Easter Break 2016 (Part II): Dean & Deluca

I’ve always liked the pizzas and pastries at Dean & Deluca so that’s where I took the pamangkins for dinner.

Dean & Deluca is a popular chain of upscale grocery stores that started in New York in the ‘70s. The lone store in Manila, however, is more a restaurant than a culinary emporium.

I was curious about these flavored sugar

The first time I visited the restaurant, I ordered its honey-glazed pork ribs and all-American grilled cheese sandwich, both of which were good, but not as memorable as its banana quinoa bread and carrot cake. I’ve also had the occasion of trying the Parma pizza, which earned my approval.

This time around, we got to try a wider selection because I knew my foodie troupe were up to the task of polishing off everything that was served on the table.

The girls, Joanna, Jenna and Julia, started with the slow-roasted pumpkin soup, which earned three thumbs up but with the qualification (by Joanna) that it’s still not as good as Cibo’s.

The crispy calamari was exactly that, and the squid was tender, not at all chewy.

This was Joaki’s choice, the herb-roasted chicken au jus. The slow roasting was evident in the tenderness of the chicken, which was deliciously seasoned. However, I found an off-putting alcohol-like taste in the barley chorizo risotto.

The skillet meatballs stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t expect to find the meatballs of my dreams at Dean & Deluca. The Angus beef ball falls apart in your mouth and it goes exceptionally well with the rich flavor of the arrabiata and peppery arugula. An exceptional bite. We loved it so much we ordered another plate.

The butifarra con salsa funghi e tratufo

Of the pastas, the butifarra con salsa funghi e tartufo was highly recommended but I’d say go for the good ol’ carbonara. Granted, it is not traditional because the noodles are slicked with cream, not egg (although there’s a poached egg on top). On the merit of taste alone, this is a winner. And, mind you, it’s hard to find good carbonara (our favorite is the one of Manila Peninsula, which we ordered by room service during a stay).

The carbonara topped with poached egg

We ordered two pizzas, my favorite Parma and one we haven't tried, Sausage duo. I am no snob when it comes to pizzas and I enjoy the occasional Shakey's thin crust and Pizza Hut pan pizza as much as the next person, but seeing a well-made crust like this, all puffy with raised blisters, buoys my spirit. 

The Parma

The Sausage Duo, Joanna's preference

We capped off our meal with Joanna’s choice, the Hokkaido cheesecake. What a heavenly pick it turned out to be. I enjoy the occasional cheesecake but I usually gravitate more towards sponge cakes and meringue-based cakes like sans rival. This though, I totally dig. It’s lighter and less sweet than the NY variety, and its texture more akin to a soufflé or chiffon cake. Pillowy, velvety, ethereal--everything a cheesecake should be.

Happy diners

On more than one occasion, I have complained about the slow service at Dean & Deluca, especially at the takeout counter. I think this has been addressed somewhat. We did experience a snag when one of our additional orders wasn't placed but this was attended to immediately.

Dean & Deluca
Edades Tower
Amorsolo Drive,
Rockwell, Makati

The Wholesome Table: The Art of Eating Well

The only thing evil about what I ate at The Wholesome Table was the calories. To my surprise, this temple to cold-pressed juices, sprightly salads and all things organic and superfood-boosted was equally deft at fashioning comfort food classics from ingredients that were treated kindly.



This restaurant owned by husband-and-wife team Juan and Bianca Elizalde is an ode to the Philippines' agricultural bounty. They procure ingredients from local sources. They only use meat from grass-fed cows that were raised without artificial hormones and antibiotics. Their poultry products are free-range. They use seafood that are caught in the wild. They also abstain from using processed ingredients, except for their organic cheeses.



Truth be told, Judd and I weren’t lured to The Wholesome Table in Estancia Mall by the promise of eating wholesomely but by the prospect of eating well. The menu was promising. So were the plates being served to other diners. It didn’t hurt either that the setting recalled the experience of dining under a tree and among the stars, albeit in an indoor mall setting.



