Daly City, CA

Always up for trying new food, but sometimes I get a hankering for what I associate with home. Filipino food is my comfort food. Fortunately, I found Chibog. Chibog is Filipino slang for “food” or “Let’s eat.”

Daly City

I’ve tried a few good Filipino food establishments in Woodside, Queens. But I suppose part of what makes it comfort food is the familiarity, so I head to Daly City when I’m back in the Bay.

Daly City borders San Francisco to the southwest. They have the highest concentration of Filipino/a/x Americans in the United States. Weather in Daly City stays relatively constant throughout the year, averaging around 50–60 degrees Fahrenheit. The fog always rolls in from the Pacific Ocean, sprinkling windshields and misting windbreakers. Growing up, I was told that the fog was from all the steam produced by the rice cookers in the Daly City houses.

Lechon kawali

When I was a kid in the Philippines, I ate bacon and rice almost every meal. After we immigrated, I learned to eat other foods. But I still have a soft spot for pork. My favorite Filipino pork dish is lechon kawali.

Lechón in Spanish translates to suckling pig. In the Philippines, it’s common for celebrations and fiestas to have a whole lechon as the centerpiece of the meal. Kawali refers to a frying pan or wok. Lechon kawali is pork belly that is cut up and fried. Each cubed piece usually has dark meat at the bottom, white fat in the middle, followed by white meat, and topped with crunchy skin.

I used to frequent Alido’s Restaurant on Callan Boulevard in South San Francisco. The chef made the best lechon kawali. Once Alido’s closed, I searched for a replacement and found Chibog.

Because lechon kawali is not as easily prepared as say a sausage like longanisa, it’s usually reserved as a main entrée on the menu. You can order it à la carte or Chibog has it as one of the protein choices for a silog (picture below).

Silog

In the Philippines, they serve silogs for breakfast (or even all day). Silog is a combination of two Tagalog words: sinangag (garlic fried rice) + itlog (egg). A silog comes with fried egg, garlic fried rice, and a protein of your choice: meat or fish. My favorite silog comes with tocino, a sweet cured pork. If I were to order a tocino silog, I would ask for a tocilog.

Mang Tomas sauce

Lechon kawali usually comes with a side of Mang Tomas sauce, which consists of liver spread, vinegar, and sugar. Liver may sound unappealing (I know I was shocked when I learned the key ingredient), but the all-purpose sauce pairs perfectly with pork, especially lechon kawali.

Unlike at Del Sur Bakery, every worker I’ve encountered at Chibog is Filipino/a/x. I was told by my server that the Mang Tomas was missing for a bit because it contained a banned ingredient by the State of California. The sauce has been reformulated to be compliant and I was happy to have my Mang Tomas back to sawsaw or dip my lechon kawali. Mang Tomas sauce comes in a bottle you can buy at the Asian section of the grocery store.

More than just silogs

Of course Chibog has many other options to pair with silogs, entrées like pancit or noodle dishes, refreshing drinks/shakes (including ube), delectable desserts, and à la carte items like crispy pata. Crispy pata is deep-fried pork knuckles that come with a side of vinegar sauce for dipping (picture below).

Holiday orders

Want to share Chibog with your family and friends? I’ve ordered lechon kawali, pork BBQ, and beef mechado from Chibog for the holidays (picture below). Phone in your order and pick it up the day before the holiday. They will not accept orders for same day and are usually only open for advanced order pick-ups, so plan accordingly.

Getting to Chibog

For natives of the area, Chibog is located in the same space that Sinugba used to occupy. My fellow dancers and I frequented Sinugba late at night after rehearsals and performances.

You enter the driveway off of Gellert Boulevard heading toward King Drive. Enter the winding driveway and pass the speed humps until the road opens to the left. Chibog is located at the end of the first row of businesses on the left. It’s a small mom and pop shop that can get busy, especially on weekends. You can order takeout or write your name on the list to be seated. It actually moves quicker than you think.

I realized I don’t have any photos of the outside of Chibog, the menu, or even other dishes I’ve eaten there, even though I’m a regular. It seems every time I’ve gone, even after moving to NYC, I’ve just taken a photo of my lechon kawali silog every time. Nothing beats coming home and indulging in the tastes I remember.