Filipino food is evolving and is moving in new direction while still trying to hold on to its traditional roots. I believe this is where Plaza Rizal fits right in. Plaza Rizal is a new restaurant in Daly City, California that is serving up innovative Filipino dishes. While you can get your daily staple of silogs*, pancit, and lumpia, Plaza Rizal offers other dishes outside the box of typical Filipino restaurants.
I had the opportunity to taste a couple of these innovative dishes and one of my all-time favorite Filipino dishes is Crispy Pata. However, Plaza Rizal takes Crispy Pata to another level. Instead of serving Crispy Pata on a plate, they take the meat off the bone for you (added bonus) and then coat it in a creamy bagoong** sauce and then top it off with some mango, onions, and tomatoes. And Binagoongan Crispy Pata is now created. This is my new favorite. So what’s so special and innovative about it?
The first thing is that Crispy Pata is great by itself. Then, what most other restaurants will do is give you a “Garlic” Crispy Pata which is Crispy Pata covered in fried garlic. Now Plaza Rizal takes it to a whole new level by covering it with some of the foundations of Filipino cooking.
New to Filipino food? Don’t worry. I have a couple of friends who are in the same boat who want to try it out but aren’t sure of what to get. Like in all other cuisines, it really depends on your palate. To play on the safe side, I would start off with pancit, grilled items, and lumpia and then gradually move on to other things like menudo and adobo.
Here’s the recipe from a Canadian friend of mine.
Crispy Pata Recipe Ingredients
- 1 whole front pork shank
- 1/4 cup of mama sita’s premium vinegar
- 6 cups of water
- 1 tbsp of black peppercorn
- 6 tbsp of rock salt
- 3 tbsp of crushed garlic
- 2 bay leafs
- 4 cups of oil for deep-frying
Crispy Pata Dipping Sauce Recipe Ingredients
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 onion – diced
- 2 pcs of chili peppers
- 1/4 cup of mama sita’s premium vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Crispy Pata Recipe Cooking Instructions
- In a large casserole, combine water, rock salt, vinegar, garlic, bay leafs, black peppercorns
- Stir until salt to dissolve the salt.
- Add the pork shank
- Cover and bring to a boil
- Simmer for 1.5 hours until the pork is tender
- Drain in a colander
- Set aside in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight to dry
- Heat the oil
- Deep-fry pork until golden brown and crispy
- Drain excess oil
- Combine all sauce ingredients
- Serve with the sauce.
Enjoy!
*Silogs are dishes served with meat, fried eggs, and garlic rice.
**Bagoong is a sauce made from fermented fish and/or shrimp.
Plaza Rizal
950 King Drive #104
Daly City, California 94015
plazarizal.com