I enjoyed their take on tomato soup, which was thickened with vegetable broth. It was light and smooth, with chickpea croutons providing crunch and texture.



Because Judd’s love for meatballs is bordering on fanatical, he just had to have it. The serving was ample, with two big, flavorful and moist cubed portions bathed with bacon mushroom gravy, which was the embodiment of yum.



I ordered the fried chicken parmigiana. The chicken was baked with home-made organic tomato passato and Parmesan cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed this but the chicken was so good it might have been a better idea to request for plain old fried chicken with the tomato puree on the side.

My only regret about this meal was that there were only two of us and I ended up lusting after all the items I didn’t get to order. Had the entire foodie family (and friends) been with me, I would have convinced them to order the burrata, grass-fed meatballs, double mushroom melt, slow-braised pork, and salmon and basil cream pasta.

The Wholesome Table puts pleasure into eating virtuously. The service was efficient, helpful yet unfussy. It is easy to lose track of time amidst the evocative brick walls and distressed wood interiors. And the food is the deliciously nurturing sort, not only for diners but for the land.

The Frazzled Cook: The Pancake à la Mode Takes the Cake

 The Frazzled Cook’s décor recalls a charming country cottage furnished with flea market finds. It is certainly a pleasure to dine in.

However, you’ll have to be selective about your food choices because they have a few ungainly dishes, including the paella negra, which had overdone rice and lacked the full flavor of squid ink, and the pork chop, which was a bit tough.

The sizzling squid was flavorful. The squid was cooked perfectly, and the vinaigrette and pickled mangoes provided an interesting flavor element.

The scampi pizza could satisfy a craving if you’re not looking for the smoky, wood-fired variety. It is akin to 3M Pizza, albeit more generous with its toppings of tomatoes, bell peppers and kesong puti.

The barbecued short ribs were good but still short of fantastic.

The best option for mains or pasta is the truffle pasta with Portobello mushrooms and white sauce, an almost no-fail combination, if I may say so.

The absolute standout was the pancake a la mode, which was once described by Chuvaness as the best pancake in the world.

I don’t know if I will bestow it such singular honor but I have to agree that the pancake was pretty darn special. It was crisp around the edges, more dense than fluffy, and buttery as all things evil should be. After sharing one, we ordered two more. And we’re coming back for more.

While the pancake a la mode is, hands-down, the best bet for dessert, their other desserts are also good, like the chocolate mousse that Julia ordered and the crepe cake I got to try with my dear friend Yamine during our long-overdue reunion a month ago. 

Our meal ended on an interesting note when I ordered Alamid coffee. The waiter asked me if I preferred mild or strong. I opted for the former.

I was surprised when a contraption that looked like it was smuggled out of a science lab arrived at our table. It turned out to be a siphon coffee maker, which is ideal for making a delicate cup. Click on the video above to see how my coffee was brewed using this coffee siphoning method.

Dinner with my dear Yamine. This was our first visit to The Frazzled Cook. 

Weekend lunch with my foodie family

The Frazzled Cook
78 Scout Gandia,
Brgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City
Phone (632) 374-6879

Dean & DeLuca: Fine New-York-style Pizzas and Pastries

Dean & DeLuca’s Rockwell branch is making New York proud, thanks to the beautifully blistered crust of their pizzas and their uber-moist cakes and pastries.

Dean & DeLuca is a prominent gourmet food chain dedicated to all things delicious. While the Rockwell branch offers a selection of bottled specialty items on sale, it really is more a restaurant.



The smoke and heat of Dean & DeLuca’s wood-fired brick oven work their magic in their pies, giving the thin crust a chewiness and char that go so well with the oozing mozzarella and acidic tomatoes. Their Margherita Parma is spruced up with Parma ham, a mound of arugula leaves drizzled with sweet balsamic vinegar, and finally topped with shavings of Parmigiano. It was lip smacking.

I’ve also tried the braised US Angus beef short ribs during a previous visit, which grew more delicious with every bite. I wanted to order it again but I had to force myself to try other items in their menu.

