chicago
Every writer suffers from at least a touch of melancholy. As a food writer, though, my touches of depression are not from anything as pedestrian as the existential weight of the world. Rather, at least once a week or so, I freak out that I’ve discovered all there is to discover in the world of serious eats.
This usually happens late at night, when I’ve been co-opted by fatigue and a frozen pizza. I start counting mediocre tacos and limp burgers I’ve had over the year, just to find the handful of truly transcendent goodies here in Chicago. Somehow, I can ignore that there are more restaurants in Chicago—not even counting satellites like bakeries, food trucks, and artisanal groceries—than I can ever hope to visit in a lifetime. But, the burden still comes, as if someone told me pork disappeared from the planet entirely.
Inevitably, there’s always a new dish, a new bite that rouses me from my F. Scott Fitzgeraldean funk. This week’s cure comes courtesy of Isla Pilipina in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. As the name suggests, the restaurant is a celebration of culinary thrills from Manila—and the biggest of all is a Filipino-style fried, cured pork called tocino.
Basically, tocino is Filipino bacon, often seasoned in a variety of ways, such as with anise, water, salt, sugar, and pineapple juice, or cured with salt. It’s then fried or sauteed and served with a sweet, glistening orange glaze in a neon Vegas marquee hue.
The general rule for bacon—bacon is never bad—applies here. When I popped my first nugget into my mouth at Isla Pilipina, my wife and I both stared at each other wide-eyed and whooshed out simultaneous, totally primordial mmhh-like grunts.
Here, the tocino tastes like its glazed in foie gras (one of my other favorite foods). It’s uncanny, but there’s a slightly gamy, smoky, caramelized richness along the lines of the best seared duck liver lobe.
I asked our Isla Pilipina waitress if they poured foie gras fat over the pork, and she looked at me like I was Whitney Houston on a bender. I prodded further, but she assured me there was no foie, just a traditional cure she would not reveal. I haven’t returned yet to verify if this was a lucky fluke, but if it is, I’m heading straight to the nearest specialty market to pick up some foie and bacon, in an attempt to replicate the tocino feat.
Isla Pilipino
2501 West Lawrence, Chicago IL 60625 (map); 773-271-2988
About the author: Michael Nagrant writes for Serious Eats from Chicago, where he also publishes Hungry magazine. Michael never met an organ meat he didn't like. He hopes to meet many more.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
13 Comments:
foie gras fat? come on! no self-respecting filipino mother would dare serve something that unhealthy to her children. . .
hope you got to enjoy the tocino with garlic fried rice, fried eggs and atsara -- that's the filipino breakfast of champions!
lifesagasp at 5:12PM on 08/21/08
FYI -- "tocino" is actually just Spanish for "bacon"...which isn't surprising considering the Spanish colonial influence on Filipino language & culture.
courtguerra at 5:40PM on 08/21/08
I've never heard of tocino tasting like foie before, but maybe I just need to eat more tocino!
Marvin at 5:59PM on 08/21/08
Wouldn't mind a couple more photos with a little more detail.
DanielJ at 6:39PM on 08/21/08
Sweet. Filipino food represent.
Glad to see that this has made its way to SE. I've never really considered it as bacon though since I normally boil it when I seldom (and unfortunately) have it.
If you like tocino, then you have to try longanisa, which is like a chorizo.
Oh man, I'm hungry.
jourgy at 12:27PM on 08/22/08
Yep, as a Filipino I can tell you there is definitely no foie in that tocino. It's simply a lot of untrimmed pork fat doused in a pool of sugary marinade. Yum! Not sure how well-stocked the Asian markets are in Chicago, but you can find uncooked, pre-packaged ones in the freezer section. I don't know how they compare to the tocino you had at the restaurant but they are pretty tasty.
spros at 1:21PM on 08/22/08
Never had tocino with anise... Maybe you meant annatto? It gives tocino that reddish color.
apple pie patis pate at 3:12PM on 08/22/08
appp: perhaps star anise?
dmarina at 5:26PM on 08/22/08
Maybe they put the sauce on it that's made out of liver! The one they use for lechon. It uses liver pate. I've seen my mom make it out of that storebought can with the red devil on it.
Cookieeater at 8:04PM on 08/22/08
Yum, am missing the tocino with rice, tomato and vinegar...
Veron at 2:57PM on 08/25/08
tocino is never made with lechon sauce, cookie, there's no liver in it at all. pork tocino or beef tapa with garlic fried rice and eggs are the best breakfasts ever. about longanisa, i love the ones that come from alaminos.
io1984 at 2:08AM on 08/26/08
that's the ultimate breakfast food.... nope, as a filipino, i can assure you as well that there is no foie in the tocino... (half of the filipinos would not even know what that word means.)...
Jescel at 8:50AM on 10/02/08
omg im craving that now thx alot
SinCityPeaches at 9:04PM on 08/24/09