Pinoy Fiesta

Pinoy Fiesta is a tiny "Turo-Turo"(point-point, aka steam table) joint, that sits rather quietly in the strip mall on the corner of 8th Street and E Avenue.

It does seem like much more attention is lavished on Villa Manila, which shares the strip mall, and Zarlitos right across the street. In fact, I never even knew it was there, until it was recommended by a friend last year. She had told me that the food at Pinoy Fiesta was good, and a bit "less oily" than many other Turo-Turo places in the vicinity. So a few months back, I was in the area........

The exterior of Pinoy Fiesta may lean toward the low keyed side....but the interior is quite, ummm....sunny(?) and bright. For those who always complain to me about the somewhat worn and gritty interiors of some of our ethnic eateries, this one is quite clean.

On this visit, I noticed that though the restaurant doesn't appear very busy, there is a steady stream of customers, and quite a few catering orders being filled. Usually, when people recommend a Turo-Turo joint, I ask what the "signature" dishes are at the place. But in this case, I'm not sure if I didn't ask, or if I asked and couldn't remember. Could this be the beginning of many "senior moments" perhaps? Lucky for me, ordering on this visit was very easy. I went with the 2 items + rice($5.25):

As I entered a tray of Lechon Kawali was brought out, you knew it was coming by the chopping noises emanating from the kitchen...man did it look good! This lechon delivered as promised, it was still warm when I ate it, the fat was silken, but not greasy, the skin was light and crisp. This version of lechon was much "lighter" and not as chewy as many I've had. I thought it to be quite good. I was not a fan of the Lechon sauce, it was gummy and pretty weak in flavor...but this needed no sauce.

I'm usually not a big fan of Filipino Menudo, but in this case it looked so good, I ordered it.

The thick stew had a nice mild tomato flavor. I find the addition of raisins in menudo is sometimes too heavy handed for me making the dish much too fruity and sweet, distracting my tastebuds, and I'm not a fan of it. But here, the raisins added only a nice faint sweetness, complementing the rest if the dish, and I enjoyed it. No tripe in this version, but lots of pork. The plate comes with 3 scoops of rice, and I ate it all, in 2 installments.

On this past weekend, I had another opportunity to grab some food at Pinoy Fiesta. One of the great things about these restaurants is that you can enter, grab some food to go, and depending on how busy it is, you can make it back to your car in a blink....sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes, like I did. This weekend we've been checking out the San Diego Asian Film Festival like we do every year. On this day, the Missus was tied up, so I was left on my own. I decided to make the extra trip and grab a plate at Pinoy Fiesta(there are just so many hot dogs a person can consume). Again I went with a 2 item combination:

Unfortunately, the family in front of me grabbed all of the lechon...each of the 4 plates were piled high with the moist, crisp, pork. So I went with the Chicken BBQ:

This was not bad, the skewered chicken was dark meat(yay...flavor!), and quite tender. The sauce tasted a bit on the sweeter side like bottled teriyaki, and overall this was fine...not great, not good, but okay.

And though, I wasn't able to get any Lechon, I noticed that on this visit there was a pan full of Sisig, one of my weaknesses.

As good as the lechon was, the Sisig was disappointing. Gummy and greasy are the two words that come to mind. Flavor wise, I enjoy my Sisig to be a bit more assertive. I prefer a bit more sour and spicy notes. I did enjoy the nice onion flavor, but had a hard time getting over the grease.

Though not as popular as Tita's Kitchenette, the service at Pinoy Fiesta was much, much, nicer. The young man behind the counter is very pleasant. Service is pretty fast and the prices and portion sizes are good.

Pinoy Fiesta
550 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
Phone: (619) 434-6255 

Open 530am(!!!) - 730pm Daily

Comments

[Jim]

Hey Kirk,

How would you compare the food in this place to Tita's Kitchenette? Right now, my wife thinks that Tita's Kitchenette is the best restaurant in the world! I kidd you not, especially the pink food!

Your thoughts please?

[nhbilly]

Never really or have tried Filipino food before. Am I missing out on something here?

-b

[anonymous]

try cenote grill in escondido. The best papusas.

[Brian Bautista]

Wow! They open at 5:30am!?!? I can finally get Tapsilog for breakfast rather than the run of the mill bagels and waffles I normally get. Good find!

[santos.]

>somewhat worn and gritty interiors of some of our ethnic eateries

haaaaaaaaa! thanks for making me smile. (and snort water out of my nose)

[Kirk]

Hi Jim - It really depends on what you enjoy. Tita's has the most generous portions, and people I know like the sinigang, caldereta, pansit palabok, hamonado, pork adobo, and BBQ. They can be pretty mean, though. Point-point makes pretty good lechon, BBQ, and the Missus likes the sinigang. Pinoy Fiesta's lechon was very good. You can cherry pick your way through National City!

Hi Billy - If you like pork(and I know you do)....you're missing out!

Hi Brian - Give 'em a call, that's what the sign said. Man, longsilog sounds really good right now.

Hi Santos - Was that an understatement....or what? Glad I could make you laugh....sorry about the nose thing. ;o)

[Chubbypanda]

I've never tried Pinoy food. I must expand my horizons.

[Kirk]

Hey CP - Give Elmomonster a buzz, he seems to have a line on good Filipino Food in LA.

http://elmomonster.blogspot.com/2006/12/magic-wok-grand-re-opening-artesia.html

[elmomonster]

Oh man. Sisig has also become one of my weaknesses. LOVE LOVE the stuff. And yep, Magic Wok has one of the best. Even the sisig you had here looked good to me, eventhough you say it was gummy. Although sisig is good when it's crisp and fresh, I still relish any next day leftovers greasy and limp as they may be.

[Kirk]

Hey Elmo - What I like about eating Sisig the following day is that the flavors are even more intense....

[stef]

Hi Kirk, haven't been here in a while. Glad to see you've got another Pinoy food post AND even GLADDER that you guys are okay -- when I heard about the wildfires I thought about you.

[Kirk]

Hi Stef - Thanks for thinking of us....yes, lots of Pinoy food to be explored out there in San Diego!