Dining Out!

By Chef Ed Dychauco

Thursday, March 31, 2011

BE IT birthdays, weddings, christenings, graduations, reunions, thanksgiving, anniversaries, (including week-saries and month-saries), Christmas, New Years, valentines, thanksgivings, nine days, 40 days, 100 days and the list can go on and on. There must be and will always be food around.

And when I talk of food, I am talking about food that we order or dine in a restaurant. Cooking food at home is a very personal thing. And it is good for a small group of people, something intimate, something like one wants to showcase their culinary skills.

But looking at our daily lives and activities, it is quite impossible to be cooking and at the same time entertaining guests and looking great! And so what do we do?

We dine out! And in doing so, it saves us a lot of time, energy and effort. Although most of the time, not necessarily money! However, we tend to enjoy the company of our friends and family in the process when we eat out. And get to do more bonding, reconnecting and reminiscing.

In the past few articles, I tackled reunions and homecomings, social networking and the like. I finally realized that we do get out with friends for a night out or lunch date whenever we get to see them. It is always a fun get-together, talking about serious, but mostly, crazy things that happened in the past over some good foods. And of course, what about those memorable and cherished moments, being captured by our cameras? Then posting them on all social networking sites for everyone to see, drool and be envious of?

In the past several months, I have had a lot of friends, classmates and relatives visiting our city. So it is but natural for us to dine out. And some of the restaurants that I have enjoyed with their company include the following, but in no particular order:

La Vetta Restaurant -- a formal dining place for people who know about French Mediterranean and European food. I truly love their Beef Carpaccio, Cheese and Cold cuts platter, Smoked Salmon and a few others.

Bourbon St. Bistro -- Southern American (Creole) cuisine. We ordered the "safer" dish, baby back ribs, Quesadillas, and banana foster.

Siam Thai Cuisine -- I was there twice, for two separate invitations by two different groups. One should try their curries - be it beef or chicken (since this is what Thai food is famous for), their "Thai" crispy pata is quite meaty, crab fried rice is good and of course, their signature drink which is a mixture of different fruits is unique.

Aqua Seafood Restaurant -- we had grilled tuna, sampler platter and again, crispy pata and grilled squid.

Panagatan Restaurant -- grilled Panga, seafood platter, crispy fried squid and the mango-tomato salad was refreshing.

Sentro 1850 Restaurant -- fusion cuisine, baby back ribs, wasabi salad, lechon kawali, hamburger and their signature dalandan drink.

La Tegola Italian Restaurant -- I have always loved Italian Cuisine. I guess it is because I have been exposed to this kind of food while working in New York. I used to stay in an Italian Community. So pizza, pasta and the like are always available all year round and very accessible. Well, aside from Chinese food, of course.

Grand Caprice Restaurant -- classic authentic Chinese cuisine. I haven't met anyone who does not like Chinese food. It is all over the place. I particularly like their prawn salad, salt and pepper ribs, lemon chicken, patatim and a few others.

Calda's Pizza -- huge, very flavorful pizza and calzone. Very filling, indeed.

Dear Manok and Mang Inasal -- grilled chicken at its finest. And "bottomless" rice to go! This is the place to go when one is extremely hungry!

Bo's Coffee Club and CoffeeWorks -- Need I say more? This is where we spend more time talking, laughing while enjoying our coffee, cakes and pastries after dinner.

Some food establishments are quite expensive but sometimes, one has to pay for the ambiance (!). Besides, one has to consider the authenticity of their finished products, the ingredients they use and the place where it is located.

But then, there are also a lot of other great places where one can still have fun, save some money and yet be served with excellent food! The bottom line is, it is the camaraderie that we all are looking for during these food trips.

Eat and be merry! (Website: www.potsnpans1976.weebly.com; email: potsnpans1976@yahoo.com)

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 31, 2011.