Uncle Mike’s Restaurant

By: Aeron Lancero

 

Good day to you all, and I wish you a great and enlightening Holy Week.

I am back with my column to showcase a great Fil.Am eats restaurant and a recipe to follow for the dish I am sure everyone knows, but more often than not buys the ready-made dish rather than making it from scratch. I assure you that you will be having no problem making this popular dish in a more healthy and mainstream setting.

First, the restaurant and why I love this place. In my first column, I said I would share restaurants that showcase our cuisine and do a great job in attracting other ethnic with diverse backgrounds.

Uncle Mike’s is a restaurant that specializes in “diner food” with emphasis to breakfast. They do breakfast fabs, such as, tapsilog, tocinolog, loganisalog, etc… They also do traditional American “diner food,” with french toast, pancakes, oatmeal, omelets, etc…The owner of “Uncle Mike’s” is not Filipino but his wife is, and they do a great job working together to deliver a menu that’s good for all. They serve lugaw, arroz caldo or goto as well, also they serve warm chocolate rice, aka “champorado.”

I went to school in the Philippines and every morning, as I remember, my Titas would cook breakfast of longanisa, tocino, daing na bangus with egg and garlic rice. Oh, how I loved garlic rice and crispy fried egg on top (sunny side up). Occasionally, I would either go out in the morning and eat at the nearest kanto (street corner) restaurant and have rice porridge, aka, “lugaw, arroz caldo or goto.”

I discovered “Uncle Mike’s” in 2013 although they have been around far longer than that, and when I discovered it; I became a regular every once a week. I would do my breakfast business meetings there, bring visiting family members, even go there after church from the suburbs. Any way I could to get there.

My favorite menu item is the combo platter where I can get a variety of longanisa, spam, and bangus, which comes with a lugaw or sometimes champorado. This brings me back to why breakfast was such a great meal for me. Being born in Guam, which is a U.S. territory, I ate bread, cereal, etc, sometimes I did not eat breakfast. In the Philippines where I attended school, breakfast was my favorite meal of the day, which “Uncle Mike’s” delivers here.

The great thing about Uncle Mike’s is that they attract non- Filipinos as well, mostly of beautiful diverse crowd. They serve bacon, sausage and eggs, any way you like them. Uncle Mike’s offers diverse menu, a counter to eat at. Also. “Uncle Mike” and his Filipino family through marriage, work the room, the counter, and the kitchen.

This is definitely a place that you and your friends will be comfortable with, and have a place to showcase our culture and cuisine to your non-Filipino friends. So come on in and get your breakfast at Uncle Mike’s, located at 1700 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL. You will remember the days of great breakfast from back home and have a place where you can showcase our cuisine, culture and be proud of it, right in the heart of Chicago.

 

At “Uncle Mike’s,” You will remember the days of great breakfast from back home and have a place where you can showcase our cuisine, culture and be proud of it, right in the heart of Chicago.

 

My Dish of the Month Chicken Longanisa Yum Cha Dim Sum Parlor 333 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL.

This dish is easy to make and is a very popular menu item at my place Yum Cha Dim Sum Parlor for all types of guests. Now mine is without the casing and bright red color. I don’t add nitrates or artificial coloring. The most important is that this is a dish that is not difficult to make at all. More often than not, it’s easier to buy at any Filipino grocert store or Asian market. Usually frozen and in casings, so you usually would boil first then pan sear. My recipe you would just pan sear and cook to well done. Please try it at home and you will be pleasantly surprised on how easy and healthy it is.

Ingredients

ground dark meat chicken – 10 lbs. (you can use white chicken meat if you want healthier meal, although just ½ white chicken and ½ dark chicken) – you still need the fat to make this juicy),

Chicken Base – 2 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce – 1cup
Brown sugar – 1lb
White vinegar – .75 cup
Black pepper – based on how you
like it
Pineapple – 1 slice
Scallions as a garnish

Mix chicken meat with chicken base, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and black pepper. Massage it well or if you have a dough mixer you can use that as well. Once all ingredients are incorporated well, place in a bowl, cover and let it sit in your fridge for 2 hours.

Once ready, portion your meat into 2.5 oz. balls and then take a round cover from your jars and flatten to a 1-inch width.

Then you cook by heating your sauté pan and drizzling a little olive oil, then cook on both sides till golden brown. When almost done, toss in your sliced pineapples that you cut up in small wedges and toss with your longanisa.

What you get is a nice, sweet and vinegary chicken patty that has the flavor profile as longanisa. Garnish with a little chives and you’re ready to eat.

I hope you enjoyed what I had to share and stay tuned next month, as I will be featuring a few great Fil-AM female chefs and business owners who are doing a great job today.

Just to let everyone know, I do not go in and get paid for this or are given free or discounted pricing when I dine at these places. I am sharing with you what I like and believe is a great representation of what Fil-AM eats is all about without me benefitting from placing them on my column.

Please enjoy and feel free to share with me places I should go to and write about. I assure you I will go anonymously and give you my honest feedback.

Salamat sa inyong lahat.