Ruby's Fast Food

I am surprised there is no posting (at least I couldn’t find one) for this place. I went to Ruby's last week for lunch and it was busy with Filipino locals eating and watching Filipino TV shows while they ate. What Ruby’s doesn’t have for atmosphere it makes up for good fresh Filipino food at ridiculasly affordable price point. The daily item lunch specials for $4.75 include 2 main items and rice. I tried the tapsilog with garlic rice and a runny egg on it and it was delicious. Filipino comfort food at a low price point is a good way to describe Ruby’s.

Has anyone else had the pleasure of trying the weekend buffet?

Ruby's Fast Food
3740 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Irving Park

(773) 539-2669
http://www.rubysfastfood.com/

YELP LINK

The buffet is great, it's such a deal. It can get quite crowded there on Sundays around lunchtime, and if you go after 2PM they are sometimes out of the more popular offerings that day. I usually try to shoot for 1PM. Another good place if you can catch it in the mornings is Unle Mike's Place. There is also a new place I haven't tried yet for Filipino food, Merlas Kitchen, has anyone else tried it?

Merlas Kitchen
5207 North Kimball Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 539-2090

Uncle Mike's Place
1700 W Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 226-5318



Ruby's has been mentioned a few times before:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8712
and http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30
and http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=28631&p=328085#p328085

Fyi - today is the 14 th anniversary of Ruby's being open, so the buffet today is free for all customers. 11am to 5pm today.

Just wanted to drop a note about Ruby's as it hasn't been mentioned for awhile. I'm not a big fan of buffets, and this one stands out.

Rich and I have stopped in for the weekend buffet a few times and have found it to be satisfying and a great value. The selections vary from week-to-week, and at 11:30am, the food is very fresh -- veggies still had crunch and the fried items were hot and crispy.

I've only had Filipino food a handful times and couldn't tell you the names of most of the dishes, so I'm by no means an expert. For example, I'd never had a jackfruit and shrimp paste stew before last weekend, nor two kinds of shredded, fried patties that at a glance looked like latkes (one was meat, one shrimp, I believe). While we haven't loved everything, it's been fun to experiment -- and the family that runs Ruby's is always happy to answer questions about the food. They're clearly proud of it. And judging from the crowds and the brisk takeout business, they have a lot of fans.

Ronna

Crispy pata

kuhdo wrote:Crispy pata

Yes, that's good, too.

]Polster:
Thanks for bringing this up! Been to the buffet twice recently.what a deal! Man that pork belly is good (and don't forget the Mang Tomas all purpose sauce) . If this place isn't a real gnr don't know what is. Remember the crispy para takes a while so call ahead. Ask for garlic rice to go along too.

Quick question,

I'm looking to go with a couple of co-workers to either Ruby's or Isla Pilipina for crispy pata, which place makes it better? Is it larger at one of the places? Thanks.

DrkDragon wrote:There is also a new place I haven't tried yet for Filipino food, Merlas Kitchen, has anyone else tried it?

Merlas Kitchen
5207 North Kimball Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 539-2090

hit here for a quick snack Saturday, best dishes were the Mami/Siopao, and the lumpia. Chicken adobo, empenada & panci bihon were just ok.

Mami/Siopao:



ginger heavy broth with noodles and many hardboiled eggs, Siopao was perfectly prepared and tender, filled with a nice filling of beef, potato, etc. :



lumpia were good, better with thai chili sauce vs the sauce it came with:



decent spot:

http://www.merlaskitchen.net

I've been to Ruby's before, but never for the weekend buffet. I like Ruby's for its friendly, comfortable atmosphere and home-style cooking. The room is small and cozy, with tables along both walls and the steam table at the far end.





During the week you can order off the menu or simply point-point to what you want.



The weekend buffet is mostly serve yourself, but there are a few items you have to ask for because of lack of space.



I like their simple sinigang, chock full of veggies. Important, because the buffet is awfully meat intensive.



Plate 1: spaghetti, embutido, banana lumpia, dinuguan, lechon.



I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed the super-soft spaghetti, with its sweet banana ketchup sauce enriched with ground-up hot dogs.

Next round I tried some sort of pancit and caldereta (nothing was labeled so I'm not sure about names; any corrections are appreciated). Couldn't pass up seconds on the embutido and lumpia as well.



A very enjoyable meal. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Ruby's Fast Food
3740 W Montrose Av
Chicago
773-539-2669
https://www.facebook.com/Rubys-Fast-Foo ... 091083466/

Ruby's is my favorite Filipino restaurant in the city! Nicky, Ruby's son, would walk you through each dish if you're not familiar with the food. There's always long line during lunch hours, and I hate them for it. But I still keep coming back.

They usually have a long line on the weekend, but if you come for the buffet and see empty tables, you can skip the line and just start grabbing the food. The line is for take out/non-buffet only on the weekend. In the summer it's hard even to find empty table though. After you finish, you go and pay at the counter (and may have to wait in that long line).

The sinigang soup here clearly has a stronger and brighter taste than the couple other places I've tried. They rotate the meat in the sinigang too: I've seen it with chicken, pork, or fish. When they use milkfish though, I would usually ask for the soup and veggies only (too hard to eat for me because of the small bones).

I could go on and on about their food since I used to come here once a week. Not only the food is flavorful, it's also very affordable (a.k.a. dirt-cheap). An order of 2-ulam+rice ($5.75) lasts me 2 meals (and I only finished half of the rice given). The neighborhood is kind of sketchy though, and that might be why food is so cheap.

My long-time curiosity finally satisfied! I used to live within a short hop from there and drove by many times to have my curiosity piqued, but never got there somehow. The idea of banana lumpia has me deeply intrigued. Is it savory or sweet? Thanks for the report, Rene G!

Great write up and pictures ReneG! I need to give Ruby's a try, and soon. I have been immersed in Filipino culture for the past 18 months, and I'm now 20# heavier to show for it!

You asked for corrections, but knowing how much food and restaurant history I've read from you over the years, I'd rather say that I am offering a few "data points", only in case someone sees names on a menu somewhere and it helps them.

Just as you mentioned "some sort of pancit" (there are quite a few kinds, and that menu picture lists 4) I wanted to just add a word about lumpia. Lumpia too has many "kinds" and many different recipes that make up each kind. The lumpia Jim posted above (and he knows this of course as he has mentioned his wife's cooking many times) is known primarily as lumpia shanghai. I don't know the filling from the picture, as there are many kinds, but it appears to be shanghai.

The "banana lumpia" will normally be listed as "Turon" on a menu, or lumpiyang saging. This is commonly served as more of a "dessert" lumpia. Josephine, as far as sweet versus savory, I don't view these as overly sweet (although there is sometimes a thin caramel sauce I have had with them). Picture the banana component to be more of the plantain side of the banana family, which I don't personally find to be sweet at all.

I only saw lumpia shanghai on the menu posted, and not turon or any derivation of lumpia saging, but my eyes are not what they use to be.

Thanks again for the write up!

Additional data point here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turon_(food)