Tropical Breeze - Philipino in Mt Prospect

I was going to cook dinner for myself (everyone else is out), but an emergency got me out of the house, and on the way back, I decided to carry out from the latest attempt to bring ethnic food next to Photo's:

Tropical Breeze
1716 E Kensington Rd.
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056
847-298-8381

In the 11 years I've lived within a few blocks of here, it's been Chinese, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Thai and now Philipino, for about the last month.

I'm not familiar with the cuisine, but didn't want to order their Chinese dishes (fried rice, cantonese pan fried noodles, sweet and sour, chop suey, mongolian beef and the like), so I asked the waitress for a recommendation, telling her I like spicy, and prefer chicken and beef to pork.

She initially recommended Caldereta, but I was turned off by "liver spread" as one of the ingredients on the menu. So she recommended the "Afritada" which is described as "Chicken cooked in garlic, onion, tomato sauce and bell pepper." (It's also offered in pork).

She also strongly recommended the eggrolls, saying they have the very best. At $4.50 for the Eggroll/Lumpiang Shanghai, I'd hope they're good, and they are. It's a very generous serving: 10 tubes, about the width and half the length of a cigar, simply rolled (no folded ends) around a filling that varied in flavor from bite to bite: one had a bit of chile, one cilantro, etc. A sweet and sour sauce accompanied it.

The Afritada was delicious, and unlike anything I've had before. The initial appearance of the sauce made me think of my mother's pot roast: bits of slow-cooked onions dissolving into a reddish, oil-flecked sauce with carrots and potatoes. There's some notes of pot-roasty flavors, mainly because of the tomatoes and onions in the sauce, even though the rest of the dish appears stir-fried. And mom's pot roast never had the lift of ginger or the bite of chiles. A reasonable level of heat from an ethnic place that doesn't know the tastes of a big white dude.

There were only two tables with customers at 7PM, and one other carryout. Everybody seemed to speak Philipino (but shouldn't it have been Spanish? I couldn't recognize it) but me.

There's a lot of interesting sounding dishes on the menu, I'll have to try them again.

I'm filipino and maybe this may give you a peek at our culture.

http://www.asiarecipe.com/phiculture.html

We do not speak Spanish, but our main language Tagalog has some derivatives.

JoelF wrote:There's a lot of interesting sounding dishes on the menu, I'll have to try them again.

Joel,

You post reminds me I have been meaning to mention Sweet Table by Feliz now offers Filipino food, mainly take out, but there are few table available. I am not overly enthused about Sweet Table's pastry/bakery items, but the Filipino food looked, and smelled, wonderful.

I only had a chance to look around as I was stopping at NY Bagel and Bialy for 4-dz plain to bring to my grandmother in Milwaukee. I've mentioned this before, but the 4700 W block of Touhy is quite the little chow strip, with NY Bagel and Bialy, Frannie's Deli, Happy Kitchen, Korean take-out, with a few tables for eating, and Sweet Table.

Enjoy,
Gary

New York Bagels and Bialys
4714 W Touhy Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
847- 677-9388

Open 24/7 excellent bialys, good to very good bagel. Lox nova/belly and cream cheese. No corned beef or other deli items.
--

Fannies Deli
4718 W Touhy Ave
Lincolnwood IL 60646
847-676-4000

Not bad deli, lox nova/belly, corned beef, pastrami, sable etc.. Sandwiches and some prepared foods.
==

Happy Kitchen
4706 W Touhy
Lincolnwood, IL

Take out Korean with two tables for waiting or the occasional eat-in. Korean standards, freshly prepared and very inexpensive. Good spot to pick up a quick lunch.
==

Sweet Table by Feliz
Filipino food, mainly take out with a few tables for eating in. I am not all that keen on Sweet Table's bakery/pastry, which have upscale aspirations, but, to me, the products look better than they taste.

mby385 wrote:I'm filipino and maybe this may give you a peek at our culture.

http://www.asiarecipe.com/phiculture.html

Mby,

Very interesting site, especially to someone, read me, who has little knowledge of Filipino food or culture.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,
I haven't found "EXCELLENT" Filipino food in Chicago. A month or so ago my hubby and I tried our hand at Cebu in Downers Grove. My hubby loved it! It wasn't entirely 100% authentic filipino, but the crispy pata and the adobo were the best I've ever had. He squirms when he has to eat my filipino cooking or my mothers. He's chinese so he isn't used to the stews bases of filipino cooking. And also the fact that he was born in Brazil is weird... but interesting. His palate isn't much for filipino food, but we do explore other ethnic cuisines.

If you were to try Cebu, I would suggest buying a certificate from restaurant.com. They have a $25 gift certificate for $10, but you have to spend $40. This will buy you plenty of food! Check out their menu. It says euro-asian.. but I think its categorized incorrectly. Well have fun exploring. I'm soo glad I found restaurant.com and the rewardsnetwork(.com) coz its really opened our eyes to exploring other cultures. Right now I'm having a craving for cuban!!!

http://restaurant.com/microsite.asp?rid ... sp=1&qty=4