Bacolod Chicken Haus focuses on famous Filipino chicken dish
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The food of the Philippines isn't that widely available in Chicago, but there's a family-run restaurant in Pulaski Park where everything revolves around a famous chicken dish.
The locals - and by that I mean ex-pats from the city of Bacolod in the Philippines - have been remarkably loyal to the Bacolod Chicken Haus in Pulaski Park the past year or so. That's because the owners have gone to great lengths to replicate the city's most famous dish.
"They're very known for their chicken and it's where you can only get this type of chicken," said owner J.P. Ledesma.
The key has been the marinade, and the two most important elements: Filipino vinegar, as well as fresh calamansi juice, which is much more tart than a standard lime.
"It's only unique to this place because the calamansi, it grows mainly where they have this plantation. So that's where it originates and becomes our staple food," Ledesma said.
The marinade also contains quite a bit of fresh ginger and garlic, and along with the vinegar and calamansi, it marinates overnight.
When orders come in, the chicken is grilled over a gas flame then served with a couple of other Bacolod specialties. First, garlic rice. A mound of white rice is dressed with some of the cooked chicken juices and sprinkled with fried garlic. Also, a little mound of pickled and shredded papaya and carrot salad. At the table, you can have a calamansi juice with your meal, but be sure to dip the chicken into the toyo mansi - part soy sauce, part calamansi. The owners tried using domestic fruits for their sauces and marinades, but they just didn't work.
"The acidity between the California, the Florida and the Philippines is totally different. So even though it's expensive to bring it here, I have to, or else it's not going to be original," Ledesma said.
No question calamansi is all over this menu because you see it in the marinade as well as the sauces - combined with soy sauce for dipping - as well as a drink, which comes in convenient cans so you can have calamansi with your calamansi-marinated chicken.
The restaurant also offers a traditional Filipino feast for larger groups, but it requires a few days' notice.
Bacolod Chicken
6320 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-293-6210