I thought they made a good attempt with their grilled cheese sandwich, which had a sweet note from the apple chutney. However, I’ve had better (hello, Wildflour).



What I thought was a miss was the gratinated baked oysters, which didn’t taste fresh.



Dean & DeLuca must have a pastry whisperer in the kitchen because their desserts were top-notch. The banana quinoa bread is perfect with coffee for breakfast. I loved the buttery sheets of their flaky kouign-amann. Their carrot cake was enticingly moist and nutty.

I do hope Dean & DeLuca brings in their full range of gourmet food items and make it easier for us to do our own deli dining at home. I also hope they would improve their spotty service. Their waitstaff were well-trained and attentive but the ones manning the takeout counter weren't fully acquainted with what was on their menu. I'm sure they could do better.

Duck & Buvette: Small Plates, Big Flavor

You can certainly cobble together a fine, grown-up meal from Duck and Buvette’s small plates. The selection is substantial and the tasty morsels are well conceived.

The name is derived from the restaurant specialties—crispy duck confit and buvettes, small bites (to be more precise, the French version of a tapas bar). Because I had another full meal in my schedule, I came for the buvettes.

I enjoy this type of dining because it allows me to sample a variety of flavors in a single meal without having to overindulge.

I began my grazing with a serving of grilled Black Angus meatballs, nuggets of beautifully smoked beef stuffed with feta cheese sitting in freshly crushed tomato sauce. I wish they served this in full portions.

Another winner in my book was the crispy potato pavé and salty duck egg, a novel combination that works. The cubes were made of potato layers that became crispy and chewy with the frying. Be generous with the crème fraîche and salty duck egg, and you’ll have a perfect bite.

I always enjoy cheese and charcuterie so I ordered Duck & Buvette’s Le Deli Slate, which was a well-curated serving of Grana Padano cheese, prosciutto, brandade de bacalao dip, herbed feta with olive and garlic confit and warm bread.

The char roasted cauliflower with white truffle oil and garlic olive oil was a hit at our table but I was looking for a little more crunch and smoke.

I met my match with the maple candied bacon drizzled with lemon juice. So much goodness in such an abbreviated slice of sticky, caramelized meat. I am coming back for this and the three specials—duck confit, slow braised beef Burgundy and steaks & frites.

Buvettes Menu

Mains, Baked Goods and Specials

Duck & Buvette
2/F Main Wing Shangri-La Plaza Mall EDSA
Mandaluyong, Philippines

La Cabrera Grillado & Bar: One of the Best Steakhouses in Manila (Ojo de Bife and Cuadril That Will Make The Argentinians Proud)

Dining at La Cabrera Grillado & Bar is not for the faint-hearted. The whole point to coming here is the steak, and the different cuts are often served in half a kilo hunks. Come ravenous, as I did, which allowed me to do justice to the feast that was served on our table.

Our meal that night was a carnivore’s dream come true, the type I could imagine having at the original La Cabrera in Buenos Aires, named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in Latin America. It started out with provoleta con jamón crudo, provolone cheese bubbling on a hot plate topped with translucent prosciutto. It was a standout and a portent of things to come.

Watch out for my La Cabrera dining experience in a future issue of Mabuhay magazine.

Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

Don’t be fooled by the name. The real star here is the burrata caprese—rich, refreshing, and primal—the essence of Capri on a plate.



The burrata is homemade, its outer curd of fresh mozzarella bursting with cream and kesong puti. It had a little more body than most of the burrata’s I’ve tried but it was perfectly seasoned, and beautifully served on a bed of aromatic pesto and ringed by slices of cherry tomatoes. It alone was worth the trip to Katipunan. But why stop there, right?

Thankfully, the pizza did not disappoint. We ordered three kinds—the buffalo chicken, Bianca verde, and SMEGG.

My favorite was the Bianca verde, with olive oil, kesong puti, ricotta, Parmesan, basil and arugula. I liked the way the creaminess of the cheese mingled with the spiciness of the arugula.

