Lutong Bahay in Pittsburg CA

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Way before the COVID-19 epidemic reached the county where I live in, Mommy and I just finished one of her routine medical appointments and were looking for a place to eat (before I had to drive her to her office and then continue working from home). We were both craving for Filipino cuisine but were quite unwilling to eat at Island Pacific (because we buy our Filipino food fix there quite often). A quick Yelp search led us to a little hole-in-the-wall along Railroad Avenue called, very aptly, Lutong Bahay.


For me, a trip to a Filipino restaurant is not complete if I don't order sinigang. But thanks to my pregnancy, I couldn't stand the taste of beef; so I was so happy to see that pork sinigang was available. And yes, my appetite has grown, enough to feed two people, which is quite literal; so on this rare occasion of me eating out, I had two cups of rice to pair with the sinigang. A serving of sago't gulaman easily satisfied my craving for boba milkshake. Mommy, on the other hand, ordered pancit and a diet soda.


The food was okay. But what I like about this place is that it reminded me of the canteens I used to frequent along Grove in Los Baños, back in the days before fast food joints, coffee shops, and to-go boxes: Bamboo Grove and Ellen's Fried Chicken. Aside from the food and the affordable price points, these restaurants had another thing in common: at least one friendly server. In Lutong Bahay's case, she's Ate Weng, who poses as the cashier, the server, and one of the cooks.

In the few weeks before we were ordered to stay at home, Mommy and I ate at Lutong Bahay a number of times. We even went there with Daddy once. Alas, the epidemic finally reached our county and mitigation measures were put in place to limit the transmission of the illness. Until the shelter-in-place has been lifted, I'll just stay at home, literally eating lutong bahay (home-cooked meals).

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