What makes pizza, however, is the crust. And I am happy to note that the dough at Gino’s delivers. The crust was crisp, chewy and charred, with a smokiness that can only achieved with a brick oven. I loved the blistered edges, although I would have wanted a little more air, like the puffed up crust as Mario Batali’s Pizzeria Mozza in Singapore.

The pizza fillings were spare with the number of ingredients but generous with the amount. Fresh out of the oven, they were soggy in the middle like other Neapolitan-style pies so the best way to enjoy them is to roll the wedge from the pointy end and cut or bite across.



The kids enjoyed the buffalo chicken (tomato sauce, mozzarella, buffalo chicken, blue cheese and Parmigiano Reggiano). It was deliciously piquant and went quite well with the spicy honey, one of the condiments at the table (my nephew, Joaki, however thought that honey on pizza was so wrong).

Gino's Spicy Honey

We also ordered two pastas—the carbonara and bacon sausage. They were good; you can tell that the noodles were fresh. But I didn’t think they were outstanding. A friend suggested we order the salted egg pasta next time. And there will be a next visit because I have my eye on the bacon Gouda and BOMB pizza.

Maginhawa Street, Quezon City Restaurant Row: Make Your Own Degustacion

Maginhawa Street is the ideal place to practice the art of grazing. You can create your own tasting menu by walking the length of the street, stopping at spots that draw your attention, picking up a few bites, and moving on to the next one. I knew the perfect company for such an adventure—my foodie family consisting of my nephew Joakim and nieces Joanna, Jenna and Julia.

We checked out the area last Saturday evening when the rains stopped. Parking is limited and mostly street-side so my brother had to play driver.



Our first stop was Sancho, a churreria that, I was told, is a fixture at school fairs. I found the chocolate dip a bit watered down but the churros were reminiscent of Dulcinea’s (the standard, as far I’m concerned). That is to say they were good. When we later joined my sister in law at the same place, she said the hot cocoa was remarkably good.

We walked to the next establishment that caught our attention, Theo’s, a café with a good selection of baked goods. I chose the cookie shots with milk, remembering Chuvaness’s blog feature on Dominique Ansel’s cookie shots in Tokyo. Now I must go to Cookie Bar in Kapitolyo to sample what is considered our best local version.

My foodie family finished off every single shot, even what was supposed to be my share, but I managed a bite of the cookie, which was crumbly and sweet. It’s a fun way to enjoy dessert and a sure hit among the kids.

Our main agenda that evening was StrEAT Maginhawa Food Park, which featured an assembly of food trucks offering a variety of snacks that were impossible to exhaust on a single night. The place appeared like a social hub of sorts among those so-called millennials who must have seen the Instagram potential of the spot.

Even before we arrived in Maginhawa, Joanna had been talking non-stop about a milkshake topped with cotton candy that was available in one of the snack joints on StrEAT. She immediately spotted  The Lost Bread, and joined the long queue together with Jenna. After 15 minutes or so, barkers announced that they had to allow their machine to rest and cut off the line at the customer just in front of Joanna.

Luckily, I had Joaki and Julia line up for the hotdogs at Schimdt’s, which had a manageable and fast-moving queue.

We tried each hotdog variety. I liked the wagamama, although I would have wanted some wasabi kick. Julia loved the Seattledog. My brother preferred the Julius, which was also Joaki’s choice. I don’t remember having a taste of the Coney Island chilli dog and the Aucklander.

Joanna and Jenna found a calligrapher and had their names done.



After StrEAT, we headed back to Sancho’s where my sister in law was waiting for us and for the Paella Valenciana she ordered. We found the paella to have a nice crust (socarrat), which my brother and I enjoy. The lengua was tasty as well; we took some home, together with an order of beef salpicao.

My foodie family can’t wait for our next visit. We'll try to come earlier and allot more time for grazing.

I really wanted to try the poutine but they ran out of gravy.

I'll make time for a cappuccino.

Or some pasta and a glass of white.

If you decide to go to Maginhawa, don’t tackle the street by your lonesome. Bring an appetite and a throng of people with the same, and have a bite each of your picks for a degustacion of your own making, done at your own pace.